If you really want night sights Iād go tritium front, preferably painted like the Trijicon HDs, and a solid black rear. I prefer a fiber front and black rear.
I like a dot over dot figure eight configuration. The back dot is smaller, dimmer and slightly different color, yellowish tone. Front sight is larger, brighter and green.
I have night sights on several of my handguns, but I don't believe I will invest in any more sets or recharging dead ones down the line. I just don't see them well enough at this point to feel they're worth it. Weapon Mounted Lights and red dots from here on out for me.
- When "night sights" started to become standard equipment on LE service pistols in the late 80's, I immediately saw an increase in night time qualification scores. Interestingly, the degree of improvement was fairly inverse relative to shooter skill. In other words, the better shooter's scores didn't improve that much but the marginal shooters experienced the most benefit.
- In contrast, that phenomenon didn't measurably translate to an increase in hit percentages on bad guys in actual shootings.
- The configuration of luminous sights (dots, bars, front & back, front only, etc) is largely a subjective matter and I've seen folks do well with all of the iterations available.
- As for the service life issue, the tritium ampules can be replaced but in my mind the juice just ain't worth the squeeze (in most cases) and I just replace them when they die.
Take it or leave it, but here are my observations. I used to be all about night sights and put them on every handgun I owned that ever got in my rotation of defensive guns and the gun I carried on duty. I still have them on my duty gun because policy requires them. I use Ameriglo āSpartan Tacticalā sights because the rear vials have no paint around them and the sight looks black otherwise with a big orange front sight. They are also lower profile than Trijicon HDs, which are my next favorite.
When bright LED flashlights and weapon lights with 300+ lumens came out, I started to realize they wash out night sights. But, you get a great outline, so it didnāt effect my shooting. I them tried a fiber optic front with black rear sight and was amazed how well that jumps out at you when using a bright flashlight or weapon light. My personal guns now have that configuration.
My edc light was an older incandescent Surefire Aviator which didnāt wash out my sights as bad. Now I edc a Streamlight Protac 1L and duty carry that and a couple Surefire G2zx āCombat Lightsā, with Surefire X300U-B lights on my duty gun and house gun.
For me, seriously, night sights biggest advantage is being able to find your gun in the dark. I think if you have a rail, a light is a much better investment. If you add them, i would go with contrasting dots i.e. green/orange, or like Kensights box rear with dot front.
If you really want night sights Iād go tritium front, preferably painted like the Trijicon HDs, and a solid black rear. I prefer a fiber front and black rear.
I like that setup myself. Trijicon FOs on a PPQ 45, shown here in CQB against charging round bales.
how are those RMR and other red dot pistol sights with bright weapons lights?
It depends on the RMR. The dual power tritium/fiber optics will washout when transition from dark to light areas. The LED with adjustable brightness works well as long as the brightness is appropriately adjusted. The biggest thing you can do to nullify this is to have cowitnessed sights. Use irons during transitions and have the RMR set to work with what the predominate light level is.
I like a dot over dot figure eight configuration. The back dot is smaller, dimmer and slightly different color, yellowish tone. Front sight is larger, brighter and green.
Yep. If you are doing front and rear, they should be different in some obvious way.
If you really want night sights Iād go tritium front, preferably painted like the Trijicon HDs, and a solid black rear. I prefer a fiber front and black rear.
I like that setup myself. Trijicon FOs on a PPQ 45, shown here in CQB against charging round bales.
I've got Trijicon HD's on several guns and like the ones with the painted orange front (encircling the tritium). I like having the contrasting front sight and also like fiber front and solid black rear sights. I much prefer these set ups to 3-dot white sights and such.
I will add this observation though. Our club has started doing some night matches. Night sights and a hand held flashlight took a quick backseat to a weapon mounted light. Even better (for me) was to also have a weapon mounted laser or a red dot (I've used both in matches). The good lights usually washed out the night sights. Having a laser or red dot along with the weapon mounted lights dramatically increased my acquisition and engagement of the target. Consequently, changes have been made to house and carry guns.
Just curious how many of you use them, or feel they are a game changer?
The downside I see is.....over time they fade........do the major mfg. 'restore' the tritium for a fee?
well, what did you decide bud? in my opinion at least a front sight with tritium is a must on a defensive pistol. i'm crazed by the ameriglo hackathorn sights for my various glocks. i used to have to have 3 white dots with green tritium in the middle of the white dot. but, lately i've come to the conclusion that the hi viz orange front sight with green tritium in the middle of the orange and blacked out rears are the way to go,again personally and sights are most definitely a personal thang. i have not noticed any reduction in defensive accuracy by going with just a front night sight. Big Ed
Just curious how many of you use them, or feel they are a game changer?
The downside I see is.....over time they fade........do the major mfg. 'restore' the tritium for a fee?
I would get dual tritium with hi-viz fiber inserts. The only good thing about plain tritium sights is that when new gun can be located in dark room. They are useless for shooting at night because one has to know what they're shooting at and that is why combat light is needed. The hi-viz inserts show up very well when light is used.
If you really want night sights Iād go tritium front, preferably painted like the Trijicon HDs, and a solid black rear. I prefer a fiber front and black rear.
I like that setup myself. Trijicon FOs on a PPQ 45, shown here in CQB against charging round bales.
