Self-Illuminating Night Sight Poll

[1Rangemaster]

Quite the trip down memory lane...
King-Tappan painted sights on a Colt .45acp, followed by early Trijicon night sights on a duty S&W 4506 in the late 80s.
The majority of GLOCKs have some form of night sight: GLOCK 3 dot night sights years ago, up to the GLOCK BOLD sights which I like very much. Currently an Aimpoint ACRO backed up by Heinie suppressor sights. Warren/Sevigny 2 dot night sights, and “Big Dot” night sight on a snub. I am sentimental about two sets of gold bead sights(front) on a couple of GLOCKs. Quite honestly, the night sight helps me find the weapon in the dark. I really do prefer some sort of highlighting on the front sight, if not using a “red dot”. My personal dream in an “iron sight” would be a gold bead front with tritium tube, and a single tube in rear sight(yellow). No one has said they will build that. I continue to be optimistic about red dots-Aimpoint and Trijicon.
Short answer after all that: some form of tritium if at all possible on one piece of the sights for me, please.

[beenalongtime]

With night sights I am almost off of the need for more than a front dot. I blacken the rear dots, anyway, so why spend the money?

pat

Define blacken the rear? I prefer the vials in the rear to be surrounded by the black sleeves, but on factory pistols, not always an option.

[UNM1136]

Define blacken the rear? I prefer the vials in the rear to be surrounded by the black sleeves, but on factory pistols, not always an option.

Wish I could take credit for it...take a Sharpie (I have always had black on hand, Chuck Haggard has in the past recommended red) and color in the dots on the rear sight. On non tritium sights, like my M&P9c you can get almost a completely black rear sight, while on tritium sights it dims the rear sight lamps just enough that the front sight really stands out. You still have some glow to apply the three dot principle, but your eye is drawn to the brighter, greener, clearer front sight lamp. I find I need to reapply ever year or so.I use this on my issue M&P9, so the gun isn't modded at all. This is the only thing that keeps me from jumping to front sight only...

pat

[That Guy]

My understanding is that the PPQ and P99 front sights are interchangeable.

That is correct.

I have done a fair bit of shooting outdoors in diminishing light. My observations on what works for me:

Orange paint or sight inserts completely disappear from view somewhere around dusk. I have yet to discover which color would be optimal for me.

Not all fiber optic sights are equal. The snap on fiber optic beads Hi-Viz makes for shotguns are surprisingly visible in surprisingly low light.

I lose the ability to see a sight picture much sooner than my ability to see and identify people, see what is in their hands or what they are doing. And of course, seeing where a static cardboard target is, is much simpler than that. Indoors, I remember dry firing in our apartment in the city during daylight hours with the curtains closed and all the lights in the room on. I picked up the tritium dot much quicker during the presentation of the pistol than the rest of the sight, even though the room was fully lit.

So in my opinion, tritium dots on front and rear sights are very useful for the limited time window between day light and night. Tritium front only is not nearly as useful for me, as while I know where the front sight is, I have no idea of its orientation to the rear sight.

Once it gets dark enough one needs a white light to see or identify targets, then this stuff of course no longer matters as you are aligning the silhouettes of the sights against the target.

[JohnO]

Night sights for years were thought to be requirement on a carry gun. However no one really gave consideration to where self luminous sights are actually employable. To say in low light or no light conditions doesn't offer the proper context. Conditions must be too dark to see your sights yet you are still able to positively identify your target. A sliver between where you don't and do need a flashlight for PID.

[CCT125US]

It would be an interesting experiment to have folks post a defining pic of low light. I have observed quite a variation in how people define it.

Sorry for the thread drift.

[blues]

Night sights for years were thought to be requirement on a carry gun. However no one really gave consideration to where self luminous sights are actually employable. To say in low light or no light conditions doesn't offer the proper context. Conditions must be too dark to see your sights yet you are still able to positively identify your target. A sliver between where you don't and do need a flashlight for PID.

Exactly so. Probably a very rare occurence, especially for those outside LE or the military...but it made a significant difference in my own training and qualification scenarios in terms of the confidence that sights were properly aligned in very low light scenarios with faintly visible targets. In fact, that's what prompted me to consider adding them after so many years without.

[That Guy]

It would be an interesting experiment to have folks post a defining pic of low light. I have observed quite a variation in how people define it.

Unfortunately there would be some technical challenges to overcome, since cameras don't see things the same way human eyes do.

[Totem Polar]

Unfortunately there would be some technical challenges to overcome, since cameras don't see things the same way human eyes do.

To say nothing of low light also being relative (to the eye’s current state of adaptation) and not absolute.

[BehindBlueI's]

To say nothing of low light also being relative (to the eye’s current state of adaptation) and not absolute.

That's no shit. My "low light" today isn't my 20 year old eyes "low light".