Argument for fiber optics on a carry gun?

[Chuck Haggard]

Even normal three dot tritium sets, where all three lamps are the same size, have this problem. The front instantly becomes smaller and dimmer due to depth. Even before I didn't know what I didn't know, the only thing I knew for a fact was that I disliked three dot tritium sights. I lean more to the knuckle dragger side, but my mind just can't process those sights with any sort of definitive confidence and quickness.

Yup, and many of the cheap sights are built that way, like the Mepros. Hence my trick of using red Sharpie on the rear dots to dim them down.

[LSP552]

Actually I have one VP9 with HD's and another with Dawson FO's.
I've been alternating between the two for practice and matches and decided the HD style tritium sights are the winners for CCW.
When I set up my new Glock 26 for carry, it ended up with a Ameriglo Orange ProGlo Square front and Pro Operator yellow tritium rears.

I just went this route on my 2nd gen 19 and it's been a great addition for my pushing 60 eyes. Previously, I really preferred the standard .125 tritium front of the Operator (white ring) combined with the yellow rear/no outline Operator rear. The ProGlo does cost me some precision at distance, but the advantage of being able to see quicker under more lighting conditions tips the trade-off balance in their favor, for my eyes. I'm on the fence about the square vs round ProGlo

[BJXDS]

Originally Posted by StraitR View Post

Even normal three dot tritium sets, where all three lamps are the same size, have this problem. The front instantly becomes smaller and dimmer due to depth. Even before I didn't know what I didn't know, the only thing I knew for a fact was that I disliked three dot tritium sights. I lean more to the knuckle dragger side, but my mind just can't process those sights with any sort of definitive confidence and quickness.

Yup, and many of the cheap sights are built that way, like the Mepros. Hence my trick of using red Sharpie on the rear dots to dim them down.

I like the red sharpie idea, I have noticed this especially on a set of older triji's.

I have noticed it seems the fibers are much brighter in sunlight vs bright indoor lighting. Is it the type of light or is it just me? The one thing I can say is as it darkens there is a point where I loose either a black of fiber sight, even though I can see the target. But I have never had the lighting conditions to bright to see the black or night sights
Also I have kind of gone to all black rear, but with more low light shooting I am starting to think I need a night on the front and re think the 3 dot setup.

[vcdgrips]

Based on this thread and a simmering personal curiosity, I recently put an Ameriglo Red Fiber front mated to an all black steel rear on top of a G22 upper I had. I concur that it really "shines" in outdoor light making it MUCH easier to pick up than even the Ameriglo/Trijicon factory oranged painted fronts from my eyes.

In the three diffeent indoor ranges I have shot in with this setup, it was not appreciably brighter than the non fiber sights I mentioned above. If I was going to compete outdoors
I would likely follow in the footsteps of Vogel and many others and their use of a red FR front/Black rear combo.

For me, my narrow lane of expeience shooting in darkened indoor conditions in classes, training and dabbling in USPSA/IDPA coupled with Chuck Haggard's and other extremely expierinced officers in urabn enviroments, has me still using a tritium front and rear sight set up for defensive purposes out in the world.

YMMV Greatly.

David Barnes
vcdgrips.com

[NorcrossGP]

FO definitely show up better in in good and dim lighting conditions and HD allows you to find the gun on your nightstand in the middle of the night. However, nether HD or FO do anything for the rule “identifying your target”. I have heard of way too many cases where a wife, husband or child was shot by mistake. I carry a rail mounted light at night and the gun on the nightstand has a rail mounted light as well. FO & HD are great for aiming but are you aiming at the right person? Hand held light are great to but they require practice to use, how many time have you ever seen people practicing night shooting with a hand held? I use HD on all but one of my guns because it is a good compromise and work well day or night. I use FO on my XDs which I carry during the day because it easy to conceal. At night I can wear a sport coat to conceal a larger gun with a rail mounted light. I am 5’ 10’ and 165 pounds, so I am not a big person and can still manage to conceal my Sig 226 SAO with a surefire rail mounted light.

[Chuck Haggard]

FO definitely show up better in in good and dim lighting conditions and HD allows you to find the gun on your nightstand in the middle of the night. However, nether HD or FO do anything for the rule “identifying your target”. I have heard of way too many cases where a wife, husband or child was shot by mistake. I carry a rail mounted light at night and the gun on the nightstand has a rail mounted light as well. FO & HD are great for aiming but are you aiming at the right person? Hand held light are great to but they require practice to use, how many time have you ever seen people practicing night shooting with a hand held? I use HD on all but one of my guns because it is a good compromise and work well day or night. I use FO on my XDs which I carry during the day because it easy to conceal. At night I can wear a sport coat to conceal a larger gun with a rail mounted light. I am 5’ 10’ and 165 pounds, so I am not a big person and can still manage to conceal my Sig 226 SAO with a surefire rail mounted light.

We've hit on this a number of times in the past, maybe even in this thread......

Yes, you need to ID your "target:, sometimes you need a flashlight for that, sometimes you do not. In some of these situations you can not see your black sights but you can see the bad guy, tritium helps in such cases.

WMLs are great for range time, live fire, and for gun fighting, they suck for actually searching. The real world need for a WML for a CCW person is damn near zero, outside of a possible home defense situation.

[Yojimbo]

Please pardon me as I haven't read every page of this thread so I don't know if this has already been discussed.

What is the general consensus on gold or brass bead front sights? In my limited experience they seem to stand out and be very easy to pick up in daylight conditions. They are not bad in lower lighting conditions but stil usable for me.

[HopetonBrown]

In the three diffeent indoor ranges I have shot in with this setup, it was not appreciably brighter than the non fiber sights I mentioned above. If I was going to compete outdoors
I would likely follow in the footsteps of Vogel and many others and their use of a red FR front/Black rear combo.

Vogel also had fiber on his duty G35.

[s0nspark]

However, nether HD or FO do anything for the rule “identifying your target”.

True but remember this isn't an either/or situation... a WML can easily be added or removed when appropriate but I would say it is still important to have sights you can see in all of the lighting conditions where you expect to (have to) shoot.

My personal preference is for night sights (I have grown quite fond of yellow Trijicon HDs) and a WML (the Inforce APL is my current fave: bright, lightweight, easy to swap the single CR123) and I always carry at least one handheld flashlight (a Powertac E5, generally), as the WML is only to assist with final target confirmation.

[HCM]

Please pardon me as I haven't read every page of this thread so I don't know if this has already been discussed.

What is the general consensus on gold or brass bead front sights? In my limited experience they seem to stand out and be very easy to pick up in daylight conditions. They are not bad in lower lighting conditions but stil usable for me.

Both work well in full daylight but the actual gold bead is definitely more visible than brass in reduced light.