Why do many seemingly serious shooters like plain black sights?
- Thread starter Red Bull
- Start date
- Status
When shooting defensively, I've found that the dots slow me down quite a bit, much like lasers. Seems like I spend too much time lining everything up perfectly when I should just be tappinig center mass. Plain black gets me in there "good enough" and saves me a second or two.
Red Bull,
The answer, in a word, is simplicity. When lighting and target conditions allow a clear view of the outline of the sights, anything else becomes a distraction. Plain, black sights provide the clearest sight picture under ideal conditions.
But as you've noticed, black sights on a dark target don't give much contrast, especially in dim light. That's why my personal preference is for some sort of dots or other marks to align when the outline of the sights isn't visible. Having the extra "doo-dads" does slow me down some in good conditions, but at least I still have something to align in situations where all-black sights would be useless.
The answer, in a word, is simplicity. When lighting and target conditions allow a clear view of the outline of the sights, anything else becomes a distraction. Plain, black sights provide the clearest sight picture under ideal conditions.
But as you've noticed, black sights on a dark target don't give much contrast, especially in dim light. That's why my personal preference is for some sort of dots or other marks to align when the outline of the sights isn't visible. Having the extra "doo-dads" does slow me down some in good conditions, but at least I still have something to align in situations where all-black sights would be useless.
In my experience, dots, lines, inserts etc tend to slow acquisition of a good sight picture, without providing a compensatory increase in precision. Square and black, thank you. slabsides
------------------
An armed man is a citizen; an unarmed man is a subject; a disarmed man is a slave.
------------------
An armed man is a citizen; an unarmed man is a subject; a disarmed man is a slave.
For truly defensive purposes, I think sights in general can be overvalued if one relies on them too much. Most self-defense situations occur at very short distances under very poor light. Most likely, if you're in a situation where you need to draw and fire your weapon... somebody is already pointing a weapon at you. In my opinion, the ability to instinctively fire your weapon quickly and with acceptable accuracy is just as important as precision shot placement. Aligning sights is a brain process that takes time (measured in nano-seconds but it's still time). For me... dots, bars, etc. add more complexity to that time. I played with night-sights for a while and found them to be even more of a distraction (look Ma! Pretty, pretty lights! 
). I don't know if any of that makes sense, but that's what I think about sights anyway.
). I don't know if any of that makes sense, but that's what I think about sights anyway.Plain black sights are preferred in bullseye target shooting because they are line up in the white below the black bullseye (6 o'clock hold). For defensive shooting, I think many prefer them because with some other sights, like "three dot" sights, the tendency is to waste time getting the perfect alignment while maybe a bad guy is just shooting.
I am not selling the idea, but for defensive use, there is a lot to be said for a plain groove in the top of the slide or receiver. I have tried it and it works for defensive ranges and doesn't do bad at 25 yards.
Jim
I am not selling the idea, but for defensive use, there is a lot to be said for a plain groove in the top of the slide or receiver. I have tried it and it works for defensive ranges and doesn't do bad at 25 yards.
Jim
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
Greetings, sir. I prefer plain black sights.
I like a semi-ramp front sight that's serrated and a bit wider notch in the plain black, rear sight for aging eyes. I have handguns with the dots and red inserts, etc, and have no problem using them, but my custom stuff just has plain sights. Best.
I like a semi-ramp front sight that's serrated and a bit wider notch in the plain black, rear sight for aging eyes. I have handguns with the dots and red inserts, etc, and have no problem using them, but my custom stuff just has plain sights. Best.
Red Bull-
I'm with you. Plain black sights almost cost me a great gun. After purchasing a Kimber Custom Classic and making more than a few trips to the range, I was greatly disappointed in the accuracy of what seemed to me to be a tightly fitted 1911A1.At the same time I noticed that I was having a really hard time aquiring the sights against the black circles of the 50 foot slowfire targets I generally use.
My first step was the use of the red square of a target repair kit. This helped alot. Then I remembered my favorite sighting system, the bar dot set-up used by Sig Sauer.
I used electrical tape cut out as a template and "white out" as the paint for a make shift bar and dot set-up. Presto! I could shoot again.
Though I know more than a few shooters swear by plain black sights only, I favor the bar dot set-up. I do prefer plain black to the three dot set-up as I find lining up three circles a bit tedious. When it comes to sight picture just use what works for you.
I'm with you. Plain black sights almost cost me a great gun. After purchasing a Kimber Custom Classic and making more than a few trips to the range, I was greatly disappointed in the accuracy of what seemed to me to be a tightly fitted 1911A1.At the same time I noticed that I was having a really hard time aquiring the sights against the black circles of the 50 foot slowfire targets I generally use.
My first step was the use of the red square of a target repair kit. This helped alot. Then I remembered my favorite sighting system, the bar dot set-up used by Sig Sauer.
I used electrical tape cut out as a template and "white out" as the paint for a make shift bar and dot set-up. Presto! I could shoot again.
Though I know more than a few shooters swear by plain black sights only, I favor the bar dot set-up. I do prefer plain black to the three dot set-up as I find lining up three circles a bit tedious. When it comes to sight picture just use what works for you.
Robert Foote
New member
I agree with most of the above. In defensive work you want a set of sights you can SEE right now--and a blocky set of black sights with plenty of light on each side of the front do this just fine. I, like everyone else played with pretty colors up front for a while and found that they were mostly a crutch and distraction. The only exception to that was when I lived in a chronically wet and dreary environment, and a plain ramped front sight--especially after a little wear--would tend to become grey against a grey world. I solved this problem by retiring and moving to where the sun always shines...
------------------
------------------
- Status