I’ve got a Type 2 Trijicon RMR that I’m trying to decide which handgun to put on. I may pick up a Glock 32 (I can’t shake the .357 thing, plus I can shoot .40 and 9mm easily). Assuming I had it milled, what sights do y’all recommend? Does the same co witness, 1/3 co witness setup for rifles apply to handguns? Probably a dumb question, but it confuses me for some reason...or maybe I just remember which is which. Anyway, help.
Thanks as always

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Does the same co witness, 1/3 co witness setup for rifles apply to handguns?

No.

Ok

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Does the same co witness, 1/3 co witness setup for rifles apply to handguns?

No.

The Suarez Tactical site shows two different heights of RMR compatible iron sights. The shorter set of sights is for slides milled for specific RMR's. The taller sights are for the MOS slides. Have you found this not to be the case?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:
Does the same co witness, 1/3 co witness setup for rifles apply to handguns?

No.

Why are these listed as 1/3 and full co witness?

That's the first I've seen of pistol sights being sold/described as that.

News to me.

Apparently, I'm out of the loop.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
That's the first I've seen of pistol sights being sold/described as that.

News to me.

Apparently, I'm out of the loop.

And that’s why I’m asking, obviously I don’t know the proper height or nomenclature.

The 1/3 sights are shorter. I assume they are borrowing the nomenclature from the rifle side of the house where a 1/3 cowitness occurs in the bottom third of the RDS. I assume the full cowitness take up roughly half the sight window in the average pistol RDS.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:

The Suarez Tactical site shows two different heights of RMR compatible iron sights. The shorter set of sights is for slides milled for specific RMR's. The taller sights are for the MOS slides. Have you found this not to be the case?

There are certainly two different basic methods for mounting RMRs, with slightly differing optics heights, including milled slides (on which the RMR sits a bit lower) and MOS-style plates (on which the RMR sits higher). So some companies offer variable heights for those two different setups. But many have "one size fits all" tall sights that are around lower 1/3rd on milled slides and more like lower 1/5th on MOS and other plated guns.

Either way, all of the sights I've ever seen for RMR'd pistols of either style are designed around a roughly "lower 1/3rd"-style (or even lower) cowitness. But they usually aren't described specifically as "lower 1/3rd cowitness sights" like on rifles, probably because unlike rifles, there wasn't an "absolute cowitness" option from which they needed to distinguish (until now apparently).

An "absolute cowitness" is unnecessary and counterproductive on a pistol IMO. On a pistol with an RMR, the iron sights should be true backups. You should be looking over top of the iron sights at the dot and the target in the optic window. You don't need to line up the dot with the iron sights while shooting, and the extra bulk of the taller iron sights will just obscure more of your optic window and your target. So you'll want the iron sights to be as low as possible in the optic window, while still being usable.

After reading the descriptions on their website, this seems to just be the case of Suarez merely taking iron sights designed for taller MOS-height optics and trying to market them as "absolute cowitness sights for milled slides". There may be some shooters that prefer that type of setup, but it's not optimal. And their attempt at co-opting the rifle's cowitness terminology is apparently causing confusion to boot.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
All of the sights I've ever seen for RMR'd pistols are deigned around a roughly "lower 1/3rd" cowitness. I've never seen "absolute cowitness" sights until today.

"Absolute" kinda defeats the purpose IMO. On a pistol with an RMR, the iron sights should be true backups. You should be looking over top of the iron sights at the dot and the target in the optic window.

I have Dawson Precision irons on a G19 MOS slide and they take up about 50% of the window height wise. I really don't like them and have been looking for something that's shorter but still tall enough to use as a BUIS.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SgtGold,

Gotcha. Maybe what I’m trying to figure out then is this:
Are Trijicon, Ameriglo, etc. suppressor sights basically what’s being referred to as 1/3 co witness?

About 5:20 into the video it pretty much answers what I was after.

https://youtu.be/77AQApBXI_0

Yep. Like Gabe Suarez spells out in that part of the video: absolute cowitness on a pistol optic is not optimal... But if people want it, he'll sell it to them, because he's a capitalist.

So Suarez selling "absolute cowitness" sights is just a marketing gimmick to get a few bucks out of those who don't know any better. Other companies apparently aren't bothering with it, though. Which is why I hadn't seen it before today.

Standard tall sights from the various companies should be roughly lower 1/3rd (or lower) on a RMR'd pistol. (The exact height will vary a bit, depending on the type of pistol, type of mounting method, and type of sights.)

And yes, they're often referred to as "suppressor sights", because before the advent of pistol RMRs, the taller sights were strictly used to see over the top of suppressors.

I can't exactly answer your question. But at this point I have (had) milled twenty plus slides for an RMR across many different guns. I don't even want to shoot a gun without an RMR anymore. I've tens and tens of thousands of competition rounds using those guns in both day and night time shooting. On a glock (if that is what you are thinking of) you will be perfectly happy with suppressor height sights. I use and would recommend the Trijicon ones. I have used Parker Mountain Machine for milling. The sights are in the lower part of the RMR window, but that's where you want them. Absolute cowitness is junk for a pistol with an RMR. If there is something else in your post that I didn't answer let me know and I'll do my best.

I edited my OP for sight brand. In my case it may be that I ordered sights that were taller than I needed. I'm going to have to measure what I have and hopefully I can replace what I have with something shorter.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
I edited my OP for sight brand. In my case it may be that I ordered sights that were taller than I needed. I'm going to have to measure what I have and hopefully I can replace what I have with something shorter.

Sounds like it. Dawnson appears to sell 7 different heights of tall sights for MOS Glocks, but doesn't give any guidance about which height is best for what setup.

Try a shorter set.

https://dawsonprecision.com/da...s-black-rear-sights/

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I can't exactly answer your question. But at this point I have (had) milled twenty plus slides for an RMR across many different guns. I don't even want to shoot a gun without an RMR anymore. I've tens and tens of thousands of competition rounds using those guns in both day and night time shooting. On a glock (if that is what you are thinking of) you will be perfectly happy with suppressor height sights. I use and would recommend the Trijicon ones. I have used Parker Mountain Machine for milling. The sights are in the lower part of the RMR window, but that's where you want them. Absolute cowitness is junk for a pistol with an RMR. If there is something else in your post that I didn't answer let me know and I'll do my best.

Thanks for that!

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I can't exactly answer your question. But at this point I have (had) milled twenty plus slides for an RMR across many different guns. I don't even want to shoot a gun without an RMR anymore. I've tens and tens of thousands of competition rounds using those guns in both day and night time shooting. On a glock (if that is what you are thinking of) you will be perfectly happy with suppressor height sights. I use and would recommend the Trijicon ones. I have used Parker Mountain Machine for milling. The sights are in the lower part of the RMR window, but that's where you want them. Absolute cowitness is junk for a pistol with an RMR. If there is something else in your post that I didn't answer let me know and I'll do my best.

PMM says they co-witness the sights and dot in their description of slide work. Is this something new? I assume you can request 1/3 witness in the comments field?

RougeJSK is totally correct relative this discussion.