{"id":1045,"date":"2026-03-23T09:02:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2026-03-23T09:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:02:29","slug":"window-size-doesnt-really-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/window-size-doesnt-really-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Window Size Doesn’t Really Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been busy, testing different pistol optics to get a good idea of what works for me. This is especially so considering I’ve decided I’m going to shoot pistols with optics from now on. The reasoning here is that I don’t normally get to decide what pistol I get to shoot overseas. I decided having an optic to help with learning sight acquisition would help speed up the learning curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One thing I’ve become very curious about is whether the different window sizes of pistol dots, actually make a difference. Naturally you would assume that the larger window would help with finding the dot. It should also be more forgiving for awkward positioning. Coming from shooting with iron sights, I found it easier to have my optics co-witnessed and honestly that feels like something that has been more important to me than window size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first started shooting with optics, I had the Shield SMS which is a small window red dot with a very good co witness. It is an ideal optic for transitioning from shooting irons to optics, but the window size is smaller than the alternatives used in the competition circuit. I did not find myself needing a larger window size as I found that even if I aligned the irons on my pistol, I could easily see the red dot as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visual aiming with a pistol is essentially more of a confirmation than anything else. I was taught on the dynamics of point shooting and that my sight picture was only confirming my aim as opposed to dictating it. That meant that if I couldn’t find the dot, it was essentially due to my positioning behind the handgun and not whether I could find the dot due to the window size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did eventually move on to a much larger optic for my pistol. That would be the Holosun 507 Comp. With one of the biggest window sizes available on a pistol and a large choice of reticules to use. This red dot is ideal for people like me, who don’t actually know what they want from a red dot. I started playing with all the different reticule options, but essentially fell back to a single dot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In principle, I was hoping that a small ring reticule would help my astigmatism, but honestly the best way to deal with an astigmatism, is to either train to deal with it, or to wear prescription lenses. I personally have trained it, but would like to get prescription lenses at some point. As I’ve gotten older, my astigmatism has definitely become noticable, especially for longer range shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I noticed with the window size of the Holosun, was that I found myself fishing for the dot more. I’m using the same pistol and can somewhat co-witness with the irons. But due to the larger window size, I found myself initially having to hunt for the red dot. I think this may have been due to the slightly raised height of the housing, but think something else was also factoring in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if I’m sub-consciously getting lazy with my positioning behind the handgun. I know I have more window size to play with, but I never had an issue with it when using the Shield SMS. This is where I started my investigation into whether the window size truely matters when shooting with handguns. Or whether this is just a training issue and I just happened to experience the Shield SMS a bit better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing worth noting that the window size is not the only factor that could be causing these behavioural disrepancies. The coating on the lens, the size of the red dot and the lens distortion used to correct the image through the lens, are factors that could effect this. Ideally, I would be comparing two red dots from the same manufacturer, with similar properties other than the window size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe that is something I will look into doing in the near future. But I’m still very curious and want to experiment further into this theory. It could be possible that coming from irons to optics has made the window size less of an issue to start with. It could also be that I’m shooting with the Holosun faster, but having to compensate for the added laziness in positioning behind the handgun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it’s worth asking what you think? Is it possible that my discovery is in line with your experience. Am I missing something that could account for what I’m thinking? It is certain that if I want to be more scientific about this, I will have to remove the extra factors. What pistol optics do you use that you find work for you best? Until then, I’m going to keep practicing with the Holosun, and see if I notice anything else with the larger window.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have been busy, testing different pistol optics to get a good idea of what works for me.…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-experiences"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1051,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions\/1051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mockachino.co.uk\/shoots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}