TargetTalk

Hi all, first post
thanks for having me

I am recently into bullseye shooting, and just ordered a Clark custom model 41, with a 5.5" STC barrel

My question is whether I should have them tap and drill the barrel for their aristocratic rib with iron sights or just go with an optic from the start?

I know the purists think that you have to start the learning process with iron sights, but will I miss a lot of the basics by starting out with a red dot?

Thanks for your help

Frankly I do not see any benefit to starting out with iron sights knowing that you are eventually going to shoot with a red dot. Whether shooting with iron sights or red dots, you still have to accomplish the same things, careful trigger control and keeping your point of aim on target.

With iron sights, you will see the change in point of aim on the sights as that is where your eye is focused. With the red dots, you will see your point of aim at the target as that is where you eyes are focused. If the point of aim is changed during trigger pull, your shot won't be where you want it.

Even though I have been BE shooting since the 70's, and consider myself somewhat old school, I wouldn't waste any time with iron sights if you have no plans to compete where they are not allowed.

Chris

i would recommend getting the iron sights....and practicing with them a good bit.....

why?.....because electronics can fail......and iron sights cant.


if your in a match and your red dot breaks, or your batteries die, ect.....and you cant fix it.....youre in trouble.

at least with iron sights youll have the option to continue shooting.

I prefer to stay with iron sights for several reasons: cheap, dependable, light weight, and you needn't buy batteries.

You may also wish in the future to compete in Air Pistol, or Free Pistol and you must have an iron sight background.

Lest you think I'm not "with it", I have an extra barrel for my S&W M41 that has an UltraDot on it that I use to shoot Bullseye matches. I have not seen a score increase using it.

In my experience, putting on the rib is a matter of choice. If you have age related vision problems and you are gong to shoot mostly indoors, you will find that at a lot of ranges, the indoor lighting makes it difficult to see iron sights. In most indoor ranges a dot is far better.
Now if the rib has a picatinny rail on it, that will be the easiest way to later mount a dot without having to drill the slide.
I know people that learned to shoot with a dot and later went to irons,and I know shooters that have done it the other way around. If you have a decent hold, and you can train yourself to trust it, it won't really matter.
There are a lot of international shooters on this forum, and in my opinion, many of them have a kind of old school bias against red dot sights.