Night sight observations...

[hkg3]

I recently found a very good deal on night sights. At $52 for a set and free shipping, I jumped on it.

the "glow" feature of the sights wasn't visible,

Well there’s yer problem. My tritium Novak sites on my 1911 are CLEARLY visible in zero light. As are the tritium MMC sites on my Vang Comp 870.

I understand the point of not being able to see the target, what difference does it make if you can see the sites. I also know if the BG gets behind you he can use your sites to identify YOU as a target. That said I’d take my night sights ANY time over non-tritium.

All I know is when I was on the night shoot at Gunsite for my AZ CCW, I was the only one in the class with tritium sites, and I was the ONLY one in the class who got ALL his shots on target.

 

[JohnKSa]

The sights glow plainly in zero light--even in dim light. What I was saying was that when the target was clearly illuminated with a bright flashlight, the glow feature of the sights was swamped by the brightness of the light reflecting off the target--the sights looked like they were plain black.

 

[hkg3]

My bad. I thought you we’re saying your night sights didn’t glow very well, which of course I attributed to the $52 price. That’s what I get for skimming instead of reading.

During the night shoot I could BARRRELY see the target edges, but the tritium sights made all the difference in the world for me. When we shot with flashlights, they were never used to illuminate the sights. They we’re used to identify and “blind” the target.

One tactic they taught I found interesting was to fire one shot at the target and use the muzzle flash to get a quick silhouette of your sights and then use that silhouette to adjust your fire.

Of course I didn’t find that lesson very useful.

 

[willson73]

Yikes!

I live alone, and all my friends and family know to call before they come over. And I lock my doors and windows securely.

Therefore, if there's a creature larger than a cat moving around in my house at night, it gets shot. Whether I can identify it or not.

Does: Be sure of your target and what's beyond it mean anything to you?

As a firefighter/EMT, this scares the hell out of me. If you're in a deep sleep, and we can't wake you by pounding on your door, your neighbor's house is on fire, and we know you're home (Someone tells us, we see your car, etc.) we might be the ones coming through your door to save your tail!

There are only four rules to safe handgun handling, if you can't follow all four, I believe you shouldn't be handling handguns!

 

[Jermtheory]

Wouldn't it make it easier and faster to acquire a sight picture under stress?

exactly...

it seems alot of folks hear "night sights" and think "being able to see your sights in the dark".for me much of it isnt if i can see my sights,but how fast.i find i can acquire my sights much faster in low-light with the tritium...before im even in position to fire.

Me, I'll take every advantage I can get: I practice whenever I can, including getting together with range buddies to do FOF stuff in realistic surroundings. My gun is equipped with a laser and I know how to point shoot too. Night sights are "just another tool" -- but I hate that word just, because it implies that having another tool is not a valuable thing. This particular tool has no downsides and several potential upsides. So what's the deal?

sums things up nicely.

 

[mes228]

Night Sights

I've had many pistols with night sights. I have not liked any. All have been inferior to just a simple white or gold bead. I consider them a total waste of money that would be better spent on ammo, holsters, targets etc. I have spent more removing night sights and replacing them than I care to think about. To me night sights are proof of the herd instinct in humans. I can't believe the market exist. It may just be me, as I feel the same about rails on pistols. Seems counter to common sense to have a finely balanced, quick, defensive pistol. Then think of hanging heavy weight off the business end. Not to mention the target aspect of a light on the firearm. I'm old enough to remember schools teaching a light held in the off hand at arms length. Still makes sense to me. Just the thoughts of an old curmudgeon.