Never in the exuberance of my youth did I think I would be writing an article on senior citizen upgrades for concealed carry pistols. However, having been dragged into senior citizenry kicking and screaming, I’ve found a few tools can help older generations continue to be active and effective shooters.
Smith & Wesson produces a number of guns specifically for shooters with declining or low hand strength. You can look into their extensive EZ lineup — so named because of the operating action and easy-to-rack nature of the slide. However, I was not interested in trading away the S&W I love, the Smith & Wesson M2.0 Compact with 15-round magazine capacity.
Optimizing Iron Sights
I was still working as an officer when I noticed certain deficits starting to appear while at the shooting range. It was becoming difficult to see the sights of my handguns in low light, even with Tritium inserts. But while testing guns for review at some of the newest updated indoor ranges more recently, my need for upgraded sights became more apparent. I did not seem to have the same troubles outdoors in natural light.
My M&P came equipped with tall, plain white three-dot sights designed to be co-witnessed to a red-dot optic. Now I understand why the younger generations of defensive shooters prefer red-dot optics. They do offer some advantages, such as a single focal plane for aiming and a parallax-free sight picture. And while a red-dot optic does offer some speed advantages in terms of sight acquisition, I’m not sure that pistol-mounted red dots are for all senior shooters.
XS Sight Systems — specifically the DXT-2 Big Dot Sights — are the best sights for aging eyes. And they’re the easiest ones to get aligned under dim/difficult lighting conditions. The DXT-2 sights are modeled after express gun sights used on double rifles for close-range dangerous game. The most important feature is the shallow trough of rear sight. That rear trough blocks very little of the handgun sight picture, giving the user full visual control of the unfolding scene.
For proper alignment of the front and rear sight, you simply make a “lollipop” by aligning the Big Dot on top of the rear stripe. You can teach someone sight alignment much faster using the XS DXT-2 sights than with any other handgun sight system because there really is only one point of alignment. The DXT-2 on my M&P features a tritium dot surrounded by a vivid orange circular outline. And the rear stripe is also tritium rather than plain.
Enhance Slide Control
I use a traditional thumb and finger pinch to function the slide of the 1911 Colt .45 automatic. However, if the slide grooves are not extremely close together, I have problems retracting it. Such is the case with modern iterations of the 1911 and Glocks, as well as my S&W M&P.
Talon Grips purchased what was formerly known as the Arachnigrip Slide Spider. They then expanded the lineup to include Gun Grips in addition to Slide Grips. No matter how you grasp your slide, Talon Grips will allow you to do it in a non-slip fashion. The fingers of the Talon Slide Grips fill in the grooves between the slide ridges, allowing your fingertips traction to move the slide.
It’s absolutely brilliant in conception. I guarantee you will be amazed at how much your ability to grasp the slide improves. It will enhance your charging, clearing, unloading and reloading.
Laser Aiming Devices
A good laser sighting system, such as the Crimson Trace CMR-206 Universal Rail Green Laser Sight, can greatly improve shots on target. The CMR-206 snaps onto the front rail system and gives fingertip control of the green laser dot system. It is extremely light and easily operated by simply pushing the lever on either side of the trigger guard. I have mine set for pulsating mode when activated.
With a laser-dot sighting system in place, you can accurately fire your pistol without any sort of reference alignment and get solid hits on a threatening target. If you can see the green dot somewhere on the target, you can get a solid hit. A good laser sight represents the biggest tactical advantage for senior citizens without interfering with your view of an ongoing situation.
Concealed Carry Is Still Possible
I’m not happy that physiological changes are occurring which affect my shooting ability. But I am glad there are ways of making adjustments to tighten up my skills. So far, they are working very well, and will hopefully continue to compensate for any further degradation for a long time to come.
Sources:
Smith & Wesson: Smith-Wesson.com
XS Sights: XSSights.com
Talon Grips: TalonGunGrips.com
Crimson Trace: CrimsonTrace.com
