Ameriglo Hack sights

Going to have to get 2 sets.............one for the 9 and one for the 45, as my eyes are on the weak side. Thanks to all for the good info!!
 
Palmetto Sharpshooter,

Those sites look great and almost identical to some Trijicon H3 10's (front) and H311's (rear) on a Glock 27 of mine. Same vivid reddish 'bulls eye' up front that again seems identical to what I'm running. Although the build profile of my rear sights also looks near identical (best as I can tell by the photos) my rear has a very small green dot just below the back of the notch. Together, both dots are very different in the dark, as the bright red front and rear green dot both glow quite vividly in a green color that's easy for my not so great anymore eyes to make out.

In a worst case scenario, the green front sight alone, in near to total darkness, really gives me enough guidance to feel secure when I pull the trigger, as I can pick up a bead real quick, level and shoot. Looks like C4IGrant, in the above picture is running the same front set up as mine--the Trijicon H3 10s--the picture just makes them out to be tad bit more orange than they might be, possibly.

No one can really tell, but they are saying these glow all the time tritium sites sold now are good for about 12 years, but I suspect there's going to be some fade before that. I'd leave them fixed 'as is' once they're deemed satisfactory. The bright red dot on the front should never dim during daylight and I may just leave it alone if I'm still alive and shooting then---I'll probably have a seeing eye dog by then anyway, along with a Mossberg 500 I can use as a cane, among other purposes as needed. But these sites as shown above really are dramatically more effective to me than the standard M&P, as well as Glock standard issue sights.
 
Blacked out rear sight is fine for you younger guys. When you become a senior citizen, the rear sight gets blurry, no matter what kind of glasses you get. I installed a fiber optic front sight and that helped a lot, but in dimmer light, I still had a problem, until I tried a friends gun with fiber optic front and rear. I now have a rear on on order. It makes a huge difference, especially when I shoot IDPA.
 
Agksimon,


I know that I, like most of us, can't just go out and switch from the factory standard stock gun sights to fiber optic and then say 'aww--nah--I'll go with the tritium & fiber optic option'--over time, it adds up moneywise to the point where you could've added another gun instead.

I was fortunate to have a bit of extra money a while back and decided to flesh out my collection of guns-( I like having several quality guns from a number of brands) and I got a full sized Springfield Xdm 45ACP, on which at my gunsmith's advice, we added Truglo TFO's --Tritium Fiber Optics. I really like my Trijicon tritiums, but I think for ANY eyes, and especially my eyes, which aren't too great--the TFO's are top of the pile right now. And they look cool as hell, without looking like freaking neon lights. Night or day--no quit, no need for batteries or light to 'pump them up'. Only thing that's impressed me as much in recent years gun sight wise, are the quality green lasers.

If I were to buy a new gun now, for starters, I'd see if the factory offered TFOs as an added cost option, or if possible and you like them as much as I do, save up a bit and add them on later.

Don't get me wrong, fiber optics are really nice and I really liked the the fiber optic set up they had on the discontinued Kel-Tec PMR-30-- big, bright orange FO's in the rear, framing out a a big, green FO up front--that really worked, but adding tritium just would take such a great set up to an even higher level and be much more useful in low light conditions.

Maybe if you've got great eyesight and don't shoot in low light conditions, FO's are more than enough, but I don't think you can go wrong with TFO's to be optimumly equipped in nearly any shooting situation.
 
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Love these sights!

These sights are now on my M&P9 - a gift from my sons for Father's Day. The serrations on the rear sight really make it disappear (literally no light reflection) and the front sight jumps out regardless of light conditions. My LGS guy put them on for me (for free :D) and was really impressed with them too.
I need to practice drawing in the dark to get the front centered in the rear knockout. Practice, practice, practice.
 
Re:

>>The serrations on the rear sight really make it disappear (literally no light reflection) and the front sight jumps out regardless of light conditions.<<

I have a full sized 45 wth Truglo TFO's. The gun has a pretty long, flat shiny upper slide and out on a firing range on a bright sunny, cloudless day, a nice long, slightly 'vee' shaped piece of sandpaper texture black grip tape I applied up there cuts down on glare. If you don't have any, most gun shops have some left over from the the area surrounding cut out appliques they've removed and applied to customer's gun grips.

Sort of does the same job that the black stripes some football players paint under their eyes do--it's just a litle extra edge to help them visually pick up the ball faster--but in my case, hopefully my sights and target faster.

I work with in the area of visual impairments and notice how glare effects us when we often aren't aware, or only become aware after a while--like after hours in front of a high gloss PC monitor or large screen TV. Even semi gloss paint in a room w/ fluorescent light can wear on people's eyes w/o them realizing it after several hours. A shiny stainless slide looks great, but puts off glare too.

I also use some of the same sand paper like grip strip material to put on some guns rear side slides. On a real hot day, that slide can get slippery from sweat and I just get a better grip. I love the look of the M&P's 'grips' on the rear slides--the 'fish scale look' if you will, but it's take a lot of patience to cut those 'just right' with an exacto knife--so I haven't tried that yet. Glocks are a cinch though. The strips stay on if you apply them well in a clean, cool place first and they look good (I'm told) and are quite functional.

These are just a couple little 'edges' you can add, that are quite functional and usually look pretty cool. Some of us are 'purists' and won't change a thing--to each their own. If you don't like--a good wood toothpick, a little pulling and some 'Goo Gone' to clean up and they're off in minutes!
 
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These sights are now on my M&P9 - a gift from my sons for Father's Day. The serrations on the rear sight really make it disappear (literally no light reflection) and the front sight jumps out regardless of light conditions. My LGS guy put them on for me (for free :D) and was really impressed with them too.
I need to practice drawing in the dark to get the front centered in the rear knockout. Practice, practice, practice.

Wow these look great. I will have to pass this thread along to my son for next Father's Day! :)
 
Adding another set of crummy photos, anyone know a good photographer?
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Newbie here with questions... What does the matching rear (blacked out sight) get you? I understand the blacked out concept, and just planned on taking a black Sharpie to my stock rear sight & using the saved $14 on more ammo. If there are benefits to getting the set, what are they? Also, are adjustments needed after the new front sight is put on, or is it fixed? Finally, how long can one expect the tritium to last?

BTW - my stock front sight white dot fell out after about 50 rounds through my new M&P9. Local gun shop where I bought it took care of me. Point is, I would actually have more faith in an after market sight since their sole focus is the sight (whereas S&W is focused on all parts and therefore more likely to have minor glitches).

The white dot fell out on my 9c, too. If you search these pages, you'll find that's pretty common. Inexcusable on the part of S&W. Got a can of white Rustoleum & touched it up myself.
 
Blacked out rear sight is fine for you younger guys. When you become a senior citizen, the rear sight gets blurry, no matter what kind of glasses you get. I installed a fiber optic front sight and that helped a lot, but in dimmer light, I still had a problem, until I tried a friends gun with fiber optic front and rear. I now have a rear on on order. It makes a huge difference, especially when I shoot IDPA.

I hear that. I have heard that if you just get the front sight you might have height adjustment problems, so I'm getting the whole set. I ASSUME they'll be factory calibrated. (Also I think they'll look really cool!)
 
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