I used to run FO sights. A low light course taught me the error of my ways.
Ameriglo Hacks for me now.
The only issues I've ever witnessed with sights were with those running FO's on courses. I don't trust them to be robust enough for even casual use.
Can you elaborate a little more on the issues you encountered?Originally Posted by Clobbersauras
Sent via Tapatalk and still using real words.
It was quite simple, the instructor turned off the lights. The only light was from a few exit signs on the indoor range. It was enough to see the outline of my target but my FO sight were totally obscured, I could only make out a faint outline of my Glock. Then the instructor asked us to engage the target...
It was one of those odd lighting situations that sealed the deal. I now use night sights for any handgun I'm putting a serious amount of time into.
Been there done that.
The question is does that situation jive with reality?
When you look at Tom's data and real world crime hot spots like convenience store gas pumps, Wal-Mart parking lots, walk up ATM's and other urban watering holes you never see lighting conditions such as those.
That's why I started this thread, to challenge the conventional wisdom as to the necessity for night sights on a carry pistol.
If the data shows that the vast majority of civilian defensive gun uses are under at least moderate lighting and the ranges appear to be somewhat beyond what we've always assumed, maybe it's time to start looking at sights that work better under decent artificial lights and at ranges between 3 and 25 yards with an emphasis on the 3-7 yard range.
In all my testing in the past, fiber optics excel under "normal" artificial lighting and at ranges between 3 and 25 yards.
Only when we really turn down the lights do night sights come into their own.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
While Tom's data is extensive, it's not absolute. There are plausible scenarios where a private citizen might make a shot with night sights that he couldn't make with FO*. The converse is not true. Therefore if you go with FO over tritium you're exchanging an enabling technology for an incremental performance gain.
*reference Todd's posts last time we argued about this. He convinced me, ymmv.
Ignore Alien Orders
Another approach to sorting this out might be to develop a hypothetical eight or whatever, stage test modeled on the Rangemaster data set. Then run say 10 or 20 shooters through it with both FO and HD or equivalent sights, alternating first run through with each type of sight to minimize learning the stage benefit, and then examine the data.
I would want to consider not just ability to make a shot, but hit factor, since presumably the bad guy is shooting as fast at you as possible once the shooting starts. Allow use of a handheld light, reasonably require target ID, and the option of a laser, too.
I would bet a dollar if you use hit factor, the FO wins overall, and the laser rules low light. I had laser grips on my CZ P01 at the Rogers night shoot this year, and it was cheating compared to any iron sight set.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I'm going to try Taran Tactical's FO sights for my next Glock 17 to see how well I shoot with them, the last time I used FO sights was standard on a 9mm XDs which I shot very well at 25 yards.
The Dawson Precision video that taadski linked to, that's the right way. I find it a little easier to use a cigar torch rather than a regular lighter.
The wrong way is anything else. The *really* wrong way is anything involving epoxy or superglue.
-C
My blog: The Way of the Multigun
I don't know much about tactics, but I haven't found the fibers to be that fragile.
I need to replace them after exposure to gunscrubber or brake cleaner. I believe that failure to do so has caused most if not all of my lost fibers.
Here and there I've had a fiber pop loose but the sights are still usable with no fiber. Even after the fiber gets loose it sometimes will hang out in the site for awhile before it completely falls out (a few rounds anyway). Once I broke the sight itself in half, it split right in the middle (it was a Dawson and they notch them to help you cut the fiber out) the muzzle half of the blade broke off. The other half was fine and the fiber stayed in awhile, sight was still useable even after the fiber fell out. These are 0.100 width, fairly thin sights.
Reply With Quote
