Night Sights vs fiber optics (August 2013 edition)

[Chuck Whitlock]

Thanks for the reply. I've used XS BDs for a while (the set on my carry gun are stamped "AO" instead of "XS") and had just about convinced myself that the rear trit was unnecessary, but have been wondering if the Trijicon HDs might not be 'more of a good thing'. My duty gun has Glock factory NS which I use a black Sharpie on the rear lamps-they still glow faintly in the dark, but they don't overpower the front in any conditions. Unfortunately, the finish on both front and rear succumb to holster wear pretty rapidly.

[Chuck Haggard]

I forgot to mention earlier, and my ADD just kicked in again, so I'll note that someone mentioned the old "flash-fire" technique where you use the muzzle flash to confirm your sight alignment and adjust from there.

Outside of a military battlefield this is; Stupid. As. Hell.

You want to explain in court how you had to fire off a round in order to see your sights so you could try and fire an accurate shot? Seriously?

Aaaaaaand,

This only works if the target doesn't move. The second they move you lose the sight "picture" your were trying to get from that technique.

In a gunfight everyone is moving.


I'll also note that we were taught this back when I went through the academy, and were run through doing so in a couple of drills during our low-light "training". Easy to see the sights from the flash of a full house 125gr .357mag, not so much when using something like a 147gr 9mm.

[Chuck Haggard]

And on a more entertaining note;

A friend has a place out in the boonies, and his wife has horses. Possums like horse feed, but their poop will poison a horse for some reason. So, the rule at many places out in the boonies around here is to shoot possums on sight.

Friend of mine came home the other night and found a possum fleeing from the backyard towards the tree line behind the horse barn.

I am told when all you have on you is a 642, with the only improvement being orange paint on the front sight, that a good handheld light and neck index will allow you to see the sights AND the possum while running across a back yard in the dark.

Hornady Critical Defense works on possums.

End of report.

[GJM]

And on a more entertaining note;

A friend has a place out in the boonies, and his wife has horses. Possums like horse feed, but their poop will poison a horse for some reason. So, the rule at many places out in the boonies around here is to shoot possums on sight.

Friend of mine came home the other night and found a possum fleeing from the backyard towards the tree line behind the horse barn.

I am told when all you have on you is a 642, with the only improvement being orange paint on the front sight, that a good handheld light and neck index will allow you to see the sights AND the possum while running across a back yard in the dark.

Hornady Critical Defense works on possums.

End of report.

Tell your "friend" that CT laser grips make a much better "shoot a possum in the dark" on the run set-up.

I just got done shooting the Crimson Trace Midnight 3-Gun match. I am a dedicated fiber optic shooter for my gamer guns.

Any word from CT when their visible green laser grip product for the Gen 3 Glock will ship -- their web site makes it sound imminent?

[justintime]

And on a more entertaining note;

A friend has a place out in the boonies, and his wife has horses. Possums like horse feed, but their poop will poison a horse for some reason. So, the rule at many places out in the boonies around here is to shoot possums on sight.

Friend of mine came home the other night and found a possum fleeing from the backyard towards the tree line behind the horse barn.

I am told when all you have on you is a 642, with the only improvement being orange paint on the front sight, that a good handheld light and neck index will allow you to see the sights AND the possum while running across a back yard in the dark.

Hornady Critical Defense works on possums.

End of report.

this seems to mirror most of my low light experience. I shot a raccoon once at night that was into some feed, as soon as I did another one popped up and snarled at me, it was apparent that my flashlight had given my position away to the next enemy I've done a lot of night varmint hunting and the only thing I've taken from that is 1. flashlights rule, unless they are behind you. 2. red dots rule, unless they are too bright when lighting conditions drastically change on short notice...
3. giving away your position against varmints is not a concern and thus flashlights are powerful tools.. yet when other people use flashlights for around you it tends to always mess up the sight picture making longer distances pretty hard. I've never been able to utilize night sights in the boonies because I'm never sure enough what I'm shooting at out there unless it is lit up. I've shot rattle snakes at close distances in low light with, and without light and with and without night sights and frankly at those surprise distances I basically just remember looking at the snake as opposed to picking up the front sight so I can't say either was worse or better but a dead snake to me is a dead snake.

if you are by yourself in a position against unknown enemy where using white light even momentarily = you being dead, wouldn't that mean evading would be the better option at that point as that is assuming they cannot see you without the white light so essentially you have a distinct advantage not to initiate contact. Likewise setting yourself up for success in other areas seem like a bigger concern, like getting to a position that makes a backlit chokepoint exc, and if you find yourself in the opposite position, well a white light obviously weighs in as less of a disadvantage since your already backlit to a dark enemy. For instance in the home having halls lit up and rooms darkened exc. Again, I am just bouncing ideas off the experts as I am not

Has using an rds on a pistol been discussed in here? seems like that would be the best solution, although I have not used one on a pistol and I'm curious how easily they adjust to new and abrupt lighting situations.

edit to add: also forgot to mention that I have personally found that wider rear notches help drastically in low light without tritium.

[Chuck Haggard]

Tell your "friend" that CT laser grips make a much better "shoot a possum in the dark" on the run set-up.

He is well aware, sticks with boot grips for his pocket gun because of the handling and draw characteristics.

[Shawn.L]

These might be worth the $12 to toss on an airsoft to try out night sights for AMIS or like class

http://www.nitesiters.com/Nitesiters...ht_Sights.html

[AJZ]

So, after running AMIS this past weekend in OK, here were my findings. At no point did I NEED night sights. Again, I said NEED, but I will say that there was more than one time in the course where a good set of night sights would have indeed been a great help. The most noticeable was when I was playing the OPFOR waiting in a dark corner for someone, but in general, I don't do that, so not really sure that would be a valid point for night sights. Those were mainly the times when I was in darkness and the "threat" was illuminated, which Todd has referred to, though as I stated before he has made valid points about threat illumination v. sight illumination. The big area I saw where they would have made their money, as predicted, was during the night evolution utilizing Craig's lighting techniques. For that style, which I believe to be superior to the other techniques out there, I will wholeheartedly admit a good set of night sights would have done nothing but help me. That all being said, for me, night sights will indeed be installed on my current FO guns as well as a good laser system if they'll work on my gun.

[KevinB]

I'm still struggling to find someone who makes a .320 Front Tritium sight for a M&P CORE. AmeriGlo my go to folks don't

[ToddG]

Get a .320 sight and send it off for a capsule.