Combat Sights Questions

M

Micahweeks

New member
I tried this in the autos section, but I didn't get much input. So, I'm trying it here. I just recently got a brand new G17 RTF to play around with. I have very limited knowledge of the most current innovations in sights, so I'm asking if you guys can offer your opinions on what the best sights are for combat/self-defense shooting from short to intermediate ranges (3 to 30 yards).
 
XS 24/7 night sights

Novak ghost sights

Heine strait eight's

PT night sights

There are more excellent sights out there, but i'll start you off here ;)
 
I like a plain black Heinie rear, and a .10" Dawson fiber-optic front. That's the best combo I've found for hitting what needs hitting.
 
Tritium is best for short and ugly 2 legged conflicts. The smaller the front dot, the more precise your shooting can be... but the harder it is to pick up with your eyes under stress.

I have fiber optic front sights and black v-notch rear sights on both my .44 Redhawks. Gives me excellent dawn/dusk visibility for hunting, and the fiber will pick up ANY ambient light available (if any at all) and stand out more than the black rear sight... so still good for 4-leg toothies stumbling into camp in the middle of the night.

black nonreflective adjustable sights are best for target shooting. Personally, I hate 'em mostly due to the humongous billboard rear sight that tends to come with them. Had a 1911 like that and I'll never have one again. I'd rather have the tiny GI sights than those things.

Tritiums are on the "to-get" list for both my 1911's and my CZ. Right now they are just 3-dot sights.
 
$130 is AWFULLY steep for those things.

I'd try 'em out on a non-SD gun if they were $40 or so. Nothing in them merits a $130 price tag. It's taking the M1 aperture sight and sticking it on a pistol. And adding a hexagonal gimmick to it to make it unique and give it a marketable name.

No wonder you made your own.;)
 
Well he doesn't sell 'em for New Vaqueros :).

Seriously, there's a lot going into these. They're steel-core, high-grade polymer wrapped. And then I say "high grade", I mean I knocked one against my tooth and thought it was the metal version. The advantage to the high-grade plastic is that they don't glint and they won't wear down a corner producing a glint (esp. at the front sight) but they're a royal pain to make accurately that way.

I'm telling y'all flat-out, they're worth it.
 
I'm working on a plastic fabricator and rapid prototyper machine (Google: reprap).

Maybe I'll just make a plastic set once the fabricator is done.

I'm certainly NOT going to pay $130 for $0.23 worth of material and a "possibly" good idea that is unproven.
 
The best all-purpose sight I've ever used on an autoloader is an all black Novak lo-mount wide notch rear, with a Novak gold bead patridge front, as installed in a Series 70 Colt.

I've been able to produce very accurate off hand groups with it, and it picks up quickly and fairly well in low light conditions; and isn't visually confusing when a flash sight picture is necessary. There's plenty of 'space' around the front sight which I've come to prefer in alot of pistols.

That said, the pistol that sits on my nightstand wears standard 3-dot night sights, mostly because it aids finding the thing in the dark!
 
Night sights don't help you find anything, and that's the main reason why I don't use them. If you can't see the sights, you can't identify the target, either. In a combat zone, where everyone who's over THERE is the enemy, I would like to have night sights, as they do make shooting in the dark a lot easier, but in a home or urban environment, shooting in the dark isn't a good idea. That's probably an over-simplification, but I've shot in varying light conditions on more than a few occasions, and found night sights useful only for shooting already-identified, stationary targets. Even in my own house - especially in my own house - I would not shoot at a target in the dark just because I could see my sights.
 
Rick, no one is advocating that night sights help target identification.

Imagine if you had 3-dot sights rather than night sights. And you light up your target with a flashlight or pistol light.

You now have damaged your night vision and cannot see your sights on your gun, so if pulling the trigger is necessary you cannot see if the dots are aligned correctly.

If you had tritium sights though, they would still be glowing enough to see even in the abrupt light change.

Test this out in a pitch black room and with a good flashlight.
 
Night sights don't help you find anything, and that's the main reason why I don't use them.
Click to expand...

They make initially finding a black pistol in a pitch black room a heck of alot easier! Other than that, I think azredhawk44 makes a good point.
 
I like the TruGlo TFO sights. I have them on my Glocks and XDs.

Here's the G19:
G19.jpg


They look great at night and in daylight. Thousands of rounds and never a problem.
 
Wow, that's a lot of good suggestions. I have spent a little while looking them all up. I like the idea of the hex sights. It seems a lot like the ghost rings I have shot before. Also like the tritium stuff. While looking at the tritium links on google, I saw an ad on the right hand side for these...

http://www.suresight.com/

Seems like an eccentric but interesting concept. Does anyone have any experience with them?
 
I've seen that Suresight before, but can't recall anyone ever sharing their experience with it. I would like to give it a try, however, i'm a little skeptical of it's low light/no light visibility. If they put some tritium bars in there then I would definately buy a set.

Micah, if it's speed along with no light visibility you want give a second look at XS 24/7's and Novak's ghost sights. I've personally owned the XS sights with the standard size dot and they are about as fast as it gets.
I'm also very tempted to put a set of the Novak dot over dot ghost sights on my S&W 3913 TSW.
 
Night sights are not really made for shooting in the dark when you can't identify the target. They are designed for LOW light situations when you can't see the sights very well or at all. Any deer hunter knows the situation. Nice deer, try to line up sights, Durn!! can't do it. Early morning and later in the evening. Those same light conditions can be found in buildings and so forth at any time.

I would just send the slide to Glock and have all steel tritium sights installed.
 
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