Iron sight skills vs dot skills etc

[nelson1each]

So I am I still pretty new to open and I did take about a year off of shooting due to work so not sure if what I’m about to say is more dot related or more time off related or even something else. So more back story I’m about 4 months back into shooting and been crushing it per say with the new open gun...still learning and getting comfortable of course.  But after taking a year off where I left off shooting limited A class I jumped back in and am very competitive in open B class and expect to get back to A sooner than later with that.

All that being said I recently shot a law enforcement fund raiser match with a Glock 34. The stages were all stand and deliver with a heavy focus on accuracy with small targets, I also havnt shot a match with a Glock in years. I was pretty disappointed at my performance given what I can do with an open gun and it was a humbling experience going to war with some of these little targets. Even though I shoot open now I have occasionally picked up my carry gun or messed with my wife’s gun with sights and shot a few rounds but shooting such precision with iron sights seemed super foreign to me this match. 

Im wondering if years of shooting Lim and now open with the major scoring has allowed me to get so sloppy as USPSA is speed vs acceptable accuracy. Or wondering if using a dot is making my iron site skills go down the toilet. I recall hearing some folks say shooting open makes finding the front site easier with irons or something to that effect. So curious to hear what other open shooters have to say about dot vs sights skills etc. If one had unlimited time and ammo I suppose you could master both but that obviously isn’t practicable in the average joes case. Any thoughts/guidance is appreciated. 

[Rnlinebacker]

So I am I still pretty new to open and I did take about a year off of shooting due to work so not sure if what I’m about to say is more dot related or more time off related or even something else. So more back story I’m about 4 months back into shooting and been crushing it per say with the new open gun...still learning and getting comfortable of course.  But after taking a year off where I left off shooting limited A class I jumped back in and am very competitive in open B class and expect to get back to A sooner than later with that.
All that being said I recently shot a law enforcement fund raiser match with a Glock 34. The stages were all stand and deliver with a heavy focus on accuracy with small targets, I also havnt shot a match with a Glock in years. I was pretty disappointed at my performance given what I can do with an open gun and it was a humbling experience going to war with some of these little targets. Even though I shoot open now I have occasionally picked up my carry gun or messed with my wife’s gun with sights and shot a few rounds but shooting such precision with iron sights seemed super foreign to me this match. 
Im wondering if years of shooting Lim and now open with the major scoring has allowed me to get so sloppy as USPSA is speed vs acceptable accuracy. Or wondering if using a dot is making my iron site skills go down the toilet. I recall hearing some folks say shooting open makes finding the front site easier with irons or something to that effect. So curious to hear what other open shooters have to say about dot vs sights skills etc. If one had unlimited time and ammo I suppose you could master both but that obviously isn’t practicable in the average joes case. Any thoughts/guidance is appreciated. 

open hides and allows a lot of laxity with the fundamentals because of how it pushes rather than lifts like the non- compensated guns do.

Irons take a lot more tighter fundamentals. I have optics guns but I just don't care for them because I like the difficulty of irons and major power factor.

My advice is to decide which division you really want to compete in heavily and then dabble in the other whenever you can.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Fo0]

the same guy won Open Nationals and Limited Nationals this year

[Hi-Power Jack]

Going from open to limited, or backwards, takes some time - a different amount of

time for each person.

 

Takes me a few hours of practice with the "new" gun, but might take less time for better shooters.

 

Principles are the same - acceptable sight picture (different for iron vs dot) and press trigger properly.     

[MrPan]

19 hours ago, Fo0 said:

the same guy won Open Nationals and Limited Nationals this year

And 2nd in factory

 

I find that after shooting a dot gun it takes me a couple reps to readjust to leveling my sights but my presentation is still the same. So I can present and point shoot just as fast but for really long shots on small targets I need to be Pickier with my sight alignment.

[Stealsack]

It takes a little time to make the change.  I shot a local steel match with two guns, My limited gun and my carry optic.  It didn't go well.  I did worse with each gun than I would normally do with either and a PCC.  I think it was a little grip angle, a little presentation height, a fair bit acceptable sight picture, and a TON of different trigger. I thought I could change gears better than I did, but it was an interesting experiment. I'll not do it again though

[nelson1each]

All good info. I certainly can believe that open hides and laxes some fundamental skills now. Got some practice in with the open gun today and shot like a boss for the most part considering my last outing was the fore mentioned train wreck with irons. As I want to compete in open I will mainly focus on that but will now be sure to shoot my irons occasionally to keep somewhat proficient with those as well. Thanks again guys