January 2nd, 2021
6minute read
Iron sighted pistols have long been the norm.
The question is, which one should you choose when your life is on the line?
I got five friends together.
Should you have an optic-equipped CCW pistol, or one strictly with iron sights?
We used twoHellcat OSPs one with aShield SMScoptic, and one without.
The ammunition was Black Hills Ammunition 9mm 100-gr.HoneyBadger rounds.
I set up a small metal silhouette target at 10 yards.
The author assembled a group of shooters with a broad range of backgrounds to help him in this experiment.
We all did two drills with each gun the holster draw drill and the surrender draw drill.
Each person took three shots from the starting position of each drill at the target.
The time it took to get on target and fire one shot was then recorded, per person.
The test guns were two Hellcat OSP pistols — with one topped off with a Shield SMSc optic.
Holster Draw Drill
The holster draw drill is designed for your everyday carry lifestyle.
This sounds like a lot to go through whenever faced with a deadly situation.
When seconds matter you cant afford to get it wrong.
The author found that optics, on average, sped up the shooters on engaging the targets.
Being our least-experienced shooter, Racheal did remarkably well with the holster draw drill.
With irons, she had the pistol with one shot on target in 3.17 seconds, accurately.
This was followed up by 2.43 seconds and then 2.24 seconds.
Due to the direct mount design of the Hellcat OSP, the excellent U-Dot iron sights can co-witness with an optic.
Shawn, our ex-military participant, kept fairly even timing across the board with irons and optics.
His shots with the irons were starting at 2.24 seconds, followed by 2.05 seconds and lastly 2.17 seconds.
He then followed up with the following times of 2.22 seconds and 2.13 seconds.
The XD-S Mod.2 OSP 9mm is another optics-ready option for the CCW enthusiast. Note the removable cover plate atop the slide.
Still keeping the optics pistol leading on the tally board.
How long do you think that should take?
Surprisingly not nearly as long as you might think.
Whether you run optics or not on your CCW pistol, make sure it is reliable and well-made and that you know how to use it.
Its no surprise that our competition shooter took the win in this drill.
Darren rocked the board with a 2.02 second shot on target.
Her first shot timed in at 1.98 seconds, followed up by 2.14 and lastly 2.08 using irons.
Optics did give her a bit of a challenge here, but she overcame it.
Her first shot using optics here was 3.64 seconds still impressive considering the stress behind this drill.
Her following shots were at 2.26 and lastly at 2.11 seconds.
Good job, Stephanie.
Conclusion
What these tests showed me was two things.
First, practice makes a world of difference because the shooters numbers kept dropping after every shot.
The better you are, the better your chances of surviving a deadly encounter.
