03/13/2025
Yesterday I saw a pretty annoying post from a relative newcomer, excoriating a well known and highly respected senior trainer as a Fudd. The newbie went on to say the Fudd should be ostracized, because he did not immediately jump on the bandwagon that “You’ll be killed in the streets if you don’t have a dot on your pistol!”. Rubbish.
This will be longer than a typical post, but please bear with me and read the whole thing. First, let me be crystal clear- if you want a dot on your pistol, put one on! I have never encouraged anyone to not get a dot. Equipment choices, however, are driven by various factors that differ from person to person. Let me lay out why I still don’t have a dot on my gun.
I don’t teach beginners. I only teach instructor level and advanced instructor level courses. My students tend to be pretty squared away. I teach around 30 classes a year, all over the US, with 16-20 people in class. I NEVER have a class where no one’s dot fails. Never. Sudden loss of zero, sheared screws, turns itself off unexpectedly—all this and more. I have had from 1-4 dot failures every class in the past 5 years, since we started getting a lot of them in class. I am not going to add glass, circuitry and battery to life-saving emergency equipment if not needed.
Just this past weekend one of the best shooters, a traveling trainer himself, had the dot turn itself off during a drill, costing him a coin. Also, in that class, 3 out of 4 shooters had a dot, but the Casino Coin went to a guy shooting an almost stock G***k with iron sights.
In my case, I wear my gun slightly behind the hip, and have done so for over 50 years. I’m not about to re-train my presentation after literally a couple hundred thousand rep’s. I carry a full size gun (G17) quite well concealed, but a dot makes a tent in my shirt, worn this way. No go.
I was on the range today, shooting my G17 with irons, with practice ball. I shot 195 out of 200 cold on the Baseline Assessment Drill, 291 out of 300 on the Rangemaster Bullseye Course, and 99 out of 100 on the Advanced Instructor Qualification Course. My practice range has a steel C-zone silhouette. To end the session, I went back to 40 yards and hit it 5 for 5. I then backed off to 60 yards and hit it 5 out of 6. I’m not sure what a dot would to improve that.
I have had over 6 dozen students who have reported back after shooting incidents. There was 1 at 15 yards, 1 at 17 yards, and 1 at 22 yards. 92% of them happened between 3 and 7 yards, with most being 3-5 yards. Why would I need a dot for that?
When I balance the theoretical enhancement of the dot with the real world cost (harder concealment, less reliable), I make my own choice. You should do the same.
Tom Givens
Rangemasters
