Laser as Backup Sight

Let's take a look at the way I've got this avidity semi-automatic pistol in this case set up. This is a 300 blackout, obviously it's suppressed. I've got a red dot site. I've got the prism from Gideon on there microprism, and I've got a laser. I've got a micro laser from Vridian mounted up on top.

Now we've got plenty of videos showing why I like to mount it on top, but let's specifically talk about the fact that I am using this. As a backup site in this case it's not a backup iron site it's a backup optical site, but it's the laser that I'm gonna be looking for at close range when I need to have visual reference for aiming and this dot goes down. Now in the case of the Gideon, of course it's got an etched radical which makes it even more relevant for why I'm choosing to have a laser as a backup instead of irons which I might want to see through. This optic, even if I only had a front sight that popped up and I was gonna use the optic plan on using the optic as a kind of ghost ring for a front site, all of those things we've talked about, but the reality is now that we're seeing more and more high quality optics with etched radicals, so if the light goes out you still see the black radical. It's not just about the settings being wrong or it being too dim or the battery dying or electrical failure of some kind.

If we have a glass failure, maybe something hit it, maybe it cracks, maybe it gets condensation, it gets blood, it gets rain, something has happened to make it so that I can't see through this optic. That's where the optical backup, the the laser instead of an iron sight is really gonna make a lot of sense. Let's take a look at what I'm talking about. If I bring the gun up and I have my dot or I have my etched radical, no big deal. Get the hits that I need to get.

Maybe I'm at close range inside of the house and I can do kinesthetic alignment if that if I come up, I don't have a dot. I don't have an extra redical. Maybe even if I have this is opaque, but both eyes are open focused on the target again at this distance. No big deal. I'm able to get that hit.

But if I need to go to a higher level of precision, if I need that dot and it's not there, or if I need to be able to see through that optic with an iron sight traditional backup set up. Don't have a quick release. I can't throw it out of the way. What I can do when I come up to shoot is come back, activate the laser, use it as a reference, and then take that shot and get the hit that I need to get. So an optical backup does serve some purposes that iron backups aren't going to, especially when they're all in line.

And with risers, a lot of people are starting to mount their optics really high again sometimes for night vision, sometimes just because that's what looks cool in the. Internet, I'm not sure. One thing it does do when you mount these up really high, which makes sense in some AR setups, some AK setups, you need to be lower right to be with your your eye line off the comb of the stock. You do get more room to mount a laser as an optical backup site and it's definitely something that you should consider, remembering that the laser also gives us the opportunity if I come up and I can't see through here for whatever reason, I need to look over it, I can still use that dot as a reference. And get that hit that I need to get one of the advantages of a laser is a tertiary aiming device after kinesthetic and after traditional visual reference.