Night Sights

[rodfac]

If you can pick the time and place someone will attack you, then I would say just don't show up. But very few get that luxury. Since I don't know where I might be or what the conditions will be if I'm ever attacked, I like to be prepared for as many contingencies as I can.

Good advice and I'd add that I don't want to be fumbling with a flashlight at the same time as I present. My bedside gun is a P226 with a light on it as well as Sig's version of tritium night sights. Two gun that I CC have them as well, and the revolver that doesn't is a daylight carry only weapon.

One benefit of nighters is gun orientation in low light conditions such as home defense. I keep my Beretta on the nightstand and at any point can look and see exactly where the gun is and it's orientation in case I need to fetch it.

A good point as well, Model12.


YMMV, Rod

 

[mulespurs]

My night sights

My night sights in my Kimber show up on my nightstand when I am in bed, so I know exactly where it is.

Kinda comforting, don't you think?

I know through experience that shooting at raccoons at night , they work for me.

 

[MandolinMan]

If the difference is only $65 bucks, I would definitely buy locally and get the version with night sights and the extra magazine. You may try to convince the sales person to throw in some ammo or something.

 

[glockman55]

Most of my Pistols have Night Sights, mainly because My Dad owned a Gun Shop and taught concealed carry classes and in His opinion Night Sights were in more demand for a carry gun. I like them, for $60. more it is a no brainer for me.. Good Luck on you purchase, enjoy ..

 

[OhioGuy]

If you're on the fence, check out Nitesiters. They sell packs of self adhesive glow-in-the-dark dots that stick very well to sight posts. You can get small or large diameter. They are easy to see in daylight and if charged with a flashlight for a second or two will glow far more brightly than tritium. Since you're going to have to shine the light at them first, they may not be practical for self defense use (or any better than ordinary sights anyway) but you can get the feel for the advantage of night sights and decide if they're worth it to you. I'd happily use them on any range or competition gun.

 

[nanney1]

If the difference is only $65 bucks, I would definitely buy locally and get the version with night sights and the extra magazine. You may try to convince the sales person to throw in some ammo or something.

At some point, after several more guns, I'll look back and laugh at how I tried to save every penny on my first purhcase. But the reason is that I'm adding up everything on this first purchase....

Trip to indoor range to shoot and try different models, $75
Concealed Carry Class - $75
Concealed Carry application to Sheriff's office - $90

All before I purchased a gun or ammo, or anything else.

And the "local" shop is actually a huge retailer that has a big storefront and online sales.

So, I decided to save the $65 difference and I went ahead and purchased online yesterday. Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought 200 rounds of range ammo. And this morning, I went to the local shop and spent $71 for a Maglula, soft armor holster, Hoppes cleaning kit, and a bore brush.

 

[stephen426]

I have a green front sight and yellow rear sights on my Glock 26. In low light, night sights can make a difference. I know you should always be sure of what your target is an what lies beyond, but night sights make it easier to line up. No one said they had to be pitch black to use them.

 

[Excoastie]

I would say go with the local gun that has the night sights.

I've had my Shield 9mm for almost a year, and I've got over 2000 rounds through it. The standard sights are not the best, but they are adequate. I'm looking into replacing the sights on mine, and when I do I will go with some sort of night sight.

good luck

Exco

 

[jr24]

There are a few cases where night sights are great, but I prefer to make sure I have a flashlight.

I do not like that night sights are often lower contrast in daytime and harder for me to see over standard white dot or fiberoptic.

 

[TunnelRat]

I do not like that night sights are often lower contrast in daytime and harder for me to see over standard white dot or fiberoptic.

A number of manufacturers are working to change that these days, typically with a surrounding circle of color on the front sight. It’s not as good as a fiber optic but it is better than it used to be.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bill DeShivs]

If you know where your gun shoots, you don't need ANY sights, much less expensive glow in the dark ones.
Just spend that money on ammunition, and learn to shoot the gun.

 

[TunnelRat]

If you know where your gun shoots, you don't need ANY sights, much less expensive glow in the dark ones.
Just spend that money on ammunition, and learn to shoot the gun.

I've literally spent two straight days on reflexive shooting, with the original manual from Bob Taubert, where they removed the sights from my pistol. I was amazed at what we could accomplish by the end. That said, at 7 yds or more to the target I'm using the sights and that is based off of testing we did by ourselves and observations the class made as a whole. Sights still have a role.

 

[jr24]

A number of manufacturers are working to change that these days, typically with a surrounding circle of color on the front sight. It’s not as good as a fiber optic but it is better than it used to be.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have tried a few of the recent offerings and still don't love them.

The best I've found is the Ameriglo CAP sights, with the green or yellow square. The square seems to pop to mu colorblind eyes best.

Then again, the tritium on those isn't great so luminescent paint on a blacked out front sight would be just as good for me, going to try just that on my Kimber Ultra Carry

 

[rodfac]

If you know where your gun shoots, you don't need ANY sights, much less expensive glow in the dark ones. Just spend that money on ammunition, and learn to shoot the gun.

...At 7 yds or more to the target I'm using the sights and that is based off of testing we did by ourselves and observations the class made as a whole. Sights still have a role.

Yep, that's been my experience as well...and night sights help me engage when I still have a chance to stop the attack. Rod

 

[MrBot]

..gave up on the handheld flashlight a long time ago. Why tie up a perfectly innocent hand? ..just wondering how many have actually field tested (answer: none) the feasibility of actually blinding or even slowing down an aggressive, meth-fueled assailant with a tiny little ol' light shooter? It won't work. ..much better option is a cap light as it frees both hands. Most folks who carry no doubt do so IWB, which for me requires I lift my shirt with the weak hand so as to be able to grip the hg with my dominant hand. So in that scenario where does the flashlight end up? If I want/need to see sights at night I gotta have night sights. It's a tool. ..may never need 'em but I'd rather have 'em & not need 'em than need 'em & not have 'em. Use 'em once & no matter what you paid for the set they're a bargain.

 

[jackstrawIII]

They're not a "definite need", but they certainly help. My personal preference is a red/orange tritium front sight with a solid black (no dots) rear sight. Super fast target acquisition in low light and plenty accurate for daytime shooting.

 

[DnPRK]

It's daylight 50% of the time and night 50% of the time. Do you think self defense activities which might require a firearm only occur during daylight hours?

You need a good weapon mounted light too.

 

[TruthTellers]

If you are going to carry the gun, night sights are very useful. If you are going to use it for home defense, you don't need night sights as a weapon mounted light is more useful.

Why do I say this? Generally, a home defense gun is not carried, so a bulky weapon light is not an issue like it is a CCW gun where holsters are difficult to find that accommodate a weapon light.

I have a lot of pistols, one of them (G27) has tritium night sights on them, the other is an LCP Custom with glow in the dark front sight. The rest have no night sights or weapon lights, several of them are stashed/hidden throughout the house, loaded. My figuring is if I'm not in the bedroom, sleeping, then the Sun is out or there are lights on in the house and I don't need night sights or weapon lights.

Conceal carrying is a totally different story and the reaction times, distances, etc. are so critical that, as others have said, you don't have the time to align sights, but being able to see where your front sight is in relation to your rear sights gives you a decent idea of where the bullet is going to go vs not and that can be the difference of shooting the attacker in an effective spot to stop him and grazing his shoulder, if not missing completely.

So, is the salesman wrong? No, but plenty of people have carried without night sights and been just fine. It depends on the situations you find yourself in.

That said, if someone had a few CCW pistols for various outfits or seasonal clothing, I wouldn't criticize anyone who paid to have night sights on them simply because the cost of the sights vs their potential use over their 10 year lifespan is worth paying for.

 

[MrBot]

I'm in the same boat with the Shield. ..would love to remove the original sights & install new ones as a DIY project. ..hearing that installing new sights can be somewhat of a challenge do to really tight dovetails--maybe a diamond hone would do the job in honing new sights to slide in more easily. But 1st I think I'll try painting the existing 3-dot white sights with either glow-in-the-dark sight paint with maybe a slightly contrasting paint around that (yellow/green combo maybe) or simply use some glow-in-the-dark nail polish from Wallymart.

 

[smee78]

For $60 why not, I also enjoy seeing them on my bed side table gun, gives me a reassuring feeling. I think they help me and if I ever need to use my gun I will take any help I can get.