VTAC sights on a Shield?

[Karnivore]

What do you think? Too big? Just right? Would M&P VTAC sights fit?

Without considering the price, what do think about the sights and how would they work on a Shield?

I have a .40 and need some new night sights but do not want to look goofy.

Thanks for any input.

Karnivore

 

[Dave Nowlin]

Standard M&P sights will fit but the rear sight will be wider than the dovetail in the slide. You will end up with a sharp corner protruding off each side of the slide. I expect those corners would do a nice job of slicing your hand open while racking the slide. I suppose you could file off the excess but it would be ugly and it would rust. Ameriglo and XS Big Dot should both have sights available in 2 to 3 weeks which are made for the Shield. I have talked with both.

 

[walkin' trails]

Someone's got to try it out. I went to my first gunshow in a lot of years this past weekend. I was expecting to see the Shield. No one had any. One LE dealer said they can't keep them in stock. Didn't see more than a half dozen M&Ps there.

 

[Martimus]

Standard M&P sights will fit but the rear sight will be wider than the dovetail in the slide. You will end up with a sharp corner protruding off each side of the slide. I expect those corners would do a nice job of slicing your hand open while racking the slide. I suppose you could file off the excess but it would be ugly and it would rust. Ameriglo and XS Big Dot should both have sights available in 2 to 3 weeks which are made for the Shield. I have talked with both.

Not necessarily! While I can't speak specifically about the VTAC sights, I installed Trijicon HD's on my Shield. In my case the amount of overhang behind the dovetail is pretty small.

I tried to measure it but the best I could come up with was approximately the width of a small paper clip. According to my digital calipers, that would be about 0.70mm at the base of the sight.

 

[CowBro05]

Had the same thoughts my friend just gave me his Vtac sights he didn't like them

 

[Big1]

Do you have any pics CowBro05?

 

[Co Th G]

VTAC sights are terrible..... WAY too busy a sight picture.

 

[CowBro05]

Do you have any pics CowBro05?

Not yet friend just sent them to me

 

[CowBro05]

VTAC sights are terrible..... WAY too busy a sight picture.

Actually didn't bother me when I shot my friends Vtac they don't bother me

 

[Jiman]

If someone doesn't beat me to it by Friday night, I'll take some shots of my VTAC rear along with my co-workers Shield.

I took my VTAC rear off but kept my front.

 

[CowBro05]

If someone doesn't beat me to it by Friday night, I'll take some shots of my VTAC rear along with my co-workers Shield.



I took my VTAC rear off but kept my front.

Would love to see that jiman...how the rear look when you had them on the shield? How did you like it?

 

[Jiman]

Would love to see that jiman...how the rear look when you had them on the shield? How did you like it?

Oh, sorry for the confusion, I own a VTAC and preferred a blacked out rear, so I took it off and replaced it with a 10-8 rear sight. I don't own a Shield.

I was going to take some pics of the VTAC rear held alongside of my co-workers Shield so you could get a better idea of how it would overhang the sides the Shield slide or not.

FWIW, my opinion of when the VTAC sights were on, are that they were good. I really thought they'd be too busy, but found that the fiber optic and trit didn't compete against each other.

In a variety of lighting conditions either one glowed or the other but not all 6 at the same time…that would be bad . I also liked how the rear U-notch is cut deeper allowing me to pick up the front sight slightly earlier. I also haven’t had any issues with the fact that they are taller than normal sights. I’ve only carried it in one holster (Garrett Industries AWIB) so my experience is limited, but there’s plenty of sight channel for the front sight. I’m not sure how that would translate in a Shield holster.

The reason I kept the front VTAC sight on was because I like how it tapers to a finer point near the top. I found the taper does draw my eye better vs. a traditional square cut front sight. With that said, you shouldn’t replace the rear only. The higher front sight requires a higher than normal rear. If I hadn’t found the 10-8 specific blacked out rear sight I would have had to keep it stock, replace both front/rear to another brand, or get used to a POA/POI difference.

Probably unlike many, I didn’t buy the VTAC because of the color or sights. I really wanted a manual safety and it was one of the few I could find in stock at the time that had the frame cut-outs to retro-fit it after the purchase.

I hope that helps clarify things.

 

[Jiman]

Kind of a bust tonight. I was hoping to compare the OEM Shield sight removed along side my removed VTAC sight. Unfortunately he brought the wrong size allen so we couldn't get it off.



Placing the VTAC sight on the slide, it will overhang the Shield slide on each side by maybe the thickness of a piece of paper. In the next week we'll give it a shot again, and I'll post pics.



This was the best pic I could take without losing focus.

 

[1hatchet]

If you have some calipers please measure them and post when time allows.

 

[Jiman]

If you have some calipers please measure them and post when time allows.

I can do that. Probably won't be until Monday sometime. I'm away right now. Best I can do is a ruler

 

[CowBro05]

No rush here Jiman

 

[Jiman]

I'm not sure what measurements folks were looking for so I'll add a few and you can tell me if you need more. To avoid confusion my comments are on top of each picture.



First pic: Dovetail width of sight. I measured the leading edge since my measurements showed the leading and trailing edge to be the same width. Sorry I didn't get it centered. Perspective Rear to Front/Striker to Muzzle -

2nd pic: Height of sight from bottom flat (i.e. where the sight and slide would mate) to the flat where your set screw is located. Perspective Side View -

3rd pic: Tallest measurement of sight. Note: the bottom and top edges are not parallel so the highest point(s) was measured using the bottom angle flat to the caliper and the top rear edge. This was a pain to get correctly since the calipers want to pinch the sight to other angles. Not sure if that makes sense –

4th pic: The height of sight from bottom of sight (i.e. where the sight would fit into the dovetail) to the ‘flat’ of the sight. The perspective you’re looking at the pic from is front to rear (i.e. muzzle to striker). The reflection on the bottom recess of the caliper gives a false shadow that’s not part of the sight. The bottom arm is flat along the bottom of the sight. The top arm is flush along the flat of the dovetail base but above the recessed section for the setscrew -