Night Sights, Yes or No

[louismacote]

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Simply go to an IDPA competition, and see the score difference between folks who use tritium, and those who don't. Better yet, see how many "friendlies" are hit by those who have standard sights. This difference is enormous. In my opinion, it is part of being a responsible gun owner, to carry a weapon with sights you can see at night.

 

[Felid`Maximus]

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I wish I had tritiums. My S&W wristwatch has tritiums, but my S&W in .357 does not.

I'm rarely out at night though anyway, and I always have a flashlight.

 

[Felid`Maximus]

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Duplicate Post;

 

[Tomahawk]

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My Taurus 1911 has Heine Straight-8 sights, and I love them. Of course, right after I bought it, I saw one at a gunshow with the tritium version of the same sights.:cuss:

 

[BenjiMac]

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ChinChin wrote:

I used to be against them. My thought was that if you have to fire your weapon at night in zero lux conditions, the muzzle flash is going to kill your eyesight until they adjust again. . .no reason to buy them.

If I have to fire at night, I want the first shot to hit the target, and it doesn't matter how well I see after that!

Besides, I think the glowing night sights are cool things.

 

[Thundar]

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Yes.

1. Helps in many situations, not just no light situations.

2. Driving down a darkhighway and seeing the glow from the tritium on my dash is a very comforting feeling.

 

[swatpro911]

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when I was in covert mode and carrying my firearm, my night sights gave out my position because it was holstered in my serpa and sights were visible. Its not good to have night sights visible for stealth operations. There is something avalibale that goes over it to cover it up.

 

[DreQo]

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swatpro911 wrote:

when I was in covert mode and carrying my firearm, my night sights gave out my position because it was holstered in my serpa and sights were visible. Its not good to have night sights visible for stealth operations. There is something avalibale that goes over it to cover it up.

Covert mode? Trying to sneak up on the local squirrels while they sleep?

FWIW, in the real military, night sights and tritium watches aren't considered a "light discipline" violation. Rather than projecting light, they simply glow, and are visible only from a short distance.

Indiglo watches, on the other hand, are bright enough to be a problem.

 

[longwatch]

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swatpro911 wrote:

when I was in covert mode and carrying my firearm, my night sights gave out my position because it was holstered in my serpa and sights were visible. Its not good to have night sights visible for stealth operations. There is something avalibale that goes over it to cover it up.

Well if I ever take up being ninja, I will keep that in mind. Meanwhile, civilian open carriers rarely need to be in 'covert mode'.
:celebrate

 

[deepdiver]

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I don't have night sights yet. I have shot pistols with both fiber optic and tritium in low light to dark conditions to try them. I'm a bit torn still. I'm leaning towards fiber optic based on experiences in a low light class and the advantages/disadvantages/no advantage I saw between shooters in various light conditions. I did find that without night sights in low light that the stacked sights on my Sig are much better for me than the 3-dot on the XD. I'll probably do fiber optics on one and tritium on another and see what I prefer after living with them for a while.

For anyone who has not had a low light handgun class, I highly recommend it. It is a whole different world than daylight shooting and there are lots of techniques to overcome the disadvantages of lighting.

 

[swatpro911]

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stead of nightsights can we have laser attachments so its much faster to point and shoot (surgical shot)

 

[glocknroll]

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deepdiver wrote:

I don't have night sights yet. I have shot pistols with both fiber optic and tritium in low light to dark conditions to try them. I'm a bit torn still. I'm leaning towards fiber optic based on experiences in a low light class and the advantages/disadvantages/no advantage I saw between shooters in various light conditions. I did find that without night sights in low light that the stacked sights on my Sig are much better for me than the 3-dot on the XD. I'll probably do fiber optics on one and tritium on another and see what I prefer after living with them for a while.

For anyone who has not had a low light handgun class, I highly recommend it. It is a whole different world than daylight shooting and there are lots of techniques to overcome the disadvantages of lighting.

Get the best of both worlds. TruGlo TFO (tritium fiber optic) are great. I had Williams Fire Sights fiber optic on my G17 and replaced them with the TFO, and I love 'em.

 

[revis_jonathan]

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I have a glock 23 with tritium sights, I like them, but I noticed there is one difference that shooting in daylight. I don't know if you eyes are weird as mine, but during the day I can shoot with both eyes open because my dominant eye takes control of the sight. At night or low-light I have to close my recessive eye because it will make me see "double-sights" if I leave both eyes open.

I am thinking of upgrading to a lasermax sight also on top of the tritiums.

 

[Weak 9mm]

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I noticed some people saying they're worried about being temporarily blinded (ie- loosing their "NV Goggles") after firing one shot. I've fired my Glock 17 w/ tritium sights outside at night to test different kinds of ammunition I was carrying. I've found a number of types of ammunition that have very little effect on night vision. With the good ones I could shoot the target over and over, and go through a full magazine in such a manner, without loosing much, if any ability to see the target.

Federal's Tactical LE Hydrashock +P+ 124gr is not one of the best rounds for low light, as it makes an extremely bright (Almost white) flash. The Winchester LE Ranger +P+ 115gr is not bad at all though, with very, very little flash and surprisingly soft recoil considering it's traveling at 1335 fps out of a 4" (or 4.5", I can't remember what it said they used) barrel. It's probably my favorite round of any I've fired so far. Also, WWB 147gr JHPs are surprisingly good for not making much flash at night and are surprisingly accurate out of my G17. They seem significantly more accurate than the WWB 115gr FMJ, which does also have very little muzzle flash. I must say now that I think about it, I have yet to encounter a Winchester round that puts out a lot of muzzle flash in 9mm.

The type of gun that might actually ruin your night vision in one shot would be something like a 12ga with an 18" barrel firing a 3" Magnum round. The flame coming out of one of those can be massive, enough to entirely obscure the target and everything directly surrounding it during the flash. I can't be sure and I'm not going to try to measure it, but it seems like the fireballs I get can be about 1-2 feet in diameter, and are super bright (Once again almost white), especially when viewed in low light.

This image is of the G17 shooting a WWB JHP. As you can see, it's extremely small to begin with and what you can see is orange/red. Red is the lowest in intensity on the light spectrum and will cause the least disruption of NV, hence the reason many aircraft cockpits use red lighting.

 

[deepdiver]

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glocknroll wrote:

deepdiver wrote:

I don't have night sights yet. I have shot pistols with both fiber optic and tritium in low light to dark conditions to try them. I'm a bit torn still. I'm leaning towards fiber optic based on experiences in a low light class and the advantages/disadvantages/no advantage I saw between shooters in various light conditions. I did find that without night sights in low light that the stacked sights on my Sig are much better for me than the 3-dot on the XD. I'll probably do fiber optics on one and tritium on another and see what I prefer after living with them for a while.

For anyone who has not had a low light handgun class, I highly recommend it. It is a whole different world than daylight shooting and there are lots of techniques to overcome the disadvantages of lighting.

Get the best of both worlds. TruGlo TFO (tritium fiber optic) are great. I had Williams Fire Sights fiber optic on my G17 and replaced them with the TFO, and I love 'em.

I've looked at those and have read good things. How do they do in normal day light?

 

[Weak 9mm]

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Apparently I can't put two photos in one post.

Here's the 12ga again though for comparison.


And yes, personally I find night sights useful for not only finding the gun in low light and picking it up in the right orientation the first time, but also with aiming it quickly and well. Mine are just fine in the daytime, and are much more helpful than I thought they'd be in dim light too. They may or may not come in handy depending upon the situation, but like my gun itself, I'd rather have them and not need them than not have them when I do need them.

Also, they will not reflect light off of your face or anything, as they just aren't that powerful. Your attacker wont see the sights unless they're behind you.

 

[glocknroll]

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deepdiver wrote:

glocknroll wrote:

deepdiver wrote:

I don't have night sights yet. I have shot pistols with both fiber optic and tritium in low light to dark conditions to try them. I'm a bit torn still. I'm leaning towards fiber optic based on experiences in a low light class and the advantages/disadvantages/no advantage I saw between shooters in various light conditions. I did find that without night sights in low light that the stacked sights on my Sig are much better for me than the 3-dot on the XD. I'll probably do fiber optics on one and tritium on another and see what I prefer after living with them for a while.

For anyone who has not had a low light handgun class, I highly recommend it. It is a whole different world than daylight shooting and there are lots of techniques to overcome the disadvantages of lighting.

Get the best of both worlds. TruGlo TFO (tritium fiber optic) are great. I had Williams Fire Sights fiber optic on my G17 and replaced them with the TFO, and I love 'em.

I've looked at those and have read good things. How do they do in normal day light?

In daylight, it's just like having regular fiber optic sights. The dots amplify existing light and glow bright green. At night, the tritium makes the fiber optics glow, and they are brighter than the factory night sights on my G32.

 

[deepdiver]

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glocknroll wrote:

deepdiver wrote:

glocknroll wrote:

deepdiver wrote:

I don't have night sights yet. I have shot pistols with both fiber optic and tritium in low light to dark conditions to try them. I'm a bit torn still. I'm leaning towards fiber optic based on experiences in a low light class and the advantages/disadvantages/no advantage I saw between shooters in various light conditions. I did find that without night sights in low light that the stacked sights on my Sig are much better for me than the 3-dot on the XD. I'll probably do fiber optics on one and tritium on another and see what I prefer after living with them for a while.

For anyone who has not had a low light handgun class, I highly recommend it. It is a whole different world than daylight shooting and there are lots of techniques to overcome the disadvantages of lighting.

Get the best of both worlds. TruGlo TFO (tritium fiber optic) are great. I had Williams Fire Sights fiber optic on my G17 and replaced them with the TFO, and I love 'em.

I've looked at those and have read good things. How do they do in normal day light?

In daylight, it's just like having regular fiber optic sights. The dots amplify existing light and glow bright green. At night, the tritium makes the fiber optics glow, and they are brighter than the factory night sights on my G32.

You have about sold me. I think I may have to get a set and see how they work for me.

 

[Weak 9mm]

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Hmm, those do sound nice. I'll have to see if I can get a look at a set sometime.

 

[Seif5034]

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Legba wrote:

"Know your target and what is beyond it" always applies. If it's so dark that you can't work your sights otherwise, then you'd better be intimately familiar with your surroundings before firing.

this is true. I think nightsghts were created for more of low light conditions b/c otherwise you could just put a tac. light on your gun