ToddG agrees! Just say no to XS Sights.

I tried XS Sights, but for a different reason. I wear glasses. If my glasses got knocked off or weren’t on to begin with, could I still see a front sight? I wondered if the Big Dot XS Sights would work for that. Upon receiving them, it was obvious it wouldn’t be visible to myopic me, but I tried them anyway.

The more I used them, the less I liked them. I couldn’t get accurate enough hits. There’s just way too much you have to play and fiddle around with to get the shots to go exactly where you want them. Some say it doesn’t matter: for close-up defensive shooting the accuracy is close enough, “combat-accurate” and will put things center-of-mass no problem. Likely so. But who says your defensive shooting situation is going to provide you with that perfect scenario? I recall while I had the XS Sights sitting in a restaurant, being over 25 yards from the cashier, and thinking to myself “Gosh, if I had to make a shot at that distance, I’m not sure I could do it… the dot would cover the target, and while XS says to use a 6 o’clock hold for that, it’s still too coarse of a sight picture to ensure I’d hit the scumbag and not an innocent.”

Some will say I’m just inept and stupid and XS Sights work great for them.  Awesome. If they are the bees knees for you, by all means continue to use them. For me, they don’t work. For lots of people I come across, they don’t work.

The Dawson Precision sights I use? They work. I can pick them up very quickly (the 0.100″ red fiber front and 0.125″ all black rear are very fast). I can use them to get very precise shots out to long distances, or I can use them to nail rapid fire up close. I can shoot fast, I can shoot slow. I can shoot groups, I can shoot for combat-accuracy. They’re great in competition. It’s like they have all the upside of the XS and none of the downside.

If XS Sights work for you, great. Shoot them in IPSC or IDPA matches. Shoot them in Steel Challenge matches. Take high-speed high-stress training courses at top training schools. Make sure they really do work for you.