Tritium sights

[Andrew2105]

I have a pistol with "dead" trijicon tritium sights (one dot front two rear, green all) I had thought that all things considered that the front sight would be the most important of the two. Secondly, a colleague once expressed the opinion that the sights, front & rear did light up my cosmetically unehanced Caucasian face in very dark conditions. (no camo compact used eg)

I was thinking that a functioning front tritium sight might be the best way to go. (cheaper too)

Opinions? Thanks

 

[Kronos]

If you can't see the front one then you can't see the back ones either so I suspect both are best as one of the important things to shooting is to line the sights up.

I don't bother as I have a light all the time and don't need night sights,nice too as I can ID the target and see if it's a shoot or no shoot thing.

My two cents.

 

[RichCapeCod]

Kronos, your primary aiming point is your front sight. You will never (unless you live in a coal mine...) be in a position where you will have to discharge your sidearm in total darkness. Indeed, keep in mind that you must identify your target prior to opening fire. This is all a roundabout way of saying that all you really need, for a close-in combat handgun, is a visible front sight. Nothing wrong with three bright dots, but, push comes to shove and the clearly defined front sight will do just fine.

Rich

PS
You do either keep a flashlight near your firearm at night or have one attached to your pistol, correct?

 

[Kronos]

Kronos, your primary aiming point is your front sight. You will never (unless you live in a coal mine...) be in a position where you will have to discharge your sidearm in total darkness. Indeed, keep in mind that you must identify your target prior to opening fire. This is all a roundabout way of saying that all you really need, for a close-in combat handgun, is a visible front sight. Nothing wrong with three bright dots, but, push comes to shove and the clearly defined front sight will do just fine.

Rich

PS
You do either keep a flashlight near your firearm at night or have one attached to your pistol, correct?

That last part at me? I always have a light on me and I'm fixing to get a weapon light next month for my SD9.

I find that if you have a light your sights show up with no need for "seeing" them,and in fact I never really aim just line them up and fire,because it is true you focus on the target and not the sights.

Make sense? if I can't see the sights I'm leery as hell to shoot because I may pop something I shouldn't.

 

[RichCapeCod]

Kronos, trust me, you have to focus on your front sight. I know of situations where gunfights took place at very close distances and there were no hits as the front sight was ignored. One case I investigated had a store owner exchange shots against five young men from across a counter top. He fired twice. Nice group in the ceiling...

Rich

 

[Kronos]

Urm..what I mean is the pistol comes up,the light on target makes them plenty visible for shooting,the front sight falls on target and bang! it's always a blur as I'm focused on the target I'm aiming at...I guess it's called looking through the sights not at them.

At any rate if you have a light pointed at a thing the light will silhouette the sights plenty to get things lined up can't count how many possums I've tagged with a pistol and a light no night sights involved.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Tears ago I had a Tritium sight (orange) on my SD shotgun. It was the front bead only. When new it was so bright that it hurt your eyes in the middle of the night. After the 8-10 year mark it was "very visible", at the 15+ year mark it was "hardly visible", at the 19-20 year mark it was "visibly dead!" It was only $9 when I bought it, now they want a small fortune!

In the dark, geometry is the same as in daylight! 2 points make a line. On a hand gun that is the front and rear sight! On a rifle or shotgun, a consistent cheek weld is the rear point (to a point) and a front "Dot" is the second. It was almost to the Civil War before U.S. military muskets had any rear sight. They were good for 50+/- yards. The military pistol of the same time had no rear sight and wasn't worth squat at 5 yards in daylight!

If you don't want to kill your family or neighbors, your handgun needs front and rear sights!

A second solution to the dead sights, is to put Crimson Trace laser grips on the handgun. I picked up a LE Sig 226 that the PD put a laser on instead of new tritium.

Ivan

 

[eveled]

I sent 2 Beretta slides back to trijicon and they relamped the sights for a very reasonable price. Doing 2@once saved on shipping.