Know of any real life examples of tritium night sights being needed?

[Neal]

Other than LEOs, does anyone know af any actual shooting situations where nights sights made a difference? I have been reading gun rags for several decades and the internet gun forums since '98 and I do not recall reading of anyone saying their nights sights helped them in an actual shooting situation. For years, I put trituims on all my carry guns. Even had a set of Mepro adjustables on my Glock 23 for several years. But now I have tritiums on only one out of several carry guns. I prefer a fiber optic front and a white outline rear. I wonder if the need for nights sights is far more gun rag hype than real.

[FJC]

I know you asked for real-world examples, and that I can't provide.

However, I will toss this out for your consideration. For quite a while, I was in the camp of not thinking that night sights were terribly necessary. My thought process was that if it was too dark to see my sights, then likely I can't identify my target very well anyway and probably shouldn't be shooting.

Then, I joined a "fun league" at the local range. We'd do various simple scenarios, scored for points, at an indoor range. Some of the shoots were low-light - there was plenty enough light to clearly see the target, but depending on where we were standing, almost no light shining directly on us. It was nearly impossible to find and align sights in such a situation, even though the target was clearly visible. Those with night sights had no problem.

Is that a very specialized lighting situation? Probably, though the shadows cast by lights in a parking lot could easily replicate it. Do most shootings happen close enough that sights are hardly needed? Likely (this can be argued all day).

My opinion these days is whenever possible, my carry gun will get night sights.

[snail50]

this probably isn't the kind of real life example you're looking for either, but I've been to a few professional defensive/tactical handgun courses which included a night-shooting session. with a flashlight, the night sights weren't really necessary...without a flashlight, there's no way I'd have been able to get decent sight alignment without night sights.

IMO they're a must-have.

[KDPWWO]

I am sure this isnot what you are looking for. It does make it easier to see where my pistol is at night.

[RayB]

I was told by a credible source that tritium night sights were largely developed by the Israelis for their military and police forces; and indeed, Meprolights, one of the oldest, trusted brands, are Israeli-made.

There's no question that in a situation where the target is silhouetted, night sights can be easily zeroed in--possibly without revealing the shooter's location until he fires.

A TFO front addresses your point nicely, offering both a FO and tritium front sight. I looked into this for my new G17, but it was too much hassle and wasted money to pursue at that time.

The Sig Sauer Equinox models have TFO front and two dot rear combat sights. The result gives a great daylight sight picture, and a familiar night sight picture to the shooter.

--Ray

[fredj338]

If you have never fired qual. at night w/o a flashlight, you'll not really understand how usefull it is to see at least the front sight of your weapon. Good flashlight tech. pretty much negates them, then you might not always have your flashlight.

[MrMurphy]

I was in a situation once (ended up being a false alarm) with neither nightsights or flashlight (like an idiot my Surefire was in my truck) and had to clear a house with a no-night-sighted J-frame.

Not fun.

My G30 (at home) had AO Express sights. Now ALL of my defensive guns have night sights if it's at all possible.

[Gonetodarkside]

i have shot 4 rabbits with my glock 17 with trijicons on it. i dont believe it could have been done without them.

[vettely]

As I have stated elsewhere, I have found that during simunitions training that the moment you are being shot at (sh-t hits the fan) you instinctavily resort to point shooting. Big difference between shooting paper or rabbits and being shot at.

[FJC]

Originally posted by vettely
As I have stated elsewhere, I have found that during simunitions training that the moment you are being shot at (sh-t hits the fan) you instinctavily resort to point shooting. Big difference between shooting paper or rabbits and being shot at.

Well obviously there's a difference - I don't think anyone stated that shooting rabbits or paper was the same as a real gunfight.

Why have sights at all, then? If they're useful for SOME situations, it's probably useful to be able to see them in the dark. :)

[Pierre!]

Can you perform adequately in low light without a firearm?

Try this - Go into a dark room with your non illuminated sights... Throw the pistol. Now go find it...

Heard a bump in the night... Easy to find the pistol that has the illuminated sights...

Know what I mean??? I don't sleep with an IWB pistol... You?

HTH

[Glock1123]

I have a reliable FBI report that states most self defense encounters occur in low/no light conditions. I believe it was 70% of the time. Now you can see why agencies like the FBI always specify tritium sights on their agents guns. I also believe the encounts occur at less than 7 yards. I think there might be time for a flash sight picture of the glowing front sight before the bang!