Night sight longevity ?

G

Garycw

New member
I was wondering if theres any way to prolong the life of night sights? I've heard typical is 5-6 years ? Is this inevitable no matter what, or is there any special care that can prolong that glow? What's the normal max before they dim to be just dot sights?
Thanks, just curious.
 
They glow because they are radioactive. The decay of the isotope is what causes the glow. Over time it fades. Nothing will prolong its half-life

The night sights on my origional G23 have dimmed to almost useless (10 years old?) So just install new ones every 5-7 years
 
Thanks. I didn't think there was anything that could be done. Interesting that 12.3 years is half life. I assume they then would be half as bright? That's really not bad. My Sigs & Kimbers are very bright now. The oldest is 3 yr old
 
Half life has nothing to do (directly) with brightness. What happens is the radioactive decay is fairly fast up to 50% of its emissions.After that point it slows down dramatically & can extend to hundreds of years.
 
I believe most of the makers guarantee their sights for 10-12 years.

Ive picked up used guns with 10+ year old night sights on them, and while dimmer than new, they were generally still usable.

Ive also sold all my old night sights on EBay, for about half what they go for new. They have paid for my sight pushers, as well as reduced the cost of the new sights.
 
Are there any difference in the different brands? Or are they all the same material in similar quantify? TruGlow , siglight, Meprolight,tritium.. Etc. .
 
Ive used Trijicon, Meprolight, SIG and Glock factory sights, and other than some of the Trijicons not having a white outline, they are pretty much the same.
 
Green are usually useable for 10-13 years and I've had night sights long enough to have had two sets relamped at 12 years or so. Yellow and especially orange don't last nearly as long.
 
They all use tritium, and tritium is tritium. There is nothing you can do to change the radioactive properties of it.

The nice thing about night sights is after they fade they just become nice steel sights.
 
Captains1911 said:
The nice thing about night sights is after they fade they just become nice steel sights.
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This is true. I do like the night sights also in the daytime. They are nice to have at night and makes seeing the orientation of pistol on nightstand. When mine go dim or completely out there's a good chance they won't be replaced.
 
As said, Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years.
So after 12.3 years, half the Tritium will have radioactively decayed, the other half continuing to emit beta radiation. After 24.6 years, 1/4 of the tritium will remain.

Will a gunsight be half as bright as new in 12.3 years?
Probably not.
Is the phosphor lining of the tritium lamp that converts beta radiation (flying electrons) into visible light equally sensitive to lower levels of radiation? I don't know, but it is unlikely to improve with time.
Is your eye equally sensitive to lower light levels? No.

So the 10 year "guarantee" by some brands is reasonable.

Now if you want something that lasts, look for some radium paint. The half life of Radium 226 is 1610 years. Wiki says old clocks have quit glowing because the phosphor is burnt out, not because the radium is not still there.
PS: Don't lick your paintbrush to a fine point.
 
I seem to remember hearing some years ago that Trijicon would replace the gas-filled viles on dimming sights with new ones for a price much less than a whole new set of sights. Does anybody know if this is still the case?
 
That was still the case as of the last time I asked them about it, which was a year or two ago.

Trijicon actually does the tritium vials for a lot of different sight makers, including Ameriglo and XS. Lots of people make sights, but the tritium vials require a lot more than just a machine shop to make, and there is some NRC paperwork to go through as well, I understand.
 
Kimber will replace tritium site if the dim out under 10 years.
Kimber did my Eclipse just 1 month before the warranty expired.
 
I have a set of Trijicons that are more than 22 years old. They are very dim now and not usable since they are so dim. They were usable up to approx. 15 years but were noticeably dimmer at that point.
 
FAS1 said:
I have a set of Trijicons that are more than 22 years old. They are very dim now and not usable since they are so dim. They were usable up to approx. 15 years but were noticeably dimmer at that point.
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Trijicon will (or used to) relamp your old out of warranty Trijicon sights for cheap so I'd contact them. They just had me send them my slide.
 
Trijicon will (or used to) relamp your old out of warranty Trijicon sights for cheap so I'd contact them. They just had me send them my slide.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll have to check with and see if they are still doing it.
 
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