I’m practicing with my new Glock 30. I keep shooting low. While it’s easy enough to compensate, and Glocks have a different point of aim than Springfields, I blame the Glock’s sights. I reckon they’re a lot harder to line-up on the vertical plane than traditional three dots. So I’m swapping them out for greater accuracy. Meanwhile, I’m having an XS Big Dot mounted on an a customized Ruger SP101 revolver. The dot is ace for CQB. So what sights do you use? Are they original equipment? How important are night sights?
Recently acquired an HK 45. The stock sights are pretty bad but the gun might be the most inherently accurate handgun I’ve shot. The slide is at Heinie right now getting a set of Straight Eight QWIK Night Sights. I like the night sights in a pinch, but with a dedicated weapon light the black outline stands out better than daylight. Paint pens work well to brighten up the front sight too.
I’m not too picky. I have learned from personal experience that given the option for night sights, I’d much rather have them as not. That was the same night I was wishing I had a tactical light attached to my Beretta-it’s a bitch trying to open doors as you hold a spotlight and a pistol clearing a building. Add to it a Naval Base radio and you can imagine. I also really like the Hi Viz sights like on my S&W 340PD. I love the glowing front sight. I’d truly like to see about a Hi Viz set up on a front post/rear aperture on a rifle, but I tend to rely on a laser for quick, close firing.
I’m with you on replacing the Glock sights. Just replaced them last night. Now the G19 which is now running Sevigny carry sights with a tritium front. Still have to take them out to the range, but I’m really digging them so far.
XS Big Dot or a fiber optic front sight (green preferred) with a V-notch adjustable rear sight. Very fast alignment combination. At night, a built-in or grip laser that is easy to turn on/off without shifting your grip on the handgun.
Let’s face it: all OE handgun sights are inadequate (especially for my old eyes). Big Dots or fiox are so far superior that there’s really no comparison. Night sights? Meh.
I generally replace all the sights on pistols I intend to keep with tritium, three dots sights.
I’ve got the XS big dot an a G27, and it works OK for that pistol, but I’m not rushing out to replicate on my other pistols. For me, the XS transforms a pistol from a precision instrument to minute of bad guy.
As a heads up, I’ve also had a great deal of luck installing tritium dots in sights that are dialed in. Did it on my HK P7 for example, and it worked great. Check out MMC sights in Las Vegas for that service. http://www.mmcsight.com/
My Glock 30 now sports Advantage Tactical Sights. In my limited shooting so far I can’t say whether they get me on target any faster than the old Glock sights although I think they should.
I use XS Big Dots on my various carry guns. The various three dot sights that are de rigor these days, I can’t stand them. I either blacken out the rear dots or replace the sights completely. On a couple of game guns I have Dawson Precision fiber optic fronts with wide notch rears.
I’m not a big fan of 3 dot sights, I prefer a 2 dot like they have on the M9, although the adjustable sights that came on my Blackhawk were actually pretty nice after adding a little bit of modeling enamel. I put fluorescent red on the front ramp, and then white around the rear notch (it came with a groove cut into it that seems designed for this purpose) and now they’re great. They come from the factory blued the same color as the gun, so there’s no contrast, which pretty much sucks.
I much prefer Glock sights to the three dot system, but I suppose different people probably process visual information differently.
You shouldn’t really be using the dots anyway. Use the outline of the front sight and the bars of light on either side. A dot/fiber optic/red ramp/gold bead/tritium insert in the front can be good for helping focus on the front, and staying on it through recoil, but ultimately it’s that relationship of dark & light that gets you high accuracy, not the alignment of any shapes on the sights themselves.
I have tried just about every arrangement of sight known to man, and I’m not that picky, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be a green TFO front with a serrated and undercut (if possible) plain black rear.
I have the green TFO’s on my Kimbers, and their the best sights I’ve ever tried. Their easy to see during the day and the glow at night, so you get the best of both worlds.
Apparently I lucked out. I’m relatively inexperienced with handguns (especially compared to this crowd) but the original sights on my Glock 20SF are the most comfortable I’ve ever used and I’m significantly faster and more accurate with it than the three dot on my XD40SC. I’ve only shot a few other handguns so I don’t have much to compare them too though.
Diamond Speed Sights speedsights.com
Fast and precise
Make sure you call them, as the site aint always updated to show what’s in stock. Great service by phone though, and return guarantee. Highly recommended. Get the night version.
Also highly recommend Ameriglo if you want virtually any style of conventional/night sights. They stand by their products and have tons of options ameriglo.com
I always thought the standard Glock sights were okay–until I had them changed. I realized immediately that I was hitting more accurately with 3-dot Meprolight night sights than before. I’ve since had Meprolight night sights installed on all my Glocks.
I prefer 3-dot sights and I like night sights. All my autoloaders have either standard 3-dot sights or 3-dot night sights. Three-dots fit my vision better than any others I’ve tried. The dot-the-I sights work pretty good for me too. Standard black sights are impossible for my aged eyes. Paint on the front sights of revolvers help a little.
While some people say they prefer standard sights over night sights because they need to use a flashlight in darkness to identify the target and using night sights would not be of any use. Well, I don’t agree. In total darkness, you certainly have to use a flashlight to identify the target but night sights really come into their own at those times when the light is low but not non-existent. The soft glow of tritium under these circumstances is much easier for me to align quickly than non-tritium sights.
On one of my .45’s, I have a set of Heine Figure 8 sights. They take a while to get used to, but once that happens, they are good for iron sights.
Now that you mention it, I never even considered changing the sights on my guns. The PX4s came with 3 dot sights and they seem to work fine.
The .32NAA… well lets just say sights are not a priority.
The Five-seveN came with adjustable 3 dot sights and my wife has no problem with them. Nor do I on the rare occasion that she lets me shoot it.
The three dot night sights on my Sigs really work for me. With my old eyes, I find it easier to align the dots than to line up the flat tops of the front and rear sights. When checking the sights in the low light around my apartment at night (with a triple-checked unloaded weapon of course), I can really pick up the Sig night sights.
I purchased a Glock 27. Changed the sights to trijjicon Hd ,3 dot night and day orange on front sight. Haven’t taken to the range yet. But my line of sight seems much better . Standard Glock sights really are bad. Mine were $125 through the website. 40 bucks installed. I really like the trijjicon’s ability to use rear sight as a one handed rack in case of emergency. They are cast iron and worth every penny I feel.