Bought a model 60-15 PC gun that has a Trijicon front night sight. The gun is still NIB and has sat in the safe for a couple of years, but the front sight is not illuminated at all. This is my first gun with this type of sight, does it need to be outside of the safe, where it can absorb some light, to brighten up, recharge so to speak, or is there something else that needs to be done?

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Todd

No its not like a luminescent coating might need. It should glow on its own.

What is the date code on the Trijicon sight?

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Waiting for the break of day

Tritium is a radioactive gas that glows in the dark all by itself. Trijicon lamps generally last at least 10 years. If it's not glowing, you might check with Trijicon to see about replacement of the lamp (gas filled tube). You might also check with S&W customer service.

I 'think' the half life for tritium is 12 - 13 years[for green, the others are lower].

According to the 'web' the half life is 12.33 years!

The gun is only a couple of years old and it looks like the sight would be white.

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Todd

Go into a dark room and look at the sight. If you don't see a green dot, call S&W. Even if you bought it new, doesn't mean it didn't sit in someone's stock room for awhile.

BTW, don't worry about the "radioactive" part. You'd have to glue the sight to your eyeball to have any exposure.

On the way back to the mother ship for a new sight, thanks.

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Todd

My 60-15 front sight was very dim when brand new. Being lazy, I've chosen not to worry about it. By contrast my first generation M&P Pro Series 9 mm still glows strongly enough to be easily seen acros my dark bedroom, even though it's well over ten years old..

I've had the gun for a few years, but have never fired it. Since I've decided that it will be going down the road, I figured that it should be in factory new shape, since that's the way I'm going to describe it.

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Todd

Because of how narrow the front sights are on the revolvers, the Tritium lamps have a smaller diameter tube which contain a much smaller volume of gas than the night sites you are used to on semi-automatic pistols

Because of this they do appear dimmer than semi auto night sites. Many folks who first view them in a lit room believe them to be dead

As I have gotten older my night vision isn't what it used to be and the revolver-based front Tritium sights are very difficult for me to see, but they are glowing. That being said I have added a little dab of red paint to my front sight just above the Tritium lamp so that I can pick it up easier in daylight

Smith and Wesson has put the Tritium front sight on several different revolvers. About the oldest one I can think of is the L-Comp which was introduced in 2000

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"Acta non verba"