Its always an interesting development when package shows up with this curious label:
No, it isn’t depleted uranium .308 rounds. (Those get hand delivered by guys who don’t like to use their real names.) Nah, its a very mundane and unexciting set of Trijicon HD night sights for my Glock 10mm.
Fiber optic is used alot for front sights these days and while they glow nicely in most light my experience has shown them to be fragile, prone to breaking or falling out, and susceptible to damage from gun cleaning solvents. I’d rather spend the hundred bucks and swap out for some heavy-duty steel sights with self-luminating dots than be surprised when I pull the gun from the holster and wonder where the orange glowy thing at the front went.
I’d shopped around a bit and looked at the various brands of night sights…Trijicon, Ameriglo, Glock, etc…and decided that for the difference in price I may as well go with the Trijicons. They are kinda the big name in radioactive glowy sights.
Are night sights really a necessity? Especially when every gun on the market these days usually comes with a rail to accommodate a light? Mmmmm….its subjective. For guns that I carry all the time, I definitely want the night sights. It’s dark half the time, right? And while I could buy a holster that would accommodate a mounted light, by the time you buy that particular specialized holster, and add a good light, you’ve spent what you would have spent on quality night sights.
Am I saying that night sights are a substitute for a mounted light? Heck no. I’m just saying that most of the time we don’t carry a mounted light on the gun we carry every day under out jackets and shirts…so having night sights is good idea.
One other thing I like is that for my nightstand gun (which does carry a mounted light) having night sights makes the gun easy to find in the dark.
Oh, and before I forget…..sight adjustment tools are very much worth the money to have. A hammer and punch is no way to sight in a pistol.
Concur. All of your bullet points are correct in this report. I do not carry a light mounted when out and about, in civvies wear so as to carry as tightly as possible in a iwb type holster. Hand to hand grapples with scum bags are as likely, keeping gear tight and secure being important when unavoidably among crowds. F.w.i.w. Tru glo makes a steel, fiber optic and glow in dark sights for glocks etc. My three green dots are still bright a decade later, holds up o.k. just an option. It is sometimes necessary to hot rod your guns with performance parts, so as to perform at your level and mission requirements. Stay frosty
In low light conditions, I don’t like to reveal my location by using a weapon mounted light when gad guys are around. The best sight adjustment tool I’ve found is https://www.realavid.com/product/master-sight-pusher/.
Wilson Combat does dot on dot tritiums with a U notch rear that I really like. I have them on Glocks and M&Ps.
Night sights and a WML are just a must. Add an RDS and you are even further ahead of the game. You want to dominate the battle space, not just be a runner up!!!
Both my Glock 19 and 17 have Trijicon night sights installed. Funny, but mine didn’t come with that warning label. My 17 is my nightstand gun with an extended mag and tac-light. I still wanted the night sights for it.
My nightstand gun is an S&W Governor with the front Trijicon sight, loaded with six rounds of Federal 000 buckshot with four pellets each. In years past I taught one-handed shooting to bodyguards and am still comfortable doing it coupled with the ages old FBI technique of holding a Sure Fire far to my left with my support hand to draw hostile fire if I need to use a light. The front sight does make it easy to find on the nightstand in the dark and when presenting it to the target. If I have time, there is a set of shooting muffs on the nightstand too, as those buckshot rounds are loud, especially indoors.
Half-life of Tritium is about 13 years, they will get (somewhat) dimmer over time.
Night sights are so you can tell where your weapon is pointing, without telling the entire grid square where your weapon is pointing, nor that it’s there in the first place.
People should remember that surprise is the single most decisive element in all forms of human combat since Cain clocked Abel.
Too many dead spouses and children, because of that thought! Identifying friend or foe is more important than surprise! Failure to do so, means potentially having a dead spouse, roommate or child at 0100. If you live alone, less of a problem, but you still own every round you send down range.
I didn’t say don’t have a light.
I said night sights and weapon lights are not interchangeable items, and when stealth is called for, a flashlight at the muzzle is not the way to go about it.
There are also just as many spouses and children shot because Goofus Gunslinger only had a weapon light, so he was already muzzle-flagging his relatives with the only light in his possession and jerked a shot off by accident.
I can probably only find you a few dozen YT videos of cops and military doing this routinely since weapon lights became a thing to drive that point home.
Target ID is always crucial, but weapon lights always create as many problems as they solve, and people stupid enough to shoot at unidentified things in the dark (just like slob “hunters” who shoot at bushes and noise) are really too stupid to figure that mistake out until it’s too late, and probably too stupid to educate beforehand.
I’m also not going into any tunnels or caverns, so for 99 times out of 100, the best weapon light for most folks is the switch on your wall.
For places where my indoor or outdoor lights aren’t an option, I expect NVDs and tritium vials will serve for both target ID and muzzle control, but if that day comes around, it’s a whole new ball game anyways, i’n’it?
I’m a belt-and-suspenders guy myself, and have spent a lifetime never sending any rounds where I didn’t intend to put them. Not least of which because I can see my sights day or night, sidearm or long arm, even with aging vision. I don’t propose to start spraying at noises now either.
This is also a reason to have a set of DOT hazmat books/response guides. Is that tanker that just overturned at the corner carrying something you may need a hazmat response or just a unfortunate incident.
Ever since reading the fictional story “Lights Out” by David Crawford having night sights on my pistols, defensive shotgun and at least two rifles were must just in case that mythical EMP/CME pops off and fries the dot sights were a must have. Now with newer technology, the likely hood of them being fried is become less and less happening.