“Finding the dot” or “fishing for the dot” is one of the biggest challenges for shooters transitioning from front-sight focused shooting using iron sights to target-focused shooting with a red dot.
While instructors can articulate the finer points of grip angles, sighting planes, sight heights, bore axes and focusing on the target, the fact is, nothing is as helpful for the trainee as dedicated practice and repetition with a red-dot equipped pistol. This is especially important with regards to the correct target presentation, draw stroke and sight picture. This raises the question, can you rely on hardware to help fix this “software” issue?
The ACSS Vulcan Reticle
To help answer that question, at least one optics company has fielded a unique solution to help new shooters index on their red-dot sights properly: Primary Arms Optics.
Primary Arms Optics offers the ACSS Vulcan red-dot compound reticle inside of a Holosun HS507C-X2 optic, one of the company's most popular models which uses the RMR footprint.
The ACSS Vulcan reticle consists of Primary Arms’ signature central aiming chevron surrounded by a massive 230-MOA ring. When the shooter is looking through the sight in the correct manner, this massive ring cannot be seen. However, if the shooter happens to be looking through their sight off-kilter, they will see some portion of this 230-MOA ring. Its purpose is to show up as a guardrail against improper red-dot sight alignment. This is especially prone to happen as a shooter struggles to align their reticle with the target and fishes for the red-dot itself.
If the gun is pointed too low, the shooter will see the upper portion of this massive ring. Too far to the right, and they’ll see the left arc. Too high, and they’ll see the bottom arc and so on.
The Holosun HS507C-X2 has a multi-reticle function. The outer ring can be turned off when no longer needed and/or to save battery. I just wished the central aiming point was a standard 3- to 6-MOA red dot instead of a chevron. That way, this unit would feel more like a standard red dot with the ring disabled.
ACSS Vulcan Value As A Training Aid
It would be too easy to simply say “just get a regular red-dot sight and learn to shoot it the normal way.” That’s certainly a feasible option, and something that many do in fact end up doing. Maybe this approach isn’t the end-all to red-dot presentation and fishing expeditions, but it’s commendable that Primary Arms and Holosun offer this one-of-a-kind reflex sight to help solve a significant red-dot training issue.
The ACSS Vulcan Reticle is nothing new, and it has been on my radar for some time. I might have dismissed it in the past, thinking it wasn’t serious. But I’m also someone that shoots and trains regularly which is a privilege and a luxury. I know too well that isn't necessarily a possibility for everyone.
Who is to say that someone else at a different skill level, learning style or with a different access to training may not benefit from the “corrective guardrail” that is the massive outer 230-MOA ring?
The ACSS Up The Sleeve?
After observing other shooters and factoring in my personal experience, there’s a shooting scenario where the outer ring is really helpful: single-handed pistol shooting. Even those with reasonable red-dot experience tend to lag behind and fish for the dot when they draw and shoot with one hand only. And if it’s using the support hand, it gets even more challenging. I was at a pistol match whose classifier involved shooting the target array single-handed with either hand across two separate runs. The guy whose pistol had an ACSS Vulcan easily lapped everyone else as the outer ring allowed him to quickly adjust on the fly.
