Help Pick New Glock Sights

[talos]

I cant find sights that meet my perceived needs. I possess a stable of various 9mm glocks and advantage arms 22 long rifle conversion that I would like to retrofit all of them with new sights once selected.

Currently I am running heine sights, black serrated steel, no tritium, thinnest possible (0.125" I think). I painted them bright orange after training with Tom Givens. My main dislike is that the paint flakes off. I've tried various types of paint, including the Givens recommended testor's model paint, and I just think it's something that will require regular reapplication which I don't want to deal with. I recognize it sounds petty but I have about ten Glocks of different models (19, 17, 43, 48, 19-sized AA conversion) and it becomes a several hour event to remove the sights, strip them, do a base layer and multiple top layers.

I don't think I need tritium sights but am open to them and the Ameriglo FBI agent sights (https://amzn.to/2Z4LXAJ) strike me as a good solution. However, I dislike the rear round part. I know they make a square rear. The problem is there's too many SKUs and I can't figure out what to get and some have restricted distributors. Also, it's possible I might need different front sight heights to get things proper to my carry ammo which is currently 147 HSTs.

I've spent a lot of time reading hundreds of pages of old threads here on various sights and I can't figure out the best route to go. For uniformity, I want all of the Glocks to have the same sights or very similar sight picture.

I want the smallest front sight available. 0.125" or less in case I need to make a precision longer range shot with it. I think 0.140" is too wide. In my mind, I'll either need to make a very close shot in self defense, in which case the sight width doesn't matter, or I'll be making a very long range shot responding to an active shooter to get my family out safe. The long-range shot is extremely unlikely but any shooting as a civilian is unlikely given my lifestyle. I like to shoot NRA B8 targets at 25 yards for fun and I already struggle with my 0.125" front sight covering too much of the target. I'm young and have good eyes. In 25 years I might not have good eyes but by then advances in eye surgery and red dot sights will make it fine that I'm going with 0.125" now.

I want serrated and not smooth sights if possible. Maybe it's just what I'm used to, and I'm open to reconsidering, but I think smooth sides reflect too much glare in bright sun.

There doesn't seem to be serrated front sights with orange on them and tritium.

I want the sights to be orange and be "permanently" painted on by the factory so they won't require reapplication. Hilton Yam 10-8 has an interesting sight with polymer ring.

If I get tritium sights, I'd like to be able to replace the tritium after 10 to 15 years and not discard the sight. Spending $1k+ on sights for ten glocks every 10 to 15 years seems wasteful. Maybe it's okay because as said above, I'm young now but in 20 years I won't be able to see 0.125" sights and red dot tech will be incredible by then. So maybe these really are just a 20-year shelf life product at which point I drill out the tritium, fill in with epoxy, and they become backup sights to the future red dots.

I need suppressor height sights for the a couple of my 19 and 17s that are hosts for suppressors. It's tough to find that with the rest of the things I want.

I'm open to either Straight 8 style tritium layout or standard 3-dot, but as long as they are all the same color tritium. I dislike the different front/rear tritium. I'm also open to mixing/matching sights and getting tritium front only and plain rears. I'm a civilian with a boring life. Chances of me needing a gun exactly in the light circumstance where tritium rears matter, at distances more than arms length are virtually zero. Maybe for cost savings I put plain rears on my backup guns and the 3 guns I carry (43, 48, 19) plus the 17 suppressor gun get tritium rears. But I'd like all guns to have the same front sight.

I need the rear sight to be ledged for one handed racking of the slide off a belt. Very unlikely scenario but I've been running heine ledge rears for a decade, they've never injured me or torn clothing, so there seems to be no reason not to go this route for the potential benefit.

Lots of text here, sorry for that. Every year I think it's time to upgrade my sights, I read threads here for weeks, can't make my mind up and decide to hold off out of indecision.

I've also thought about seeing if I can keep the sights I have now and get them cerakoted bright orange. It might look weird since the whole sight, including top and back will be orange because I don't think they can just apply it to the one side. Was thinking the cerakote would look better and wear less than the testor's paint. I could probably buy a whole second set of front sights (so a spare for each gun) and if they wear off after a couple years, swap it off, until they're all worn and then get them re-cerakoted every decade.

[RJ]

Since you can’t decide, why not pick a set that might work and try it?

[HopetonBrown]

Here's a well made set for $54 with a 115 front, 125 rear. No tritium to replace in 10 years. Use code gram10 to get them at that price.

https://www.henningshop.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1373249&CAT=10018

[vcdgrips]

Go to the Ameriglo website and mix/match to your hearts content.

[EJO]

Talos,

I’ve been well served with Ameriglo Bold sights. I dislike a U notch so the square notch on the Bold works for me. Yes the front sight is .140 wide but you can still be accurate with it. I do use a .180 tall front on all my gen5’s. Factory recommends .200 tall but I prefer a split the bull rather than a cover the bull. .180 gets me that split the bull.

I shot these two groups at 25 yards last week, with my duty Glock 19 gen5, wearing Ameriglo Bolds. I find them to be plenty accurate and damn fast.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190821/a08be68aa68e90ad497730b12032a78c.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190821/ffd76de6ae50d290abdff8f13c6e7349.jpg


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[Old Man Winter]

Ameriglo has a newer option called the Trooper. They're not on the website but are shown in the 2019 catalog. I've been running these on a pair of 48's for a few months and really like them.

Catalog link: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0802/4733/files/2019_Ameriglo_Catalog.pdf?945223686543796145

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[camsdaddy]

Ameriglo has a newer option called the Trooper. They're not on the website but are shown in the 2019 catalog. I've been running these on a pair of 48's for a few months and really like them.

Catalog link: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0802/4733/files/2019_Ameriglo_Catalog.pdf?945223686543796145

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I like this configuration

[Leroy]

If you don't care about tritium get a fiber front from Heine. It will most likely match your rear.

[Drifting Fate]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Mr. Givens recommend only the face of the front sight blade be painted?

I do this with some of my J-frames. OK, my wife does it for me - she has much steadier hands than I do.

She freehands it, but I've seen people simply mask things off with tape and apply paint or finger nail polish on top of the old paint after wiping everything off with acetone.

For the need - a bright object to catch your vision and cut through the visual clutter while attaining a flash sight picture - the simple approach works. To be honest, there's no need for removing the sights and going through all you have been. KISS rules the day.

Henie sights are almost impossible to beat and sound like just what you want except that painting them has become a chore. Don't give up a good thing. Reign in the OCD a little bit and I think you will be satisfied with the results.

[Gray222]

Did reviews of the Ameriglo FBI contact sights:

http://www.vdmsr.com/2017/09/ameriglo-bold-and-fbi-contract-sights.html

And the Defoor, CAP and Pro-I sights:

http://www.vdmsr.com/2015/03/ameriglo-cap-defoor-pro-i-dot-glock.html

All of the above are good to go sights.

[JTQ]

I painted them bright orange after training with Tom Givens. My main dislike is that the paint flakes off. I've tried various types of paint, including the Givens recommended testor's model paint, and I just think it's something that will require regular reapplication which I don't want to deal with. I recognize it sounds petty but I have about ten Glocks of different models (19, 17, 43, 48, 19-sized AA conversion) and it becomes a several hour event to remove the sights, strip them, do a base layer and multiple top layers.




Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Mr. Givens recommend only the face of the front sight blade be painted?

She freehands it, but I've seen people simply mask things off with tape and apply paint or finger nail polish on top of the old paint after wiping everything off with acetone.

To be honest, there's no need for removing the sights and going through all you have been. KISS rules the day.

I've got to agree with Drifting Fate. I don't know why you would take the sights off the guns to paint them. A little alcohol or acetone wipe down and then repaint, some use a toothpick to apply the paint. Some folks also put a base coat of white on the sight first and then the other color on top after the first coat dries.

[talos]

I've got to agree with Drifting Fate. I don't know why you would take the sights off the guns to paint them. A little alcohol or acetone wipe down and then repaint, some use a toothpick to apply the paint. Some folks also put a base coat of white on the sight first and then the other color on top after the first coat dries.

My glock slides have robar NP3 on them and I'm concerned the acetone might impact the finish.

I didn't try a toothpick, I was using some hobby store model paint brushes that are about toothpick size with very small brushes on the end. They were cheap.

[talos]

Here's a well made set for $54 with a 115 front, 125 rear. No tritium to replace in 10 years. Use code gram10 to get them at that price.

https://www.henningshop.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1373249&CAT=10018


If you don't care about tritium get a fiber front from Heine. It will most likely match your rear.

Both of these are Fiber Optic sights. I thought the consensus was that fibers are good for competition in some cases but are too fragile for CCW purposes? I have zero experience with them. I was hoping they'd work for me, but in reading old PF threads on them, the consensus was poor.

[HopetonBrown]

Both of these are Fiber Optic sights. I thought the consensus was that fibers are good for competition in some cases but are too fragile for CCW purposes? I have zero experience with them. I was hoping they'd work for me, but in reading old PF threads on them, the consensus was poor.I have a hard time believing the consensus was poor.

When the orange model paint flakes off your front sight, does it render your sights useless? Same with a fiber optic rod falling out. Now you just have a set of Defoor sights on your gun.

Not all fiber optic sights are created equal. Look at the Henning front sight I suggested. The fiber rod is in a box and the rear bulb is countersunk into the blade.

I've bought a few sets of used fiber optic sights off eBay. Each had their fiber optic rod installed incorrectly. They just created a big bulb on either end, and there was slop so you were able to move the rod back and forth.

Frank Proctor about how he put fiber optic sights on his pistols while deployed with Army SF in Iraqi.

https://www.recoilweb.com/a-few-thoughts-on-fiber-optic-sights-and-carrying-a-light-59795.html

Mike Pannone waxing poetic about fiber sights for carry.

https://youtu.be/av8Nfjn-23041549

From DocGKRs summary of a class with Bob Vogel

"he uses fiberoptic front sights on all his pistols--competition, LE duty, and CCW. He feels they work just as well for him as tritium sights and reports never having any problems with breakage or fiber loss, but he does install them correctly."

[Leroy]

For day time shooting nothing beats fiber in my opinion. As mentioned, a good fiber sight with the bulb recessed on the front are the best as it helps protect and creates a crisper edge on the fiber. Fiber is also adjustable for brightness by covering the visible portion of the fiber with black marker to dim the sight.

The biggest danger to fiber is cleaning solvents not use of the gun.

[ViniVidivici]

I use the Ameriglo Pro Glo front sight. Big orange square, tritium in the middle. Running this on a G19, and soon on a PF9C. Loving this setup.

https://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/sights/front-sights/pro-glo-tritium-square-front-sight-165x120-for-glock--prod109020.aspx

I do have a red fiber optic front on one gun, shot and carried it alot, never a problem. Until it gets dark. May replace it with the Ameriglo at some point.

The Ameriglo is a very bright orange, and is very easy to pick up.

I generally leave my stock rear sights alone (Glock), as I like contrast between them and front. When they get too beat up, I replace them with the same factory sight, but in steel. It's solid, and does give you a decent "ledge" to run the slide off of if needed.

Running a front-only setup like this works very well for me, helps me with quick front sight focus. Used Trijicon 3-dot greens plenty in the past, and the way I'm running things now is superior.

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[EVP]

I wish Ameriglo would bring back the regular operator sights back with yellow tritium, same with the trooper sights.

Why not have more option with yellow tritium.


Wilson Combat too. They have a two dot rear for the p30/vp9 with yellow tritium but not Glocks?

[RAM Engineer]

I wish Ameriglo would bring back the regular operator sights back with yellow tritium, same with the trooper sights.

Why not have more option with yellow tritium.


Wilson Combat too. They have a two dot rear for the p30/vp9 with yellow tritium but not Glocks?

Yep, standard Ameriglo operators with green front and blacked out yellow rear is still my #1 pick of all time.

[JAH 3rd]

For my gen 3 Glock 21, I installed Ameriglo Hackathorn sight set. The rear sight is serrated with no inserts.....just black. The front sight is an orange donut with a tritium insert. The rear sight notch is wide, but the front sight is wide too. I got these for one reason......old eyes. Not a target sight, but the front/rear combo works great for me!

[HopetonBrown]

I generally leave my stock rear sights alone (Glock), as I like contrast between them and front.

The rear plastic dovetail protector is too easily pushed out of alignment to be used as a rear sight.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

[kjr_29]

I wish Ameriglo would bring back the regular operator sights back with yellow tritium, same with the trooper sights.

Why not have more option with yellow tritium.


Wilson Combat too. They have a two dot rear for the p30/vp9 with yellow tritium but not Glocks?

I have a spare set I would sell. With yellow rears.


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[talos]

Thanks for replies so far guys. My main issue seems to be uniformity. If Henei made all black steel glock 48 sights, I’d probably buy those paint orange and call it a day. But Henie only makes tritium g48 sights.

I’m open to fiber optic but I haven’t seen glock 48 fibers on any of the makers posted here.

Also, I’d like to ideally just use my existing rear Henie ledge sights with new fiber fronts but then the heights have to match and the fibers I saw have shorter sights than my Henie rears were made for.

Still too many decisions sorry it’s tough for me I should just pull the trigger and buy some but I don’t want to keep rebuying sights every couple years I want to decide now and stick with it.

The suppressor sights are also tricky. I think for those tritium is the way to go since it’s mesnt to be a home defense tool.

Maybe everything doesn’t need to be the same and if I run Henie tritium suppressor sights and fiber 19 sights and ameriglo tritiums on my 48, then it’s fine. I was hoping it would all be the same for uniformity in training.

To make it worse a lot of sights don’t tell you the heights so to mix match manufacturers becomes tough or more work if I have to call all of the companies to ask.

[HopetonBrown]

Thanks for replies so far guys. My main issue seems to be uniformity. If Henei made all black steel glock 48 sights, I’d probably buy those paint orange and call it a day. But Henie only makes tritium g48 sights..

Can you just paint tritium sights?

Without looking I have to believe Dawson makes Charger sights for G48.

[kjr_29]

Thanks for replies so far guys. My main issue seems to be uniformity. If Henei made all black steel glock 48 sights, I’d probably buy those paint orange and call it a day. But Henie only makes tritium g48 sights.

I’m open to fiber optic but I haven’t seen glock 48 fibers on any of the makers posted here.

Also, I’d like to ideally just use my existing rear Henie ledge sights with new fiber fronts but then the heights have to match and the fibers I saw have shorter sights than my Henie rears were made for.

Still too many decisions sorry it’s tough for me I should just pull the trigger and buy some but I don’t want to keep rebuying sights every couple years I want to decide now and stick with it.

The suppressor sights are also tricky. I think for those tritium is the way to go since it’s mesnt to be a home defense tool.

Maybe everything doesn’t need to be the same and if I run Henie tritium suppressor sights and fiber 19 sights and ameriglo tritiums on my 48, then it’s fine. I was hoping it would all be the same for uniformity in training.

To make it worse a lot of sights don’t tell you the heights so to mix match manufacturers becomes tough or more work if I have to call all of the companies to ask.

I have used Trijicon HDs, Ameriglo Hackathorns, Wilson and Dawson sights. For the Glock, there are so many good options available. I know, after so many sight sets, what works for me and what does not. My advice is to just try some that you think you might like. Learn from those, then try more.

I view sights like holsters. An investment in learning.

FWIW, I now run a simple Dawson .125w Tritium and .140w Charger blacked out rear. Easily repeatable setup, no muss, no fuss. Moving towards the Red Dot vs bright front sights.


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[pastaslinger]

I cant find sights that meet my perceived needs. I possess a stable of various 9mm glocks and advantage arms 22 long rifle conversion that I would like to retrofit all of them with new sights once selected.

Currently I am running heine sights, black serrated steel, no tritium, thinnest possible (0.125" I think). I painted them bright orange after training with Tom Givens. My main dislike is that the paint flakes off. I've tried various types of paint, including the Givens recommended testor's model paint, and I just think it's something that will require regular reapplication which I don't want to deal with. I recognize it sounds petty but I have about ten Glocks of different models (19, 17, 43, 48, 19-sized AA conversion) and it becomes a several hour event to remove the sights, strip them, do a base layer and multiple top layers.

I don't think I need tritium sights but am open to them and the Ameriglo FBI agent sights (https://amzn.to/2Z4LXAJ) strike me as a good solution. However, I dislike the rear round part. I know they make a square rear. The problem is there's too many SKUs and I can't figure out what to get and some have restricted distributors. Also, it's possible I might need different front sight heights to get things proper to my carry ammo which is currently 147 HSTs.

I've spent a lot of time reading hundreds of pages of old threads here on various sights and I can't figure out the best route to go. For uniformity, I want all of the Glocks to have the same sights or very similar sight picture.

I want the smallest front sight available. 0.125" or less in case I need to make a precision longer range shot with it. I think 0.140" is too wide. In my mind, I'll either need to make a very close shot in self defense, in which case the sight width doesn't matter, or I'll be making a very long range shot responding to an active shooter to get my family out safe. The long-range shot is extremely unlikely but any shooting as a civilian is unlikely given my lifestyle. I like to shoot NRA B8 targets at 25 yards for fun and I already struggle with my 0.125" front sight covering too much of the target. I'm young and have good eyes. In 25 years I might not have good eyes but by then advances in eye surgery and red dot sights will make it fine that I'm going with 0.125" now.

I want serrated and not smooth sights if possible. Maybe it's just what I'm used to, and I'm open to reconsidering, but I think smooth sides reflect too much glare in bright sun.

There doesn't seem to be serrated front sights with orange on them and tritium.

I want the sights to be orange and be "permanently" painted on by the factory so they won't require reapplication. Hilton Yam 10-8 has an interesting sight with polymer ring.

If I get tritium sights, I'd like to be able to replace the tritium after 10 to 15 years and not discard the sight. Spending $1k+ on sights for ten glocks every 10 to 15 years seems wasteful. Maybe it's okay because as said above, I'm young now but in 20 years I won't be able to see 0.125" sights and red dot tech will be incredible by then. So maybe these really are just a 20-year shelf life product at which point I drill out the tritium, fill in with epoxy, and they become backup sights to the future red dots.

I need suppressor height sights for the a couple of my 19 and 17s that are hosts for suppressors. It's tough to find that with the rest of the things I want.

I'm open to either Straight 8 style tritium layout or standard 3-dot, but as long as they are all the same color tritium. I dislike the different front/rear tritium. I'm also open to mixing/matching sights and getting tritium front only and plain rears. I'm a civilian with a boring life. Chances of me needing a gun exactly in the light circumstance where tritium rears matter, at distances more than arms length are virtually zero. Maybe for cost savings I put plain rears on my backup guns and the 3 guns I carry (43, 48, 19) plus the 17 suppressor gun get tritium rears. But I'd like all guns to have the same front sight.

I need the rear sight to be ledged for one handed racking of the slide off a belt. Very unlikely scenario but I've been running heine ledge rears for a decade, they've never injured me or torn clothing, so there seems to be no reason not to go this route for the potential benefit.

Lots of text here, sorry for that. Every year I think it's time to upgrade my sights, I read threads here for weeks, can't make my mind up and decide to hold off out of indecision.

I've also thought about seeing if I can keep the sights I have now and get them cerakoted bright orange. It might look weird since the whole sight, including top and back will be orange because I don't think they can just apply it to the one side. Was thinking the cerakote would look better and wear less than the testor's paint. I could probably buy a whole second set of front sights (so a spare for each gun) and if they wear off after a couple years, swap it off, until they're all worn and then get them re-cerakoted every decade.

The ameriglo agents are fantastic and I personally hate u notch rear sights. The way the front sight orange ring is, the u notch works perfectly.

If you don't want those then my next recommendation would be Dawson chargers but I know you don't want just front fiber sights.

[Jay Cunningham]

Analysis paralysis, my friend.

Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

[HeavyDuty]

Analysis paralysis, my friend.

Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

This. I settled a few years ago with Ameriglo Hackathorns on almost all of my guns, they give me the sight picture I want and are reasonable. I do see the advantage of a uniform sight picture.