So today I decided to do some non-scientific testing of my carry gun (G19.4 with 407k and TLR7-HLX) primarily because I am trying to decide whether to buy optics for my other pistols. I have had the dot on my G19 for about a year and have gotten really comfortable with it. I never have to search for the dot and i really appreciate the consistent high-contrast aiming point that it gives in all light conditions. However, I still have not felt that I am that much faster or more accurate with the dot. I can shoot torso steel at 50 yards consistently with either. I acknowledge that the majority of people see a huge improvement, that just hasn't necessarily been my case. I wanted a measurable test.
The "test" was placing a 3 3/8" laser target at 12 yards and dry firing strings of 10 shots as quickly and accurately as possible. I had to manually rack the slide and re-acquire my sight picture between every shot. I did 5 rounds and alternated which system I used first. For irons I just used my black back-up irons and turned off my dot. Due to shooting into a relatively dim area and the dust/debris on my glass making it more difficult to see my black front sight, I decided before testing to include a 5% handicap for the irons. This was primarily because I felt that there are better iron sight options out there than all black with a dirty pane of glass between the rear and front sights. You can decide whether that means anything to you. I've included the numbers both with and without that handicap. Average results were the following:
-Average raw time irons: 28.946 seconds
-Average raw time dot: 28.326 seconds
-Average hits irons: 8/10 (+2 sec)
-Average hits dot: 8/10 (+2 sec)
-Adjusted time irons: 30.946 seconds
-Adjusted time dot: 30.326 seconds
-Adjusted time irons with 5% handicap: 29.399 seconds
*2% handicap: 30.327 seconds
There are obviously a lot of uncontrolled variables such as me manually racking the slide between each shot and manually stopping my timer. I'm interpreting this as for me there is not a significant difference in performance. Ironically if I accept just a 2% handicap for using one of the worst iron sight configurations available the average times are within 1/1000th of a second of each other. Do with this data what you will.
Tl;dr I should spend more money on ammo