Superlite27
Regular Member
I have used Trijicon night sights for many years. Anyone who carries for self-defense has to ask themselves, "WHEN will a self-defense situation most likely happen to me?". (I say "most likely", because they can happen at ANY time of day.)....but, most likely, it will be at night, or in a low light situation.
Being able to see your sights is a good thing.
Argue all you want, but without ILLUMINATED night sights, it is almost impossible to see them in the dark. (As Grape points out: fiber optics are NOT illuminated, they simply focus ambient light. If there is no light = nothing to focus) Add to this the fight-or-flight reaction, adrenaline rush, and pandemonium of a possibly lethal situation and this "almost impossible" becomes pretty much a sure thing. You won't see your sights in a dark alley with someone trying to kill you.
I have done an extensive amount of low light shooting. (Those of you serious about self-defense have, at least, done a little, right?.....Right? If not...shame.) I'll swear by a good set of (or my preference of one) Tritium sights.
About ten years ago, I was practicing low light shooting one evening with a flashlight (a Maglight before these nifty little super-bright suckers became mainstream) and it went dim.....then out. Dead batteries. I thought to myself: "If it can happen now, it can happen when I really need it."...so I tried shooting in the dark. I could kind of make out my target, and I could kind of make out my sights...but after the first BANG and the resultant muzzle flash...I wasn't seeing the sights ever again that session. The inevitable lack of groups or reliable hits on the target let me know: You need to be able to see your sights in order to reasonably expect a decent hit.
So I put some Trijicon sights on.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
However, I have found (and research has proven my hunch) that the half-life of Tritium is a scosh over 12 years. What does this mean?
Tritium is a radioactive isotope. This is why it glows in the dark. Brightly. It does this because it gives off radiation. As with all manner of things, there is only so much energy it contains. Tritium GIVES off radiation. It doesn't contain an inexhaustable supply. It will "run out" over time. Since I had installed my Tritium sights about ten years ago, I have noticed that they don't seem as bright as they once did. They seem half as bright as they were when I put them on. Duh! No wonder! I just discovered that the half-life of Tritium is 12.32 years. In another 12 they'll be 50% dimmer than they are now. So, I bought some new ones.
However, I'll address the question WOD asks:
Why just the fronts? Just my personal preference. Others might prefer a full set.
The reason I have recently swapped out to a single Tritium front post is for simplicity.
I removed my rear Tritium night sights and replaced them with non-illuminated adjustables. I replaced the front post with a new Trijicon.
Why? After years of shooting, I relaized that I was spending an inordinate amount of time focusing on sight picture. "WHAT?", you ask? "He just rants about needing to be able to see your sights, and then talks about spending too much time looking at your sights? This doesn't make sense!"
Of course it does. The Tritium simply makes it possible to SEE them. It doesn't interpret WHAT you see for your brain. After tons and tons of training, I realize that, in a self-defense situation, the important thing is THE FRONT SIGHT. PUT THE FRONT SIGHT ON THE TARGET AND SQUEEZE. The amount of side-to-side movement is negligable to the amount of up-and-down. If you completely remove one set of sights from your gun entirely, you will be far more accurate without your rear sights than you will be without your front sight.
At night, with both front and rear tritium sights, I noticed that, when I first picked up my sight picture, it would simply be three green dots. My brain would spend valuable moments trying to analyze, "O.K. Which of these three dots is the front, and which two are the rear?". I'd have to wiggle the gun a little, and the one that moved the most was the front, and the two that stayed the same distance apart were the rear. I'd then have to move the one in between the two that remained the same distance apart. Think about it: if you first picked up your sight picture aiming wide right, AT NIGHT your front sight would be to the right of the two rear dots. It would LOOK like three dots in a row. Good looking sight picture...but wrong. However, in real life, you KNOW it's wrong because it doesn't FEEL right. It FEELS like you're aiming too far to the right.
Well, if it FEELS wrong, and IS wrong....what the hell do you need rear night sights to tell your eyes that it's RIGHT for?
In a real self-defense situation, are you really going to take the time to align the three dots, interpret whether they're really aligned correctly, and make adjustments?
NO.
I have found that having a SINGLE GREEN DOT to point at my target is much faster and simpler for my mind to grasp, and works much more effectively than not being able to see your sights at all, or having a bunch of green dots to move around and interpret before pulling the trigger.
One green dot. Put it on the target. Squeeze.
Simple. Simple = good in an actual self-defense situation.
Being able to see your sights is a good thing.
Argue all you want, but without ILLUMINATED night sights, it is almost impossible to see them in the dark. (As Grape points out: fiber optics are NOT illuminated, they simply focus ambient light. If there is no light = nothing to focus) Add to this the fight-or-flight reaction, adrenaline rush, and pandemonium of a possibly lethal situation and this "almost impossible" becomes pretty much a sure thing. You won't see your sights in a dark alley with someone trying to kill you.
I have done an extensive amount of low light shooting. (Those of you serious about self-defense have, at least, done a little, right?.....Right? If not...shame.) I'll swear by a good set of (or my preference of one) Tritium sights.
About ten years ago, I was practicing low light shooting one evening with a flashlight (a Maglight before these nifty little super-bright suckers became mainstream) and it went dim.....then out. Dead batteries. I thought to myself: "If it can happen now, it can happen when I really need it."...so I tried shooting in the dark. I could kind of make out my target, and I could kind of make out my sights...but after the first BANG and the resultant muzzle flash...I wasn't seeing the sights ever again that session. The inevitable lack of groups or reliable hits on the target let me know: You need to be able to see your sights in order to reasonably expect a decent hit.
So I put some Trijicon sights on.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
However, I have found (and research has proven my hunch) that the half-life of Tritium is a scosh over 12 years. What does this mean?
Tritium is a radioactive isotope. This is why it glows in the dark. Brightly. It does this because it gives off radiation. As with all manner of things, there is only so much energy it contains. Tritium GIVES off radiation. It doesn't contain an inexhaustable supply. It will "run out" over time. Since I had installed my Tritium sights about ten years ago, I have noticed that they don't seem as bright as they once did. They seem half as bright as they were when I put them on. Duh! No wonder! I just discovered that the half-life of Tritium is 12.32 years. In another 12 they'll be 50% dimmer than they are now. So, I bought some new ones.
However, I'll address the question WOD asks:
Why just the fronts? Just my personal preference. Others might prefer a full set.
The reason I have recently swapped out to a single Tritium front post is for simplicity.
I removed my rear Tritium night sights and replaced them with non-illuminated adjustables. I replaced the front post with a new Trijicon.
Why? After years of shooting, I relaized that I was spending an inordinate amount of time focusing on sight picture. "WHAT?", you ask? "He just rants about needing to be able to see your sights, and then talks about spending too much time looking at your sights? This doesn't make sense!"
Of course it does. The Tritium simply makes it possible to SEE them. It doesn't interpret WHAT you see for your brain. After tons and tons of training, I realize that, in a self-defense situation, the important thing is THE FRONT SIGHT. PUT THE FRONT SIGHT ON THE TARGET AND SQUEEZE. The amount of side-to-side movement is negligable to the amount of up-and-down. If you completely remove one set of sights from your gun entirely, you will be far more accurate without your rear sights than you will be without your front sight.
At night, with both front and rear tritium sights, I noticed that, when I first picked up my sight picture, it would simply be three green dots. My brain would spend valuable moments trying to analyze, "O.K. Which of these three dots is the front, and which two are the rear?". I'd have to wiggle the gun a little, and the one that moved the most was the front, and the two that stayed the same distance apart were the rear. I'd then have to move the one in between the two that remained the same distance apart. Think about it: if you first picked up your sight picture aiming wide right, AT NIGHT your front sight would be to the right of the two rear dots. It would LOOK like three dots in a row. Good looking sight picture...but wrong. However, in real life, you KNOW it's wrong because it doesn't FEEL right. It FEELS like you're aiming too far to the right.
Well, if it FEELS wrong, and IS wrong....what the hell do you need rear night sights to tell your eyes that it's RIGHT for?
In a real self-defense situation, are you really going to take the time to align the three dots, interpret whether they're really aligned correctly, and make adjustments?
NO.
I have found that having a SINGLE GREEN DOT to point at my target is much faster and simpler for my mind to grasp, and works much more effectively than not being able to see your sights at all, or having a bunch of green dots to move around and interpret before pulling the trigger.
One green dot. Put it on the target. Squeeze.
Simple. Simple = good in an actual self-defense situation.
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