To night sight or not

N

notofnow

New member
i'm wondering if i should put night sights on my pistols. I know some of you will say that i should not shoot unless i know what i'm shooting at and i completelly agree. My thoughts are if they're shooting at me then i would like to return the favor.

I have a light on my night stand pistol and i can see the sights to line them up when its on. What about during low light situations and a pistol with no lights, do night sights help? Are they worth it?

I would love to hear from LEOs. Would you rather have night sights on yours when dealing with bad guys during low light situations? Don't worry, since i'm just an average citizen, i would be running away if i could.
 
They are nice but not essential to have on a gun. Also, if the gun has night sights, I prefer it to only be the front sight. If they are shooting at you the muzzle flash will give you a close proximity to fire back. I do think they are better than lasers because they are always ON and do not really on batteries. Nor do they draw a line back to your position.

A flashlight serves a different purpose than either of the other two items. It is used to illuminate an area for visual recon and observation. This can be used in conjunction with target acquisition but they are not the exact same thing.
 
I'm not a LEO, but I do have an opinion if that's OK. I had night sights on my H&K USP Compact. I thought they were great for low light aiming. That lasted about 10 years. They have since petered out, and no longer glow. I find that I do not miss them at all. For HD, I have some very powerful flashlights, and would most likely be looking over the sights (point shooting). Bottom line is that I do not think I ever really needed them.

I was thinking of getting them on my XD-45, but at $100, how much am I ever going to use them. Never comes to mind. For LEOs, I can see where they might come in very handy. For the average joe, I am leaning toward sticking with my regular sights. At this point, all of my shooting is done on a range. If a HD scenario presented itself, I am thinking that with the adrenaline flowing, they would make no difference at all.

If they came with the gun, great. I don't see where they are all that useful for non-LEOs. I am sure there are a bazillion scenarios that people could come up with, like, "If you were in a dark parking garage and needed to make a precision shot at 25 yards, you would be glad you had them!", but it's just not realistic to me. Your chances of getting attacked by two different types of bear in the same day are probably greater.


DS
 
Not a LEO

In my line of work I carry a gun every day. Due to the environment I carry in I can't always carry my weapon with a light mounted. We do a great deal of night training all of our weapons (handguns) use Tritiums. They are extremely beneficial in low light as well as no light conditions. The light, like a laser has the draw back of providing your position to the BG. I do recommend prcticing in a dark range against a dark target. You'd be surprised how things change under these conditions. Don't forget to practice reloads with no lights, if you're lucky maybe you'll have an FTE or FTF in the dark. You need to learn to clear in the dark.
 
I recently invested in Trujicons for my main winter carry pistol and find I shoot better in low/no light with them.

BUT, after some helpful advice from a buddy LEO I did green rear and yellow front so it is harder to misalign the three.
 
My Sig has them, I like them.

But I won't replace them when they run out.

They're nice, especially in low light. But in total dark, I figure that either the shots will be close enough to point shoot, or it will be tough to hit anyway by not seeing the target. If you can see the target, the sights will likely show up "enough".

Look outside on an average night, most of the time that you can actually SEE a target at 10 yards, you could make do without night sights.

LEO's...they would likely benefit more, as they would be more often in half-lit situations, that are between full dark and full day. I dunno though.
 
A light is to identify the target. Light on, light off, displace and/or shoot if conditions permit.

Night sights allow you to hit the shadowy target you just identified with the momentary application of light.

I prefer XS Sight Systems 24/7 Big Dot tritium sights. Two "dots" are quicker and easier to align than one, IMHO.

Good luck.
 
I was the Army CID's representative on the XM-11 pistol project. I fought successfully to have night sights included into the specs on the M-11. Since retiring, however, after 15+ years of teaching judgmental use of force and gunfighting tactics to law enforcement agencies, I'm just not sure any more that night sights are worth the extra money they cost.

If you're target shooting in low light, they're worth their weight in gold. In gunfight situations, however, officers seldom use their sights, even in good light. In spite of all the so-called experts who scream about always seeing the front sight, survival instinct takes over (along with physiological factors) and the officers point shoot. Night sights would add nothing to their accuracy.

Then, of course, there's the factor that night sights can be seen by potential unseen opponents behind you in the dark. :eek:

If it were me, I would spend the extra money on a laser that adds to the effectiveness of point shooting, because the aiming point is projected onto the target. Of course, lasers, like tracers, work both ways, but it's an option that can make your shooting much more effective in low light. Of course, it need not be used unless needed. :cool:
 
Ditto Shawn Dodson

Lights are on off. In those times that I see BGs using lights I feel fortunate that they give me a good target. I think twice when I see the FLASH (on-off) approach, they usually know what there doing. Oh, if you can, get a filter. When I do use a light and am not using NVG I use an Insight XTI Procyon with a Red Filter to preserve my night vision capability. Remember, as soon as you turn on the light your "stealth" capability is gone. The red helps minimize this. If you just rolled out of the rack your eyes will "appreciate" it.
 
Off topic, sort of:
I did green rear and yellow front so it is harder to misalign the three.
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This statement has always caused me to be somewhat amused.

I use three green. My hand has to be cocked pretty far left or right for my night sights be out of alignment. I've shot in the dark more than a few times and you can tell your hand is out of line, even in the dark.

I call urban legend/marketing pitch...
 
My plan doesn't rely on a "stealth capability."

For home defense, my plan includes verbal challenges to suspicious activities/noise. It usually begins with "Who's there! What are you doing?!" Family members have been instructed to immediately reply. If there's no reply and suspicious activity/noise continues then I'll repeat my challenge and add "I have a gun!" Maybe I'll announce that I've already called police or simply tell whoever it is to just leave, it depends.

If it comes down to where I'm forced to use a flashlight to identify a shadowy figure lurking in the dark, I'm already pretty far down the target ID road.

I hope my wife or daughter never get drunk enough to come home after a night out and play potentially deadly games with me. Or maybe my daughter will come home and be listening to her Ipod and not hear. I doubt it'll ever happen. But I'm willing to take that extra moment to be sure of my target before I press the trigger.

If I have good reason to believe that there is indeed an intruder in the house, then I'm not about to go play hunt the burglar. I'll just hunker down and let him/her come to me. It'll be a "contested entry".

I've used a flashlight many times to investigate unusual/suspicious activity/noises that do not seem to be created by a human intruder.

If I'm CCW'ing I'm not about go looking for trouble in a situation where I'd need a flashlight. I'm not a cop (anymore).

Cheers!
 
I like night sites / and I spec them on all of my newer semi-auto's Sig and 1911's ....

I think it makes a lot of low light shooting a lot better. I miss them on guns that don't have them.
 
I call urban legend/marketing pitch...
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I had three green tritium dots on my personally supplied Beretta 96FS. There were indeed times, during night quals (deep in the Bremerton watershed forest), when the front sight dot was to the left or right of the two rear sight dots. The Beretta has a long sight radius and my firing hand wrist just had to be a little off to misalign the tritium dots in the dark. I replaced them with multi-color tritium dots but they seemed visually "busy".

I've never had a problem with XS big dot tritium sights. That front sight dot is so big that it seems like a glow-in-the-dark golf ball is attached to the front of the slide. The front sight is all I really ever visually see. By "see" I'm aware of it in my visual plane (I don't focus on it, I'm just visually aware of it) and I simply drive it to my aimpoint on the target, which is the attention of my hard focus.
 
It doesn't matter to me either way. I like them, but don't have to have them.

On Glocks for example, I actually prefer the stock sights the way they come from the factory.
 
I to like them but don't have them. I practice much more at point and shoot than bringing my cc gun all thee way to eye level. So in the case that it is needed and the BG is close i can hit my target(hopefully) and not have to take the extra time to aim unless the third shoot is needed and then just aim along the top of the gun. Never worried about 10 ring for cc more about 8 ring accuracy. Get um near the center of mass,more or less.
 
my 1911's have them and I like them very much...

None of my revolvers have them ...and I shoot them just as well ...

Nice to have but not a must if you can point shoot...JMVHO
 
This statement has always caused me to be somewhat amused.

I use three green. My hand has to be cocked pretty far left or right for my night sights be out of alignment. I've shot in the dark more than a few times and you can tell your hand is out of line, even in the dark.

I call urban legend/marketing pitch...
Click to expand...

Agreed, I've tried to intentionally misalign mine to see if it could happen, and in addition to my hand being uncomfortably cocked to the side, the spacing for the three dots is fare wider than when they are properly aligned.
 
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