Reason for just front night sight?

[sourcehill]

I've noticed a lot of people that are keeping some sort of fixed sight in the rear and only using a front night sight. The new SIG SAS 229 and 239 come with just a front night sight. My question is, why?

[big68]

I like a front night sight only, Easy to accurire target w/o trying and taking extra time to align your shot. JMO

[jake9]

I like the front night site only because I prefer the stock Glock rear box sights. Also, in the dark aiming at somebody, you'd probably only have time to aim with the front sight only.

[fortyofforty]

Also, with three glowing dots of the same size, it is conceivable that you will line them up rear-rear-front or front-rear-rear, instead of rear-front-rear in the heat of a gunfight. If I had three dot night sights (I no longer do), I would line them up as a triangle for close in shooting (bedroom distances) so as to avoid this possibility. I prefer a light on the end, for target identification, but that's another story.

[ED_P]

The only real plus I see, besides the front sight being easy to install and new rear ones more of a pain, is that a single glowing dot is much less recognizable as a gun if you leave it on a table or nightstand. 3 dots is pretty obvious to anyone familiar with guns.

[gary newport]

I'm moving toward the front-only night sight position for two reasons. First, I find the glowing rear dots to be rather distracting. Second, I've found that I actually LIKE the Glock ball-in-a-box sight picture in bright or subdued light. :shocked:

I'm experimenting with a Meprolight front and Glock STEEL rear sight on my G26 and G38. One problem I've run into with the G38 is that Mepro fronts are a little taller than Glock sights, causing the POI to be low. I think I can correct this by using a 6.9 mm rear rather than the standard 6.5mm. (The G26 shot high with Mepros front and rear, so replacing the rear with a 6.5mm steel Glock sight worked out.)

[army_eod]

This is a great thread. I was putting the rear night sights on my new Glock with the new Glock tool and really scratched up the top of the sight. My fault. So since I hate imperfection, I removed the rear night sight and put the stock fixed Glock sight back on. I, too, really like the stock sight picture. So now I have one front night sight and the rear stock Glock sight. I may just leave it that way.

I note that in pitch dark, I really can't line up the sights fast. But outside, even at night, it is never really pitch dark as in a bedroom. As someone else said, you must ID your target anyway. So in the house, a light is in order.

Note that the military does not use night sights.

I would like to get some LEOs opinions here.

[MIch_Packer]

I find it faster for me. At SD distance getting just the front sight on target ought to put a round exactly where I think it's going.

I also shoot USPSA/IPSC. All of my competition guns have fiber optic front sights and plain black adjustable rear sights. In my view I'm training the same way I'll fight.

I've heard it said that if you have three dots your mind will try to align them - wasting time. I don't have aclue how to measure this.

For those of you with NS front and back, it won't take long to decide which you like better, just put black tape on the rear and head to a low light range.

When I was in the academy, one of the training sessions (ambushes of us recruits) took us out one by one because they could see our rear NS while the pistol was holstered. Some recruits bought the farm because of their glow in the dark watches. It was a lesson learned.

[fortyofforty]

I realized yesterday during a warrant that, although my pistol was pointed at the suspects, my eyes were focused on them and their hands. My weapon-mounted light insured the pistol was pointed more or less correctly, and night sights would have been useless. I needed to see the suspects clearly, and my Surefire X200 allowed me to do so. If I had had to shoot, my eyes might have moved back to the sights momentarily, but, again, night sights would have been useless. We're talking about five yards or less, here.

[bunchok]

Butch posted a thread about this a while ago and I found it while doing a search. I took his advice and ordered an Ameriglo tritium front sight. I also managed to take a small chunk out of the corner of the stock rear sight, so I picked up a steel Glock rear. I really like the sight picture.

[army_eod]

Well. All your faults. I just ordered a 24/7 big dot with non-tritium rear white line sight.

[kengps]

I ordered a second set of 24/7 sights with the non-tritium rear. Like it a lot better. The tritium rear is hard to see in the daytime. Has too much glare off the glass vial and not enough white around it. Now what to do with the first set?

[RayB]

I decided to purchase my new G17 stock, and add "special sights" down the line...

I had read where people had combined a FO front sight with a
compatible, plain rear sight, for target and competition shooting; but I had not seen the TFO front and plain rear sight configuration.

Not long ago, it was my pleasure to handle a Sig Sauer P229 Equinox, in .40 S&W. This gun had a TFO front sight, and the usual two tritium dot rear sight. The effect in a daylight room was that you noticed mostly the front sight, glowing brightly between the rear notches. In a darkened room, the familiar three green glowing dots presented themselves. I rather liked this!

A tip from a GT member steered me towards Ameriglo for the rear sight to accompany a TFO front.

Since the TFO's measured in inches, and the Ameriglo's reckoned in metrics, it took some figuring...

Ameriglo answered my email readily enough, recommending either a plain, or tritium green dot, 7.3 mm combat-target rear sight, as their best match for the one-size-only TFO. Ameriglo plain or tritium, 7.3 mm sights, could be had for $27.00 & $50.00 respectively.

TruGlo answered quickly too, confirming that while their sight has only a 90-Day warranty, the tritium is warranted for 12-1/2 years.

Our gunsmith found that ordering a front TFO only, was hardly cost effective, and that I may as well shop for my best price on a complete set (Natchez @ $79.86) of TFOs, and just use the parts I wanted.

The more I began to look at this, the more I began to favor the Dawson Precision set, or the Heine/Dawson combo from CGR. This will after all, be primarily a range gun, and night sights are not needed.

Besides, we have a fully equipped (night sights, light & laser) G21 & G19 for defensive purposes.

Question: Will the Dawson Precision rear sight, overhang the slide?


--Ray

[fortyofforty]

Ray,

My DP fixed rear sight does not overhang the slide. I have seen a BoMar overhang badly, though.

Any body using the factory adj. rear sight with the white outline along with an Amerglo "thin" Tritium front sight??

I was considering this set up for my new G35 since I like the white outline adj. rear......but hate the big fat combat dot on the front.

any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks,
Rick

[seand1111]

Originally posted by WERNER1
Any body using the factory adj. rear sight with the white outline along with an Amerglo "thin" Tritium front sight??

I was considering this set up for my new G35 since I like the white outline adj. rear......but hate the big fat combat dot on the front.

any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks,
Rick

I do not have the factory adj. rear but have the normal factory rear with an Ameriglo .125" front N.S. I love this setup as it allows for FAST acquisition of the front sight. I personally would like an Ameriglo "smooth" series rear sight in plain configuration without the tritium inserts. I think I am going to have to settle for it with the inserts and just paint over them though. Guess I will have to call and see if they have any of them without the inserts installed. But back to your question, having the “wide” rear notch with a “narrow” front Night sight is a perfect combo for me.

[spober]

Originally posted by ED_P
The only real plus I see, besides the front sight being easy to install and new rear ones more of a pain, is that a single glowing dot is much less recognizable as a gun if you leave it on a table or nightstand. 3 dots is pretty obvious to anyone familiar with guns. what?so the burgler see that 3 dots and thinks to himself"this guys armed i better beet feet":laughabove:

[spober]

:laughabove: or the burgler or hammbergler sees 1 dot and since he dont recocnize it as a nite gun site he charges into the room only to be :laughabove: centerpunched by the sleeping,now awake man:laughabove: :laughabove: :laughabove:is that what you were thinking?:laughabove: :laughabove:

[ssgt h]

One reason that I can think of is that the eye needs to be focused on the front sight anyway, (with the target and rear sights a little blurry.) The front sight is easier for the eye to catch if it's the only one glowing.

[Hydra-SHOKz]

I just replaced the Meps on my G32 with the XS big dot tritium front and non-tritium rear.The Meps are great sights and very accurate but my goal was to be able to hit 8" steel plates @ 50-75 feet as fast as I can.I've run 300 rounds in it this week and am getting good results.

Also having only one dot to worry about in a low light situation may be a better way to go.Cover your target,pull the trigger. ;)

[BustedFlush]

Originally posted by bunchok
Butch posted a thread about this a while ago and I found it while doing a search. I took his advice and ordered an Ameriglo tritium front sight. I also managed to take a small chunk out of the corner of the stock rear sight, so I picked up a steel Glock rear. I really like the sight picture.
I did the same thing, almost - I didn't destroy my rear sight :supergrin:

I have Meps on another Glock, but really don't like the 3 dot set up. I couldn't decide between so many night sight options without trying them, and liked Butch's idea. I ordered the Amerglo GL-112 tritium front from LWD, 35 bucks. So far I like it. If the Ameriglo front holds up, I may add these to more of my Glocks. I may go with the thinner GL-112T next time.

BF

[degoodman]

you really only NEED a front night sight because of the nature of the shots that are likely in a low light situation.

You don't need a rear sight, except to establish a precision sight picture for shots coming at greater ranges. At the close contact distances or at most house distances that are common to low light engagements the quickest and most efficient use of the sights it going to be the "front sight, press" method where you lay the front sight on target without any attention paid to the rear sight alignment and press the trigger. At short ranges this will have rounds somewhere COM on your target. it's fast and it's simple.

Longer range shots where a three dot pattern will be more necessary for precision just aren't practical in low light. Target identification at longer ranges is not easy, precluding your ability to shoot in low light, and if there is sufficient light to get a clear look at the target, there's enough light to get a sight picture from non-night sights.

So it comes down to a matter of personal preference. You really only need a front sight for the majority of low light situations a defensive shooter is likely to encounter. Getting a front sight only really reduces the costs associated with night sights, because you're only buying 1/3 of the tubes, which is where much of the cost lies. If you want all three dots, go ahead and buy them and don't look back. But if you take any serious night fire training, or make it a point to seek out low light practice, you'll see that the front only will allow you to shoot acceptably at practical ranges.

[TommyJ]

I had front and rear meps on my G19. Changed out the front to a Hiviz. Too cheap to buy the TFO. My accuracy improved dramatically. Followup shots were easier and I was able to double tap for the first time with accuracy. I'm 50 and my eyes picked up the hiviz easily. TJ

[pseudo-fed]

Am switching all my XS 24/7s to XS 24/7 "Express", without tritium in the rear for the aforementioned reasons. We recently did indexing drill in VERY low light at 5-7 yards at an indoor IDPA match, and I put 6 rounds in the zero ring using just my front sight, from a low ready position, in about 2 seconds.

That ability, plus the glare off of the glass window of the XS rear tritium is causing me to get the non-tritium rears. I LOVE the XS standard dot sights though....

Good thread.

[army_eod]

Well..just finished installing my big dot front sight and white line rear sight on the G-17. I will let you know how it shoots in a few days.

I have a set of operators in reserve. :cool:

Well, just returned from the range. The setup worked great. Hit close targets with ease and even hit some steel plates at 50 yards. With more practice, it should be easy to hit targets at any practical range with this setup.

[THAANSA3]

This question is to all the folks who said the rear sights are a bit annoying if they match the front sight. What if you get rear night sights that are a different color from the front night sight? Would that not make a difference?

[RayB]

Originally posted by degoodman
you really only NEED a front night sight because of the nature of the shots that are likely in a low light situation.

You don't need a rear sight, except to establish a precision sight picture for shots coming at greater ranges. At the close contact distances or at most house distances that are common to low light engagements the quickest and most efficient use of the sights it going to be the "front sight, press" method where you lay the front sight on target without any attention paid to the rear sight alignment and press the trigger. At short ranges this will have rounds somewhere COM on your target. it's fast and it's simple.

Longer range shots where a three dot pattern will be more necessary for precision just aren't practical in low light. Target identification at longer ranges is not easy, precluding your ability to shoot in low light, and if there is sufficient light to get a clear look at the target, there's enough light to get a sight picture from non-night sights.

So it comes down to a matter of personal preference. You really only need a front sight for the majority of low light situations a defensive shooter is likely to encounter. Getting a front sight only really reduces the costs associated with night sights, because you're only buying 1/3 of the tubes, which is where much of the cost lies. If you want all three dots, go ahead and buy them and don't look back. But if you take any serious night fire training, or make it a point to seek out low light practice, you'll see that the front only will allow you to shoot acceptably at practical ranges.


Eloquent and lucid, this nails it. Here is the conventional wisdom of tomorrow, sans laser.

But what of target shooting?

In gradients of light, by recent experience, I think it still applies as a constant for all pistoleros...

Last month I added a set of Dawson Precision Adjustable fiber optic sights (from CGR) to my new G17, and they clearly raise the bar on target acquisition and accuracy potential!

I can now navigate the face of the perp, at the back of the range, and plant one smack between his eyes, if I so choose. This was not really possible with my 3-dot Meps (Judy's 3-dot Trij's are barely better).

What I was out for was a TFO front, and a plain-notch rear, but it was entirely too much hassle to put together--too many caveats and wasted resources.

I settled on the DP set-up and am very pleased with the end result.

The "illuminated" front and "stock" rear work splendidly! Targeting is instinctive, quick, and precise.

Service from CGR was first rate; but I do recommend getting amplified installation instructions from Matt, via email, before installing the new sights.

We're onto something here!

--Ray

[army_eod]

Here she is. Only has the tritium Big Dot on the front. Rear is the XS Systems non-trit white stripe. Was at the range and it is awesome. Very fast sight. Was extremely accurate and was also whacking steel at 50 yards. The sight picture method was exactly as advertised by XS Sight Systems.

http://pixpipeline.com/s/07ab8aa88344.jpg (http://pixpipeline.com/d/07ab8aa88344.jpg)

[happyguy]

Originally posted by degoodman
Longer range shots where a three dot pattern will be more necessary for precision just aren't practical in low light. Target identification at longer ranges is not easy, precluding your ability to shoot in low light, and if there is sufficient light to get a clear look at the target, there's enough light to get a sight picture from non-night sights.

I disagree with this part of your post.

It is entirely possible to acquire a darkened and covered position and engage a target that is in a well lit area.

Regards,
Happyguy:)

[jimbullet]

May I just add a question here - what front nite site would be best to be in tandem with a g26's adjustable rear sight?

[jimbullet]

May I just add a question here - what front nite site would be best to be in tandem with a g26's adjustable rear sight?

[MIch_Packer]

I used the Trijicon front sight - you can buy it as a single (no rear sight) part from glockparts.com for $37 including shipping.

This will work with any of the Glock rear sights.

When I was buying front sights I looked at many different models, warranty is important to me. A long warranty tells me how much faith a company has in their product.

The brightest is not what I wanted either.

[gary newport]

Originally posted by THAANSA3
This question is to all the folks who said the rear sights are a bit annoying if they match the front sight. What if you get rear night sights that are a different color from the front night sight? Would that not make a difference?

Different-colored rear night sights is my Plan B. Since I was unable to get a combination night front/non-night rear which would shoot to point-of-aim with my G38, I installed Mepros with orange rears. The difference in color, combined with a lower light intensity from non-green tritium tubes, makes a very good combination--less distracting than green rears.

[Amric]

Originally posted by gary newport
Since I was unable to get a combination night front/non-night rear which would shoot to point-of-aim with my G38, I installed Mepros with orange rears. [/B]

I am having this same problem with the Trijicon front shooting about 3" low

[dport]

So how many of you advocating front night sight only have shot with a front night sight only at night?

If you have, what is your experience in night shooting, ie how often or how many rounds?

What I've found is most people don't get to practice much, and many assumptions made are based on faulty information due to the lack of practical experience at night.

[frogger17]

Army_eod:

Was that the 24/7 express? On their websight it looks like that comes with a rear tritium line also, how do you order it to get the non-tritium rear?

[army_eod]

Originally posted by frogger17
Army_eod:

Was that the 24/7 express? On their websight it looks like that comes with a rear tritium line also, how do you order it to get the non-tritium rear?

Frogger...I called them. The site does not show the non-tritium version. However, if you look at their codes, it is the one with a "-3" at the end. But just call XS and order. They cost $90.00 for the set and they are great. The set has all you need to install. However I used a Glock sight tool to install the rear. Even tho it has two setscrews, it still was snug. That is a good thing. Just follow the instructions and you are in business.
BTW, the gun shoots great.