Question for open shooters

[Pro2AInPA]

I'll be picking up my first open gun tomorrow and a question came to mind. For you open shooters - how often do you still pull your iron sighted pistols out of the safe? Have you found that once you go open, there's no going back?

[Seth]

I went open in August. Shot a few majors poorly, practiced a lot, made B and put the gun away. I eventually sold it and went back to irons.

I feel like there's an open black hole. You're either young enough and fast enough to be competitive or old enough to need the dot. I am neither.

It was a TON of fun. I learned to never stop moving. I learned to shoot fast splits... and I learned I preferred irons.

[1911jerry]

I am 54 years old and love to shoot Open. Last year, I picked up a limited gun and wanted to give it one more chance before I hit retirement or Social Security. I had to have a pair of glasses made to see the front sight clearly which made a great improvement. I am also left eye dominate and right handed, which poses another set of OPPOTUNITIES for a limited shooter. But no excuses, I just went out with a few freinds and practiced. I shoot Limited as well as Open now.... that is not saying much.

How long will I shoot limited? Good question....I would like to win something at a major match in my class, then maybe switch back to open.

If you are young and have good eyes, Limited is great fun. Learning the timing of the sights is the key to using iron sights.

Jerry

[Xfactor]

I went open in August. Shot a few majors poorly, practiced a lot, made B and put the gun away. I eventually sold it and went back to irons.

I feel like there's an open black hole. You're either young enough and fast enough to be competitive or old enough to need the dot. I am neither.

It was a TON of fun. I learned to never stop moving. I learned to shoot fast splits... and I learned I preferred irons.

Very well said on all counts, Seth!

I have been shooting Open this season, and having lots of fun... but starting to feel the pull back to iron sights. I think I'll stick it out in Open for another season though and see how far I can take it.

[CocoBolo]

Having a new to you open gun is like having a new girlfriend, it will keep your attention for a while, then you will like to have a nice relaxing stress free match and strap on the iron sites. Yes open is a bit of a pressure cooker trying to stay up with the young guys etc.

I've shot with 1911Jerry, in fact I put down my open gun this year for a couple months to shoot the TX State Limited. When that was over I picked the open gun backup and strated getting ready for the Open Nationals.

So for the most part you shoot open then if something interesting presents itself you shoot Iron.

[dansy]

I have been shooting Open only for the last 4-5 years prior to those day I was shooting Production for a few months and mainly Standard....I do have iron sight gun but they really never see daylight...why??? I just have too much fun with my Open gun

[TerryO]

I prefer Open partly due to 55 year old eyes but I do switch back to irons every once in awhile to shoot the other sport. I find when I switch back to irons I have to pay attention to the sight alignment again for the first few stages or I just see the red fiber on the A and press as if it was the dot and that usually doesn't yeild very good results. Open just seems to be more fun.

[Rub'n]

Open is just more fun for me...you can take lot's more chances and sneak in a hit most of the time...

Plus I'm a weiner and LOVE the low recoil....shoot a 1k rounds...and your ready for another 1k

[Aloha Robert]

I'll be picking up my first open gun tomorrow and a question came to mind. For you open shooters - how often do you still pull your iron sighted pistols out of the safe? Have you found that once you go open, there's no going back?

I have shot both for about 15 years and am over 60 so I have the eye problems focusing on iron sights which can be accomadated with proper glasses. I think when you first get an Open you are thrilled with the speed and ease of accuracy. But there is a definite allure to iron sights and I go back and forth. I only get a chance to practice rarely so if it has been a while since shooting Ill take the Open gun.

However I dont think you can beat iron sights for learning and relearning the fundamentals. For most of the guys like me that have long gaps between shooting we tend to "forget" some of the fundamentals so if I find myself making errors, I go back to the iron sights for refresher in fundamentals.

Also if you ever need a handgun for personal protection, its like to have iron sights so you need to feel comfy using them if you find yourself in need of firearm for defense.

[Jaxshooter]

I am 60 and shoot Open most of the time but you just can't be competitive at that age. I have contacts for open and iron sights. The contacts for iron sights focus my right eye(dominate) on the front sight and the left eye is set for distance. I am seriously considering one of three options instead of open, Revolver, Production or SS. With a limited number of rounds it slows everybody down compared to open. I have a Quinn mount on my open gun so it is not a big change going to irons because I am looking down the slide using both.

[BCrane]

I only started shooting open a few months ago, and I love it. It's messing with my iron shooting for sure (mostly indexing, which I suppose can be worked on), and I'm battling with that since shooting irons is kind of important to my livelyhood.

Open shooing is so easy for me since Im cross-eye dominant, the dot really helps. Im leaning towards just setting up a limited g35 and production g34, and paying some bills with the left over cash from the open gun. I'ts REALLY going to hurt if I go that route.

[calishootr]

I started shooting open back in the day when we were strapping tasco PDP2's to single stack guns and blowin em up wholesale(at any given time there were 4 scopes for one gun) ran open for somthing like 12 yrs??? was gettin bored(read BURNOUT) till a friend who was just starting out sudjested(read CONNED) me into building up a limited gun...yeah, shot limited for 3 yrs or so till i got my limited scores equal to my open scores, recently swapped back to open, and i believe that doing that made me a better shooter, made me more aware of whatthe gun was doing...

[Foxbat]

I am 60 and shoot Open most of the time but you just can't be competitive at that age.

Sure you can... I am 60+ too, and I compete mainly with myself. I don't pay attention to the younger guys on top, there is plenty of action in the middle for us old farts to compete and have fun.

[martyg00]

To answer the original question.... Never

Started in 1987 when the only division was open. Went through all the changes and still shoot my 1993 Caspian Hi-Cap equiped with an Aimpoint XD.

I'm 53 and have some serious health issues and couldn't care less about my scores anymore.

I love shooting the dot and the low recoil and everything about the Division.

For me no turning back!

Enjoy

Marty

A-7424

[Rob Tompkins]

Yes. I just stated shooting Open and have really enjoyed it. However, I also shoot IDPA a lot so I switch back and forth. I'm still learning the Open gun. BTW I'm a C class in Limited and haven't classified in Open yet. In IDPA I'm only a three gun Sharpshooter. So, I'm not sure I'm an example of a good shooter going back and forth.

[DrawandDuck]

Nope, sold my limited set up a Loooong time ago....so I have 3 options, I can shoot open, open or open. Keeps things simple

[SnivelingDramaQueen]

I back on iron sight only when factory stoped to build batery for c-more!

I hope never!!!

[flack jacket]

Yes I do!

I love open due to the dot and gear, the speed of seeing the dot and mag capacity. In realistic terms, If/when I ever have to use a pistol, it will be iron sighted.

Hence I still shoot IDPA in SSP

Uspsa Production and Limited.

Edrick

[blaster113]

I just started dabbling again in Open with a new custom gun. I shoot Limited 75% of the time, Open about 25% and once in a great while Production. I'm more serious about Limited and play in Open mainly for fun. The Quinn II scope mount for my C More makes it pretty easy to switch back and forth. Sometimes I'll even shoot both my Limited and Open guns in the same club match. But I still can't shoot my Open gun at the same level as my Limited gun (I wonder why ). Dabbling in Open has helped my speed with my Limited gun alot though. I guess its because in order to keep up with the other Open shooters you really gotta push the speed thing. I plan on shooting 2 or 3 majors next year in Limited or L10 and one in Open. I'm trying to see how far I can go before I switch it around and concentrate on Open (currently a lowly 72% in B class, L10).

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: I started to shoot open at the start of the year. I shot it all year up untill last weekend when I shot my 6" limited pistol. It was a blast shooting it again. I am a little rusty with iron sights but still should get better after a couple of outings. I shoot alot of different pistols and divisions and have fun in all of them. I have even shot a revolver once in a while--that is alot of fun. I say shoot one gun for a while or untill you get bored then try another one. It may not make you the best shooter but it is fun Thanks, Eric

[JorDanO]

I switch back and forth between Open and Production. Personally, I find shooting with a dot helps me see more when I switch back to irons.

[G-ManBart]

I shoot my iron-sighted guns regularly. I try to get a classifier in with one of them Prod, SS or Lim) at as many matches as possible, just to keep things interesting. I also shoot "normal" guns for work, so that helps keep me tuned in to them. I can say that it'll take me a few range sessions to really get back into the groove for competition, but it's not difficult, and doesn't take long....I'm sure some of that is individual in nature. R,

[Tzygä]

There is no going back for iron sight to me. I only shoot about 10 times with iron sight pistols every year for 7 years now.

[RH45]

I bought my first open gun in 2004, which I swore I would never do. I'm color blind, so I have issues seeing the dot if it's bright out, but, my eyes are getting bad enough that if I wear my glasses that are made for seeing iron sights, the targets are real blurry. Even though I can shoot the open guns a LOT more accurate than iron sighted guns, I still shoot them all.

[boz1911]

I primarily shoot open. I only switch back to irons for a change. Last month I shot Limited for the first time in quite a while. I hadn't practiced with that gun or even dryfired it before the match. The first stage was very enlightening with the recoil impulse almost a surprise during every shot. It seemed to take forever for the sight to drop back n the slot. After that stage everything seemed to be ok even though my speed wasn't where it should have been.