"Combat" or "Target" sights?

[daved20319]

I've played with most every sight set that the big name trainers produce and the thing that sticks out having talked to them is that anything you shoot at in combat is a target and you need to be able to see the sights.

You can pretty much guess a trainer's age by looking at the sights they make.

So are you saying bigger/brighter is better? I can relate, I'm 59 and just got my first pair of prescription glasses . Nice to see a world with sharp edges again, though.

Thanks again, guys. I was leaning in this direction, my XDs had a FO front sight, but it was so small and just generally hard to handle, I'm not sure it mattered much. The pistol, not the sight. These bigger guns are a lot easier to shoot well. Later.

Dave

[psalms144.1]

So are you saying bigger/brighter is better? I can relate, I'm 59 and just got my first pair of prescription glasses . Nice to see a world with sharp edges again, though.

Thanks again, guys. I was leaning in this direction, my XDs had a FO front sight, but it was so small and just generally hard to handle, I'm not sure it mattered much. The pistol, not the sight. These bigger guns are a lot easier to shoot well. Later.

Dave

Dave - as a 53yo who's been wearing prescription lenses for the last several years, larger/brighter is a BIG improvement for me. I haven't reached the point where I like/need wide rear notches yet, but I'm sure that's coming to a theater near me SOON...

I strongly prefer the AMERIGLO hi vis fronts - again, I like yellow square outlines best, others swear by orange or round outlines instead - another "what works for me doesn't for you" moment. Trijicon HDs get some love, but the rear sights are less-lethal cutting implements on every set I've bought, and the front sights are VERY wide. The new HDR front is narrower, but Trij hasn't released an HDR rear - so you end up with a relatively HYUGE rear aperture, which I don't like.

Night Fision is the latest on the market, and are available in a wide variety of front/rear combinations. I haven't wrung the sight I bought out yet, but I'll report here when I do...

[Gio]

Les covered it pretty well.

I prefer a fiber optic sight for action pistol "target" sights. It allows a thinner front sight (.100-.115") which gives me more precision for hitting small pieces of steel and tight shots at distance. The fiber is personal preference, but I find it allows me to target focus, i.e. adjust my visual focus to the target instead of my front sight, for shots 15-20 yards and closer. I prefer a completely black rear sight for this type of shooting because I am always in bright lighting conditions. Some shooters don't do well with a fiber front and prefer an all black front.

For a combat sight, I am adamant that 3-dot night sights are the best and wisest option for all lighting conditions. I have seen hundreds of shooters train in low light conditions, and the majority of them significantly struggle with a 2 dot, fiber optic front, or black rear sight. That said, I prefer the dots on my rear sight to be a contrasting color to the front sight, and I prefer them to be almost un-noticable in bright lighting conditions so they act like an all black sight in those conditions. I've written about this at length on this forum on other posts, but there are so many common low light situations where you have plenty of light to identify a target or threat but not enough light to see your sights. A worst case example of this is standing in the dark with your headlights illuminating a subject who is wearing dark clothing. You cannot see an all black or fiber optic sight at all in these conditions, and you will essentally be point/instinctive shooting. You'll hear the argument that you should have a weaponlight for such situations, and all sights look the same with a weaponlight turned on, but I've seen officers surprised in training when their batteries die prematurely, their light fails completely (I've seen inforces, TLR's, and X300's fail), they don't activate the light due to stress causing them to miss the switch, etc. I wouldn't plan my sight setup around always having a weaponlight available. I also want a high visability dot on a combat front sight for the same reason I prefer a fiber optic in competition. In bright lighting, it allows me to target focus and still track the front sight.

[taadski]

Gio,

Your comments should be sticky-fied, IMHO.