Night sights-just front or 3 dot?

I'm looking at getting some night sights for my new shield. I read a post on here where someone mentioned that you only really needed the front sight. If you weren't lined up, the rear sight would block the front but if you could see the front, you were lined up. Besides cost, can someone tell me the pros/cons of getting just the front vs the 3 dot set? I'm looking at the Ameriglo and Trijicon. Also, besides color preference is there any difference in the different colors? Is one more visible at night than the other? I prefer the green Ameriglo but don't know if the orange/yellow is better.
Thanks

Tagged.

Interested in hearing opinions on this as well.

Having only ever used 3-dot night sights, I would never go to just the front night setup.

The three dot sights, are SO natural, and intuitive, I wouldn't use anything else. You don't have to think, to line them up.

There will be a LOT of things to think about, if you are about to pull that trigger, so sight alignment should be instinctive.

With a front dot only, you don't know if you are sighting high, or low, or even if the front sight is aligned with the rear. You ARE, probably sighting in low light.

chele519 said:

I'm looking at getting some night sights for my new shield. I read a post on here where someone mentioned that you only really needed the front sight. If you weren't lined up, the rear sight would block the front but if you could see the front, you were lined up.

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Not in my experience. Point (or, ‘instinct’) shooting aside, the above front sight rationale is most applicable to the vertical, and not the horizontal plane. Even in the vertical plane the front sight will only be blotted out when you drop the muzzle; and you will, still, have no way of knowing whether or not the pistol is perfectly, ‘square’ in your grip.

Besides cost, can someone tell me the pros/cons of getting just the front vs the 3 dot set? I'm looking at the Ameriglo and Trijicon. Also, besides color preference is there any difference in the different colors? Is one more visible at night than the other? I prefer the green Ameriglo but don't know if the orange/yellow is better. Thanks

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If it were my decision I’d go with AmeriGlo. Why? Because I’ve learned to appreciate the value of a dull front and a brighter rear sight. My own preferred color combination is orange on the front, and green in the rear. Why? Because I once lost a moving target behind the blinding brilliant green glow of my moving front sight. If I’d fired at that exact moment I’d have hit where the target had just been rather than where it actually was.

(I once read a technical paper by an Israeli scientist about the human eye and how it perceives color. I wish I’d kept that paper because everything it said turned out to be true for, at least, me and my own eyes.)

I have been looking at handgun sights for many years, starting way back before even a front sight insert was a gleam in anyone's eye! I have painted many a front sight to allow my eyes to pick it up more quickly. My personal preference for handgun sights used to be crisp black sights front and rear for target work and a painted front sight and black rear sight for carry guns. Today, with diminishing eyesight, I really like some color on the front sight, but I still like a good black rear sight. Three dots just complicate the sight picture for me. I only have one set of night sights that I kind of like, and that involves a front sight with a green tritium dot which is larger in size than the two smaller amber colored dots on the rear sight. The rear sight dots can be seen but they are much smaller and not as bright as the green colored front sight. I can make that work OK.

For me, especially for close range personal protection purposes, I only want a dot of color on my front sight. I have front sights with a tritium dot, a fiber optic tube (green color) and the white dot that was originally part of a three dot sight set. In the last case, I have blackened the white dots on the rear sight so that only the front sight has color. That works much better for my purposes.

My older revolvers that do not have pinned front sights have a coating of white model paint followed by a coat florescent green on the front sight. Green color works best for me. I also have improved the sight picture on a couple of all stainless steel fixed sights by painting the depression in front of the rear sight notch with black model paint to contrast with the green painted front sight and that works pretty well ... much better than a stainless colored front and rear sight combination.

So my recommendation is for a dot or color on the front sight only. Looking down the barrel and seeing that with no corresponding dots on the rear sight allows me to very quickly orient my carry guns so as to keep all my shots on a small paper plate out to 25 yards pretty easily. That's plenty good for my purposes. Shooting at longer distances requires a bit more care to get the best sight picture I can for good hits. For closer ranges, all I want to see is that dot of color on the front sight centered center mass with a good grip and trigger press. Two or three rounds fired in that manner will be on the small paper plate and that will get the job done for me!

Wow you guys are fast. Thanks for the quick replies. I'm looking at the SW 456 Spartan and the SW 745 which appears to be the same as the Spartan but with a white outline. Does anyone have either of these?

Night sights

I have been running night sights on my duty/defense guns since the early 90's..and I agree with kthom's post above..I ran trijicon three dots on everything up until abt two years ago ( I also have painted revolver sights back in the day). I installed a XS big dot sight w/ the trititum dot on my G-30......at ranges closer than 15 yds, it has made no difference to me when shooting in reduced light. I have been shooting since the 70's and my muscle memory is pretty well ingrained from thousands of presentations during practice, so when that gun comes up, it is pretty well where it needs to be.
With the big dot, it really jumps out at you.....I simply punch the gun out, put the glow on COM and shoot......at common defensive ranges, it works just fine for me. I have had many encounters in reduced light where I had my gun out, but in the vast majority of them I had a light source to ID what I was pointing my gun at ( to determine threat level), so using only the glowing tritium sights has been a moot point in most of my encounters.
However, as a personal defense gun and protector of home and hearth where ranges are going to be close and personal the single dot will work just fine for me.
IMO , both will work for you, depending on how much time and effort you invest in becoming proficient with either or both.
I still have several three dot sights on several of my pistols, but I am quite happy with my single dot I have on my G-30.

I don't necessarily like the three dot sight picture, but IMO you need the frame of reference the rear sight gives you.

A bullet will go where the front sight is pointed when the gun fires. Rear sights are for fine tuning. I have taught this concept for years and have talked to many LEO who have used their handgun in the performance of their duty. Stuff happens - and fast. Get that front sight on target and you are well on the way for a hit.

Thanks for all the replies, you guys have given me a lot to consider. Here's another issue to throw in the mix. My original plan had been to install a laser. I had CT grips on my revolver and really liked them. I don't like the CT for the shield. I would prefer an on/off switch to be able to practice without the laser. I am considering the Armalaser but it just looks so big in the pictures. Actually I don't like the way either of the lasers attach to the gun but there's no way around that.

I know that night sights and laser serve 2 different purposes. My primary reason for the laser would be as self defense in my house at night. I have my glasses next to the bed but without them, my vision is pretty bad. There is pretty much no ambient light at all in the bedroom. Would I be better off just using the night sights and keeping a flashlight nearby? Or just get both?

OK, I'm not going to tell you what to use; but I will remind that with so-called, 'night sights' you aim the pistol; but with a laser you aim the dot, instead of the actual gun, itself; and, whenever you turn a laser on it's good to remember that it's a, 'two way street'.

I'm also about to put night sights on my Shield. I really like the factory sights as all I've ever shot is 3 dot. The Ameriglo Classic 3 Dot is basically the factory white sights during the day but glow green in low light. These are what I plan to go with. I did shoot a friends gun in daylight with the XS Big Dots and didn't care for them. Not saying they were bad, just not at all what I'm used to.

Arc Angel said:

OK, I'm not going to tell you what to use; but I will remind that with so-called, 'night sights' you aim the pistol; but with a laser you aim the dot, instead of the actual gun, itself; and, whenever you turn a laser on it's good to remember that it's a, 'two way street'.

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True. My other thought was compared to the laser on the grips, this type may get bumped and have to be adjusted on a regular basis, I don't know if this is true or not. Aiming the dot may not be accurately aiming the gun. I think I'm probably better off with the sights and becoming proficient with the gun.

I say no night sight at all. That money is better spent on ammo and range time.

My first pistol was a M&P 9 that came with Trijicon 3 dot night sights. I thought that they were a good set up until I bought a Talo Colt New Agent that came with a Novak front night sight with a plain back rear. I immediately found that it was much more easier for me to pick up the front sight with the rears blacked out. I have since blacked out my
M&P9's rear sight with touch up paint. I have also blacked out my Shield's stock rear sight and painted the front sight with Glow-On. You should really try to shoot a gun with a front dot/black rear combo before making a decision.

I think it was in a James Yeager Youtube video where he is reviewing the XS sights that he tells the story of him putting out several guns on a table in a combat shooting class for them to choose. Most have the XS sights and a few have 3 dot sights, and the class switch guns repeatedly during the class. He said by the end of the class, no one wanted the last remaining guns, which had the 3 dot, all preferring the XS. He didn't tell the class it was an experiment or anything, but the results of the experiment showed a natural preference for the XS sights in a A:B test of sorts. That result, and the voice of others on Youtube, most of whom I assume aren't on the XS payroll, is leading me to try the 24/7 XS sight with tritium front and rear.

Now of course, almost all admit the 3 dots are better for target shooting, especially vs. the Big Dot version, but for defensive combat use, the XS sights are apparently much faster at target acquisition, and getting the bullet into critical center of mass (not necessarily bullseye). Fast is good.

Previous to this, I was considering the TFX Trueglos, as the fiberoptic is very bright and conspicuous when there is a secondary light source. I'm still a bit torn between XS and TFX. I think these are two of the cutting edge designs. I may go with the smaller XS, since it would be better at target and distance shooting than the Big Dot, with the idea that maybe you don't need the sights as much close up, but do at distance. Regardless though, I've seen some great shooting with the Big Dots, even when they cover up the entire bullseye mark, which they do.

I think the rear XS sight is probably better for fast acquisition and peripheral (albeit very small) vision than the I dots which leave a more classic window to peer through at the rear. They apparently are also more comfortable IWB than some taller, more jagged rear sights. This can be very important for carry purposes I suspect, especially appendix carry.

I have the TFX on my Shield. I had the Ameriglo I-dot. Honestly I'm more accurate with the TFX for some reason. The green front on the Ameriglo was so freaking bright in sunlight, obnoxiously so. They are a hair brighter at night, but my eye liked the 3 dot set up better after trying both.

There's also the Heine Straight Eight style


My experience is that the two rear dots overpower the single front dot and your night adapted vision. I'm currently doing the black rear to see how I like it.

I blacked out the back factory dots on my Shield and painted the front orange - works for me!!!