Annihilator
Emissary
Deleted
Last edited:
Handgun sites
- Thread starter Annihilator
- Start date
RandomHero
Custom
I prefer the Trijicon HD's.
The adjustable blacked out rear is good for daylight competition.
The adjustable blacked out rear is good for daylight competition.
LicensedToPill
Operator
I had fiber optic front sights on my XD-S Mod.2 9mm, and liked them, but realized they were useless in low/no light. I was letting my dogs out at night and heard something in the bushes, so I brought my XD-S out and had no sight picture. I prefer 3 dot tritium. I currently have Trijicon Bright & Tough Night Sights on my S&W M&P9 2.0 Subcompact. I like that the 3 dots are outlined in white for daytime. I did paint the front sight outline in neon orange nail polish to distinguish the front sight better from the rear sights. I have never tried U-Dot tritium sights, but I could see myself liking them.
jmcd
Professional
Exactly why I go with tritium type. I like to know where the gun is pointing at all times
Peglegjoe
Professional
I want to get some tritium - or other type of glow-in-the-dark paint - to re-do my dots on the XDs.
But...I have a Viridian green instant-on laser that I love. Mounts to the rail under the barrel, and clips to the forward part of the trigger guard. Magnet in the holster that turns on the laser when I draw. Draw, place dot, pull trigger, make hole. I have it zeroed at about 5 yards, for EDC use. Two quick allen screws for adjustment (windage and elevation), if I need to re-zero it.
But...I have a Viridian green instant-on laser that I love. Mounts to the rail under the barrel, and clips to the forward part of the trigger guard. Magnet in the holster that turns on the laser when I draw. Draw, place dot, pull trigger, make hole. I have it zeroed at about 5 yards, for EDC use. Two quick allen screws for adjustment (windage and elevation), if I need to re-zero it.
Great question - great discussion.
This is sooooooooooooooo highly subjective: each of us "sees" differently, and that's even affected by age and disease.
For me, so far, I've found that I take the the red highlight on front fiber-optics pretty well, and I learned through some time on several different handguns owned by a friend that I really liked a narrow front post/wide rear notch setup. Currently, on my XDms, I'm running Dawson Precision's .100 x .205 FO up front, with a matched .125 notch Charger rear (for robust single-handed manipulations), installed by @xdman . The Charger rear is a plain one, no dots or outlines, and is a very "blocky" shape, which I find to be less distracting.
Over the past 8 years, I can't think of the number of times I've rammed the rear into barricades for single-handed manipulations or have otherwise banged-up the gun overall, and these sights - and xdman's excellent install - have remained true. While there certainly are battle-worthy/proven adjustable rear units, I simply find it convenient to pick the right sight height and get a good install, and to then verify POA/POI for myself.
So far - I'm now 45 - my eyesight is holding out and I can still see the front pretty clearly, but I'm seeing (no pun intended) more and more the benefits of a micro-RDS. I'll likely go the route of an enclosed unit like the Aimpoint ARCO or the Holosun HE509T within the next few years. For the time being, though, I still appreciate what my current setup offers me, both in terms of close-in speed and, to an extent, acceptable accuracy/precision when the target starts to either shrink or push distance. Towards the latter, yes, it's undeniable that the extra daylight on either side of the front post demands more attention when lining up for such shots, but at my rather embarrassingly basic skill level, I find that I'm still OK out to about the 75 yard line with my current setup: between it and the 100, I start to struggle a bit. (Don't worry, I'll get better!
)
For me, for my lifestyle, I see only very limited advantages to tritium illumination. Instead, I choose to equip my defensive weapons with mounted WMLs and devote time/resources to train to use it as well as stand-alone handhelds in live-fire low-light classes.
^ Pictures by Apex Shooting & Tactics, Low-Light Handgun, March 2016.
On the left is the Surefire XC-1 on my XDm9 3.8 Compact, tackling for it very hard ambient conditions: The Rittman Police Department Range is surfaced with cinders from the Morton Salt processing plant that sits across the railroad tracks. While it's awesome in that any kind of precipitation dries up almost instantly and thus offers excellent footing (even though it is also absolutely loaded with spent cases), its black, sooty surfaces soak up any and all available light. Combined with carbon fouling on the small lens of this light, it made even this 10-yard target seem like it's a mile away. Even so, there was more than sufficient light to silhouette my sights (muzzle blast provided a cool-factor for this picture, but is actually just an artifact of the range-fodder ammo that I shot that night [Remington UMC bulk, 115 gr.]).
On the right is the same gun, but supported with the 500 lumens/16.5K candela Surefire EB2-T handeld.
....and rifle
^ Picture courtesy of Practically Tactical: Partners Shoot-House class held at the Alliance PD Training Facility, April 2016.
This was the last daylight run heading into the low-light portion of the 3-day class. That's a Malkoff Hound-Dog 18650 that occupied the front of the gun (it's since been usurped by Modlites, of which I keep a 5K-PLH/18350 routinely on-gun, running its big-brother OKW/18650 combo as the sun dips below the horizon). Much like using a powerful white-light with the handgun, it simply turns the etched reticle black, while at longer distances on darker backgrounds, the daylight visible reticle illumination helps with contrast.
For me, it's vital that I absolutely positively ID the threat prior to engaging, and without night-vision, I need powerful white-lights. With this tactic, having tritium-impregnated night-sights becomes less valuable, as when the white-light goes on, they're silhouetted just like any other sights.
That said, I do own handguns with tritium inserts in their irons, which I do think is advantageous in various tactical scenarios (i.e. sufficient light to PID, but insufficient to resolve non-highlighted sights: http://pistol-training.com/archives/7668). My preference with tritium night-sights is for only the front to be illuminated (to lessen the chances of front/rear interposition), and what's more, to also have the tritium tube highlighted by a photoluminescent surround (like what's found on the Trijicon HD-series sights). During transitional lighting - going from bright ambient lighting to dim - I find the charged photoluminescent surround to really help me pick up the front sight before my eyes are able to fully adjust and pick up the dimmer tritium glow.
Towards the latter, I'd actually like to move to a good modern light/laser combo on both my EDC/HD handguns and their range/training copies, for the advantages in transitional lighting that Claude Werner cited (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/laser-or-irons.150/#post-2981) as well as for more utility when shooting from unconventional/disadvantaged positions.
Overall, I don't think that *_anyone's_* choice in sights can possibly be wrong.
As I noted in the very beginning of my reply here, we all "see" differently - and that's even before age and disease come into play.
Particularly with that last in-mind, I think that folks should be willing to be flexible and open-minded where it comes to sights, and not be afraid to experiment and to continue to learn about them: to see what may come of something new, or to even revisit the old. Furthermore, I'd also like to give everyone the friendly challenge to really get out there and use your sights in a variety of conditions, to truly prove to yourself that you are indeed seeing what you're thinking you're going to see, and that you are comfortable with the compromises -the pros and cons- that any of the myriad hardware and their setups demand. 
To-wit:
How many of the top-tier shooters we all can name off the tips of our tongue have a set of pistol sights named after them and sold with their endorsement? They're not all the same sights, are they?
As with carbine slings, I find it helpful to try the hardware while understanding what each of their namesake instructors/trainers/shooters designed that piece of hardware for. Ask these top-tier shooters as well as the fellow shooters you meet at the range or in training classes the same questions that Annihilator posed at the beginning of this thread: both what is their hardware setup and why have they set it up in this manner? What are its advantages? What are its shortcomings?
This is sooooooooooooooo highly subjective: each of us "sees" differently, and that's even affected by age and disease.
For me, so far, I've found that I take the the red highlight on front fiber-optics pretty well, and I learned through some time on several different handguns owned by a friend that I really liked a narrow front post/wide rear notch setup. Currently, on my XDms, I'm running Dawson Precision's .100 x .205 FO up front, with a matched .125 notch Charger rear (for robust single-handed manipulations), installed by @xdman . The Charger rear is a plain one, no dots or outlines, and is a very "blocky" shape, which I find to be less distracting.
Over the past 8 years, I can't think of the number of times I've rammed the rear into barricades for single-handed manipulations or have otherwise banged-up the gun overall, and these sights - and xdman's excellent install - have remained true. While there certainly are battle-worthy/proven adjustable rear units, I simply find it convenient to pick the right sight height and get a good install, and to then verify POA/POI for myself.
So far - I'm now 45 - my eyesight is holding out and I can still see the front pretty clearly, but I'm seeing (no pun intended) more and more the benefits of a micro-RDS. I'll likely go the route of an enclosed unit like the Aimpoint ARCO or the Holosun HE509T within the next few years. For the time being, though, I still appreciate what my current setup offers me, both in terms of close-in speed and, to an extent, acceptable accuracy/precision when the target starts to either shrink or push distance. Towards the latter, yes, it's undeniable that the extra daylight on either side of the front post demands more attention when lining up for such shots, but at my rather embarrassingly basic skill level, I find that I'm still OK out to about the 75 yard line with my current setup: between it and the 100, I start to struggle a bit. (Don't worry, I'll get better!
)For me, for my lifestyle, I see only very limited advantages to tritium illumination. Instead, I choose to equip my defensive weapons with mounted WMLs and devote time/resources to train to use it as well as stand-alone handhelds in live-fire low-light classes.
^ Pictures by Apex Shooting & Tactics, Low-Light Handgun, March 2016.
On the left is the Surefire XC-1 on my XDm9 3.8 Compact, tackling for it very hard ambient conditions: The Rittman Police Department Range is surfaced with cinders from the Morton Salt processing plant that sits across the railroad tracks. While it's awesome in that any kind of precipitation dries up almost instantly and thus offers excellent footing (even though it is also absolutely loaded with spent cases), its black, sooty surfaces soak up any and all available light. Combined with carbon fouling on the small lens of this light, it made even this 10-yard target seem like it's a mile away. Even so, there was more than sufficient light to silhouette my sights (muzzle blast provided a cool-factor for this picture, but is actually just an artifact of the range-fodder ammo that I shot that night [Remington UMC bulk, 115 gr.]).
On the right is the same gun, but supported with the 500 lumens/16.5K candela Surefire EB2-T handeld.
....and rifle
^ Picture courtesy of Practically Tactical: Partners Shoot-House class held at the Alliance PD Training Facility, April 2016.
This was the last daylight run heading into the low-light portion of the 3-day class. That's a Malkoff Hound-Dog 18650 that occupied the front of the gun (it's since been usurped by Modlites, of which I keep a 5K-PLH/18350 routinely on-gun, running its big-brother OKW/18650 combo as the sun dips below the horizon). Much like using a powerful white-light with the handgun, it simply turns the etched reticle black, while at longer distances on darker backgrounds, the daylight visible reticle illumination helps with contrast.
For me, it's vital that I absolutely positively ID the threat prior to engaging, and without night-vision, I need powerful white-lights. With this tactic, having tritium-impregnated night-sights becomes less valuable, as when the white-light goes on, they're silhouetted just like any other sights.
That said, I do own handguns with tritium inserts in their irons, which I do think is advantageous in various tactical scenarios (i.e. sufficient light to PID, but insufficient to resolve non-highlighted sights: http://pistol-training.com/archives/7668). My preference with tritium night-sights is for only the front to be illuminated (to lessen the chances of front/rear interposition), and what's more, to also have the tritium tube highlighted by a photoluminescent surround (like what's found on the Trijicon HD-series sights). During transitional lighting - going from bright ambient lighting to dim - I find the charged photoluminescent surround to really help me pick up the front sight before my eyes are able to fully adjust and pick up the dimmer tritium glow.
Towards the latter, I'd actually like to move to a good modern light/laser combo on both my EDC/HD handguns and their range/training copies, for the advantages in transitional lighting that Claude Werner cited (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/laser-or-irons.150/#post-2981) as well as for more utility when shooting from unconventional/disadvantaged positions.
Overall, I don't think that *_anyone's_* choice in sights can possibly be wrong.
As I noted in the very beginning of my reply here, we all "see" differently - and that's even before age and disease come into play.
Particularly with that last in-mind, I think that folks should be willing to be flexible and open-minded where it comes to sights, and not be afraid to experiment and to continue to learn about them: to see what may come of something new, or to even revisit the old. Furthermore, I'd also like to give everyone the friendly challenge to really get out there and use your sights in a variety of conditions, to truly prove to yourself that you are indeed seeing what you're thinking you're going to see, and that you are comfortable with the compromises -the pros and cons- that any of the myriad hardware and their setups demand.
To-wit:
How many of the top-tier shooters we all can name off the tips of our tongue have a set of pistol sights named after them and sold with their endorsement?
They're not all the same sights, are they?As with carbine slings, I find it helpful to try the hardware while understanding what each of their namesake instructors/trainers/shooters designed that piece of hardware for. Ask these top-tier shooters as well as the fellow shooters you meet at the range or in training classes the same questions that Annihilator posed at the beginning of this thread: both what is their hardware setup and why have they set it up in this manner? What are its advantages? What are its shortcomings?
Last edited:
Caanuride
Operator
I like a front sight that clearly contrasts....I really like fiber optic front sights for daytime shooting. If I even think I may use the gun at night, it gets Night Fision sights. They are incredibly bright at night and the ring around the front sight is super for daytime/bright light shooting.
Keystone19250
SAINT
Well there was one thing I didn’t like about my 1911 RO was the front and rear sites both being black. With my old tired eyes it was difficult to line the front site in the notch in the rear site. I didn’t want to start changing out the sites so a few drops of day glow orange paint on the serrated ramp of the front site allows me line them quicker and get on target faster.
