I have them on all Glocks and M/P Sigs and would not be with out them , I can find my way around the bedroom at night with the glow they give on the night stand .

For LEO use, I think it's a good option. In my state, we recently had a 63y shot in a dimly lit neighborhood on a rifle wielding active shooter. The LEO used a rifle, but that's still a handgun shot if you don't have a long gun. To assume you'll have enough light where you are when you can see and identify your target, or that there will be enough ambient light for "equal light/equal height" sight alignment isn't always true.

For non-LEO, the distances tend to be significantly shorter, over quicker, and both parties can see each other and have the same lighting conditions. Targeted ambushes (dope dealer on dope dealer or domestic violence/stalking type situations) change that dynamic a bit, but for random crime like street robberies, sexual assault by a stranger, etc. you can count on some ambient light. You can't rob someone you can't see due to darkness, and you can't rape someone from 35y away. Sights matter less at double arms length, which is the max range the majority of these encounters occur at.

Personally, I've settled on Trijicon HD type sights. I've yet to find a lighting condition I can't quickly acquire a sight picture in while using them. I've not found that to be true with fiber optics, black-on-black sights, black-with-tritium vial, etc. Failing that, a highly polished brass or gold bead (the old school night sight) in a black post in the same style as a tritium vial works pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
They let me know where my gun is on the desk in the dark?

Or nightstand.


The need for illuminated sights was made very plain to me one morning about ten minutes into legal shooting light some fifteen years ago. I was in a great spot deep in the North woods behind my folk’s house with a six point approaching me on a trail I had been watching, and I shouldered my M1 rifle and peered at him through the rear peep sight... and couldn’t make out the front sight at all. I could count the tines, no more than thirty yards away, couldn’t get a clear sight picture on him. Unable to make an ethical shot, I watched him close to within fifteen yards or so and present a perfect broadside shot. Thought about using the “quick kill method” and put the front sight over the rear in the picture and held low, but didn’t feel good about the shot since it wasn’t a method I had practiced at all, and let him walk. This was at the height of my High Power match participation, and while I wasn’t winning them, I could confidently have hit that deer right in the vitals offhand from a hundred yards in good shooting light.

Any gun I need to depend on for any reason has an illuminated optic or luminous sights. The right gun that always goes bang with the right ammo that shoots true becomes somewhat meaningless if you can’t find the sights to get it on target. You just can’t predict the conditions of the occasion where you might need a gun and have to get off an accurate shot. It’s like the seatbelt/fire extinguisher/condom logic: I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
[It’s] meaningless if you can’t find the sights to get it on target.

That’s the alpha and omega of the entire night sights question.

It’s very simple: If someone always shoots his guns accurately without sights under normal lighting conditions, then it’s not necessary to have night sights. If the shooter ever finds it necessary to use sights under normal lighting conditions, though, he should have night sights for use under low light conditions for the same reason: to see them and use them for aiming the gun.

For me it's a case of why not. They are useful for if nothing else, when the sun starts to set and you want fifteen minutes extra at the line. At night they certainly help for me at least, especially after seeing muzzle flash and have the bright halos floating around my vision.

My question would be how do they hurt? Are there any circumstances where you're better off without them?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

My question would be how do they hurt? Are there any circumstances where you're better off without them?

For my old eyes, standard contrast sights are much easier to see under lighted conditions.

They're essential to me because it allows me to customize my guns for the sight picture that makes the most sense to me. I like Ameriglo CAP or Pro sights, and Trijicon HD. The tritium is nice, but the biggest thing for me is having a big, distinctive front sight that actually stands in contrast to the rear sight. This makes such a difference in shooting speed and accuracy to me even in broad daylight that 'night' sights are worth it.

I'm not a police officer or anything, just a civilian. I guess I'm in the why not camp.. The newer ones work equally great in the light and the dark, my HDs are wonderful that big front dot just leaps out and your eye goes right to it.

On most pistols they are an option, if they don't suit your needs don't put them on. Kind of like pistol mounted lights, some people don't like them and say you should use a hand held light, whatever works. Personally I like night sights and a rail mounted light for my personal home protection pistols. I like the momentary light activation anyway because it forces me to have my finger on the light and not on the trigger.

Each time there is an active shooter, the left crows about gun control being the solution. The right crows about "good guys with guns" being the solution.

And then we have conversations like this, and just like I said the obsession with "average" comes up.

Either we are open thinking enough to be part of the solution, or we are part of the problem. Remember each time that distance shooting being a defensive skill comes up? You can go a full page without someone chiming in telling you how you're going to jail if you practice this. Because there is NO WAY YOU CAN JUSTIFY SHOOTING SOMEONE AT THAT DISTANCE. But yet, active shooters happen in public places quit often. I'm pretty sure that the asshole that is shooting people indiscriminately is the one armed with a rifle gunning down women and children. And you mean to tell me that you can't figure out he is a threat and needs to be dumped??? And a bus load of nuns at the scene won't agree with you that this fucker needs to be shot and shot right now? There is always a never and never an always. You might get an open clear shot to put rounds on him, why not have that tool ready if you need it?

Night sights fall neatly into that category. They are dirt cheap these days depending on the make/model, and if you carry a gun for self defense/defense of others why wouldn't you in the day and age that we live in?

Averages? Never heard of her.

I use the Trijicon HD's; I have them on Glocks and Sigs mostly, and carry the Glocks mostly. The orange front contrasts with almost any background, and I can see it up until it's too dark to shoot without supplemental light. By that time, the tritium becomes visible, and in that case it gives me a finer option than just black outlines against a lighted target. If there is any light at all from behind or around me, the orange ring is visible.

If I'm going to have to shoot past a few feet, sights are going to make it a more accurate shot. If there are people around, and if I don't want to miss the target and risk hitting people, then the sights are crucial, and use of the sights, responsible.

The notion that sights are useless after dark is ridiculous. There are many shades of dark, and most of them allow the use of sights. There are plenty of times and places in my daily life when I'm not in bright sunlight. The majority of the time, in fact.

I woke up in a dark tent with an escaped Iraqi prisoner standing over me, once. Even in that dim light, I could still see him, just barely. Of the threats I've faced over the years, nearly all had enough light present, and in the cases where there was insufficient light, other means of illumination were available. If it's so dark that neither of us can see, then are we an immediate threat to one another?

I can't think of many instances, if any, where the "night sights" on my handguns are redundant; they're useful in the dimmest through the brightest of light, and they're a cheap investment if one's life depends on them; is there anyone who can honestly say that the price of a good set of sights is greater than the worth of their life?

All night sights (real ones that glow from within) do is make the sights stand out from the background. You don't need total darkness for them to be beneficial. If they are still reasonably bright, they will stand out in, for example, a darkened room, outside in the dark under streetlights and other low light situations. Think of it like headlights or daytime running lights on a car. At dusk or dawn, in bad weather, etc., there is plenty of light to see where you're going. But you don't see the car with its lights off coming at you because it blends into the background. I bought one handgun in part because it had them, and plan, over time, to add them to my other handguns.

quote:

Originally posted by henryarnaud:

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
So serious question, if you are in a dark warehouse to where you are in the dark, and the suspect you are looking for is in the light, he's armed with a rifle, and just killed two police officers, should you-

A) Step out into the light, while simultaneously sounding like Dom Deluise making an appearance as Captain Chaos, aligning your sights in the light and shooting said bad guy who just killed two cops.

Or

B) From in the dark at 15 yards, align the 3 vials and execute a smooth press while giving them verbal commands to drop the gun. (From a position that is STILL concealed due to darkness)

C) The suspect is in the light. I can stay in the dark and use plain black iron sights for aiming.

Can you not do that if you have night sight inserts? They don't replace your sight profile.

I'm sure everyone's expectations are different. But for the last couple of years I have shot a lot of matches in the dark at inside ranges. My normal setup is an RMR gun with a surefire mounted pistol light. That combo is stunning good in the dark. But when I practice having the RMR down you need night sights to get a good sight picture even though you are running a light. The quality of light behind the RMR (I run my sights behind the RMR others do in front, don't know if that makes a difference) is not sufficient. Night sights make decently accurate shots possible. I'd not own a serious gun without them. FWIW>

Better to have and not need then to need and not have.

Only gun I've ever had them on is my Sig X-Carry. And I REALLY like them. Kinda made me "get it" with the night sights.

Don't like night sights? Then don't buy night sights.

Use the money saved to buy another safe queen pistol.

And if you are a law of averages person, always carry a Jframe revolver because you wont need more than 3 shots, in 3 seconds, from 3 yards.

Here endith the lesson.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
You guys are over or perhaps under thinking this. Jljones said it very succinctly. If your gun is a weapon that you might use in real life against bad guys it’s a no brainer. Seriously. If you perceive you might use it for self defense and you opt for fiber optics or contrast you are making a mistake. Period.



jljones could come up with a dozen more scenarios because he’s put more thought into training than I put into anything. If only one scenario is valid in your mind then it is cheap insurance. There only has to be one situation where you can’t shoot accurately because you can’t align your sights and night sights would have been worth it.

Don’t overthink this. Night sights on real use firearms is the only call.

If you want more what ifs I’m sure someone can oblige but chalk this one up to settled science. Lol

What's wrong with FO sights? I have them on my work gun and I doubt I could qualify without them, particularly at distance. They are just as bright at night as my HD's and remain that way during the daytime which is when we qualify. I love them.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Don't like night sights? Then don't buy night sights.

Use the money saved to buy another safe queen pistol.

And if you are a law of averages person, always carry a Jframe revolver because you wont need more than 3 shots, in 3 seconds, from 3 yards.

Here endith the lesson.

I got no beef with you Rhino, but that was an ignorant post.

I shoot a lot. I have stated plenty of times that I don't own any safe queens.

As was already stated by someone else, if a target is in the light and I'm in the dark, I can very easily use my irons without night sights.

It's not one size fits all. As I stated, I've never found a scenario yet where my standard irons didn't work just fine.

I've shot "shoot houses" before (not a whole ton mind you, but I've done it 4 or 5 times I think). I've shot indoor ranges with crappy lighting, I've at dusk outside...

I've just never said, damn, I can't hit my target and night sights would allow me to.

If people like them, that's cool. I've got no beef with people who want or need them. I just have found I don't need them.

People who shoot a lot don't all need them. If you think they do, ok, but I disagree and to assume only non-shooting/safe queens don't need them is silly.

I've found FO's to be exactly what I need. I'll take a black rear with a FO front over night sights every time,