Look I'm a fairly skilled player and I'm usually on the top of the list. Its not a question of me getting owned as you like to read it, because you lack a proper argument. It's simply something unrealistic and harmful to the gameplay. Because of that, it's annoying and should be fixed. I've yet to hear a proper argument against this:
Problem is, if you're about to go around a corner and expect an enemy there, you will want to pull up the iron sights because otherwise you have a great chance of missing. Therefore as you approach the corner, you press the iron sights key and it begins to bring up the sights. Just as you have clicked the button, an enemy comes around the corner about 1-2 meters away, aiming at you, ready to gun you down.
What would you do IRL? You'd not wait until you can bring up the sights, you'd just pull the trigger already!
What would you do in RO? Well because you're mystically stuck in the iron sights animation, your avatar suffers from a temporary, unrealistic inability to pull the trigger. All you can do is stand there and watch him take a shot at you because you cannot do a thing being stuck in the IS animation. You can't shoot him or run away or anything else like that. Well, you could go prone, but at that range he's not going to miss you even if you do, plus that is COMPLETELY unrealistic nobody would do that IRL. They'd just shoot.
Finally, yes, the freeaim area IS way exaggerated. I know from my personal shooting experience that in the real life, it is MUCH, I say again, MUCH easier to hit a man-sized target at close ranges than in RO. That, plus R/L if you begin to bring up the sights you're perfectly able to interrupt your action and take a shot like that, but in RO you can't do that, you're stuck in the animation.
. IN REAL LIFE NO ONE DID IT! IT HAS NO PURPOSE IN REAL LIFE, therefore it CAN'T be realistic.
