Beretta 92A1 and Trijicon HD sights

[GJM]

Anyone installed HD sights on a 92A1? Wilson Combat is just finishing up my 92A1, and when they shot the pistol today before shipping, the HD sights are printing 6-8 inches low at 25 yards. Ugh.

Right now, the plan B is is to go with a FO front and Wilson rear, regulated to POI at 25 yards. Very disappointing, as a main appeal of the 92A1 was HD sights.

[David B.]

You can make your own HD sight with hi-viz paint.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/Apostolos/hv1_zps730a8c99.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/Apostolos/media/hv1_zps730a8c99.jpg.html)

For the 92A1 standard trijicon front sight, I found the .290" rear to keep the POA/POI at 25 yards right at the top of the front sight blade cutting through the middle of the target.

I also had tooltech install some lamps in a wilson .290" to run with the trijicon front. The setup works good. These are the smaller yellow vials with no white rings. Green in the front and two yellow in the back.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/Apostolos/wilson_zps207fc545.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/Apostolos/media/wilson_zps207fc545.jpg.html)

God bless,
David

[Matt O]

Anyone installed HD sights on a 92A1? Wilson Combat is just finishing up my 92A1, and when they shot the pistol today before shipping, the HD sights are printing 6-8 inches low at 25 yards. Ugh.

Right now, the plan B is is to go with a FO front and Wilson rear, regulated to POI at 25 yards. Very disappointing, as a main appeal of the 92A1 was HD sights.

Looking at the specs for the Trijicon HD sights (front appears to be 0.08-0.085 taller than stock / rear appears to be 0.063-0.066 taller than stock), I think POI would definitely have to be lower. If Berettas come from the factory regulated for a drive the dot sight picture, I suppose 6-8" low at 25 yards with HD's makes sense. Have you had the HD's work POA/POI at 25 yards on your other Beretta's with brig slides?

[GJM]

I routinely paint my front sights, using a Sharpie paint stick for two base coats of white, and either Sharpie orange or Salon Perfect "traffic cone orange" as my outer coat. It just doesn't seem as durable and neat as the HD orange. No HD sights on the Vertec or Brigadier dovetails, so either Dawson FO or Trijicon white dot tritium (which I paint) on those. David, thanks for the dimensions on your 92A1.

This is a crappy cell phone photo of my 92A1 after coating -- good pictures and details to follow in a few days when UPS delivers my 92A1 from Wilson Combat.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/GJMandes/WC92A1_zpsfe61a8e0.jpg (http://s250.photobucket.com/user/GJMandes/media/WC92A1_zpsfe61a8e0.jpg.html)

[JTQ]

I'm sure it's an optical illusion, but those sights look really tall. Almost like sights for a suppressor. I hope they work out well.

[GJM]

I'm sure it's an optical illusion, but those sights look really tall. Almost like sights for a suppressor. I hope they work out well.

I had the exact same thought on suppressor height!

In any event, since they don't regulate, they are being removed in the morning and replaced with a FO front and WC rear. The Trijicon website, which publishes specs for each sight set and referenced by Matt above, shows the HD front sight sight to be .294 and their "normal" tritium front to be just .222 by comparison. Specs for the HD rear are .333 versus .297 for the regular rear, so in retrospect I get the POI problem. Initially, I wondered if we could pair a taller Wilson rear with the HD front, but it would take an enormous rear sight to make it work. Not sure what they were thinking on the HD dimensions.

[CCT125US]

Wow, that does look like it would create some height over bore issues.

[Serpico1985]

David B,

How much did the tool tech service cost door to door and what was the turn around time? I really like the custom set up you have and was considering pairing a trijicon tritium front (non HD) with a wilson rear. Great info reference POA/POI. Did you even try the stock trijicon rear? How much of an improvement is your custom set up over the stock rear? Shooting impressions?

Thanks!

GJM,

Can't wait to hear about your impressions when you get yours back from Wilson.

[JJay03]

Is the 92A1 trijicon standard front sight the same height as the original? Also does anyone else make a .290 rear sight for the A1. Im looking for the same POI I do not like the factory front dot on the target setup.

Thanks


You can make your own HD sight with hi-viz paint.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/Apostolos/hv1_zps730a8c99.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/Apostolos/media/hv1_zps730a8c99.jpg.html)

For the 92A1 standard trijicon front sight, I found the .290" rear to keep the POA/POI at 25 yards right at the top of the front sight blade cutting through the middle of the target.

I also had tooltech install some lamps in a wilson .290" to run with the trijicon front. The setup works good. These are the smaller yellow vials with no white rings. Green in the front and two yellow in the back.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a183/Apostolos/wilson_zps207fc545.jpg (http://s11.photobucket.com/user/Apostolos/media/wilson_zps207fc545.jpg.html)

God bless,
David

[GJM]

Wilson and Novak make .290 rears.

[JJay03]

Wilson and Novak make .290 rears.

Ok Cool I see the Novak but will that shoot poa with the stock front sight? If not what height do I need to make it shoot POA with the stock front sight. I am also considering swapping them both for night sights too.

[GJM]

Ok Cool I see the Novak but will that shoot poa with the stock front sight? If not what height do I need to make it shoot POA with the stock front sight. I am also considering swapping them both for night sights too.

Novak may stock some reasons with tritium, or otherwise you would need to send the Wilson to Tooltech. David B will be a better resource on POI on a 92A1, although it seems like stock sights shoot drive the dot instead of tip of the dot, meaning you need taller than factory.

[Rack]

I routinely paint my front sights, using a Sharpie paint stick for two base coats of white, and either Sharpie orange or Salon Perfect "traffic cone orange" as my outer coat. It just doesn't seem as durable and neat as the HD orange. No HD sights on the Vertec or Brigadier dovetails, so either Dawson FO or Trijicon white dot tritium (which I paint) on those. David, thanks for the dimensions on your 92A1.


GJM,

Does one seem more durable than the other - the Sharpie or the nail polish? Do you use that brand nail polish because it's durable, or it was just accessible?

Thanks.

[Rack]

You can make your own HD sight with hi-viz paint.

For the 92A1 standard trijicon front sight, I found the .290" rear to keep the POA/POI at 25 yards right at the top of the front sight blade cutting through the middle of the target.

I also had tooltech install some lamps in a wilson .290" to run with the trijicon front. The setup works good. These are the smaller yellow vials with no white rings. Green in the front and two yellow in the back.

God bless,
David


David,

Would you mind elaborating a bit on how you paint the front site? What kind of paint do you use and what do you use to cover the center while painting?

Thanks.

[David B.]

David B,

How much did the tool tech service cost door to door and what was the turn around time?

I think it was around 2 hundred bucks. It's a little pricy.


Did you even try the stock trijicon rear? How much of an improvement is your custom set up over the stock rear? Shooting impressions?

I have no empirical data to confirm my preference of Wilson U-notch sights over factory or Trijicon sights, and if I were to do some tests with the shot timer I would suspect it wouldn't even show that much of a difference if anything at all. However, I do believe that even though there might not be a significant measurable difference in my performance with a Wilson sight, I do believe the Wilson sight makes the work I'm doing easier.

I find that to be true with most of the mods I have done on my guns. Front and back-strap checkering, mag well flares, speed bump triggers, etc., I can shoot a stock Beretta just as good as one of my modified Berettas, but I find it a whole lot easier to shoot the modified Beretta.

God Bless,
David

[David B.]

David,

Would you mind elaborating a bit on how you paint the front site? What kind of paint do you use and what do you use to cover the center while painting?

Thanks.

This thread will tell it all.

http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?10139-Beretta-92A1-high-visibility-front-sight&highlight=sight

God Bless,
David

[Clobbersaurus]

I don't know if this will help at all, but I've had very good success with using a small paint brush and bright orange Tremclad paint. Looks brighter than what is shown in the photos. I plan on trying to paint the white ring around the front night sight on my Beretta. We'll see how that goes. Not sure what I want to do with the rear yet. Black sharpie maybe.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r151/clobbersauras/DSC03428_zps21c0d9f0.jpg (http://s143.photobucket.com/user/clobbersauras/media/DSC03428_zps21c0d9f0.jpg.html)
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r151/clobbersauras/DSC03419_zps2690e862.jpg (http://s143.photobucket.com/user/clobbersauras/media/DSC03419_zps2690e862.jpg.html)

[Shipwreck]

To me - I like just regular trijicon sights with the nice white circles around the tritium. I don't like that newer HD variant, or night sights with no white rings around them, personally

[K.O.A.M.]

I went with the Wilson front and rear (.290) on my 92A1. Shoots POA/POI for me. I run the HD's on my other guns, but I was buying other stuff from Wilson and those sights just kind of spoke to me.