OK so lets say that tax refund money was just burning a hole in your pocket and HAD to click the “Make an Offer” button on an already sweet price on a Glock 19 at Buds Gun Shop. You pick it up at your FFL and polish that feed ramp by sending a few hundred round down range. Like 99.785% of Glock owners you’ll quickly realize the stock sights aren’t worth the twenty five cents in plastic they’re made of. And since the remaining money’s still burning another hole in your pocket, changing them out is the only sensible choice to make. But wow are there a lot of choices when it comes to sights, you’ve got TruGlo this and Tritium that, what’s a guy (or girl) supposed to use for a home defense gun?
If this sounds like a situation you’ve found yourself in, first off breathe because you’re not alone and secondly, night sights are the way to go for home defense/ CCW usage. I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain this but night sights get their name because they allow the user to engage targets in low light conditions, hence the “night.” The sights do this by using a material with a fancy name for glow in the dark, Tritium.
Now pistol sight selection can be extremely user preference but professionals across the board believe in using a tritium/night front sight over the more common black or fiber optic sight is you’re going to be using the firearm for your everyday concealed carry or night stand gun. Why? In close up, quick pistol shooting the fastest way to accurately engage your target whatever it may be is by focusing on the front sight and placing it on the desired location of your target, aka front sight focus. If you were to do this in conditions where the lighting was less than ideal and had a fiber optic front sight or stock sights, it’s very difficult for your eye to pick up during duress.
The radioactive isotope, tritium, found in night sights, constantly emit a glow. However similar to the glow in the dark planets stuck on your kid’s ceiling, once exposed to light it comes to life with an even brighter glow because of the photoluminescent paint outline on majority of the night sights on the market (shown above). What I personally like about the sights is this peace of mind that they’ll be undoubtedly ready for action should I need to use them at night.
One dot, two dot, three dot?
There are a ton of different choices when selecting the right night sights for your pistol, color, height etc. However one choice that is the most debated and as important if not the most is the style. You have a single dot where only the front sight is tritium and the rear sight is blacked out (my personal favorite). Next a two dot where you have a front tritium sight and a rear sight with a tritium line or dot in the center to line up the front and the rear sights. Lastly is your more tradition three dot where you have the front dot sight and a rear sight with two tritium dots. Which should you go with?
The best way to demonstrate what style sights to get would be to have you perform a simple test. With an outstretched arm and your hand clenched with only your index finger showing, focus your eyes on the nail of that finger. Take that finger and point it at something across the room while still focusing your eyes on the nail. Pretty easy to keep that focus and put it on your target, right? Now with your other hand make a peace sign. Focus on that index finger nail again but this time bring your other hand in the shape of a piece sign into that same line of sight and keep the nails of these finger in line with the index finger nail of the other hand. You’ll notice that your eyes kind of bounce back and forth between your index finger nail and the nails of the peace sign hand. Now imagine doing this really quickly but with a firearm and potentially with your life on the line in the dark. It’s a lot for your eyes to take in and compute in a short period of time. For this reason alone I’m a huge fan of a front night sight and blacked out rear sight that doesn’t distract my focus from that very important front sight picture.
Honestly I could talk for hours about low light/no light pistol shooting and why three dot sights are slower but I’ll save that for another time and maybe another post. What I do want you to leave this article with is this, go with night sights if there’s even a remote chance that you’re going to be running that pistol at night and secondly whatever night sight style you decide to go with, train with it.
Need help finding the perfect night sights for your pistol? Let me know below! As always guys, shoot-em straight and be safe.
If it goes bang or has to deal with the outdoors then I am most likely passionate about it. If I'm not at the gun range then I'm either hiking, mountain biking or kayaking. Follow along as I dive into outdoor gear related products and topics.
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15 Responses to Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Night Sights
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While I understand that night sights/styles are largely a matter of personal preference, I’d value your opinion on something. With all the options available, what do you feel is the best “tactical” combo of hand gun accessories. For instance, I prefer the three dot night sight system as I believe it affords me the ability to “aim smaller,” if given the opportunity, in conjunction with tac light/ “sillouette” aiming for closer targets/acquisition.
I have an XDs. What is your recommendation for a tritium front sight for my firearm?
Great read, thanks for the article Jeremy!
I’ve been debating what sights to pick for my CZ-75B … as I spend a bit of time at the range, I’d love to had the Shadow style (adj rear, red fiber optic front).. but I also plan to carry this firearm every now and then, as well as use it for home protection – hence the desire for highly visible sights.
I also prefer the ‘lit’ front, ‘dark’ rear sight setup… but finding sights to do accurate range work while also allowing for easy holster loading/unloading,.. is proving difficult… any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks again and keep up the great writing!
I agree with the idea of a tritium front sight with a blacked out rear for daytime use. However, in low light (especially VERY low light) it is hard to get the frame of reference needed for an accurate shot at any distance without being able to see the rear sight.
This is why I prefer designs like Trijicon HD or Ameriglo Pro Operator sights where the front sight is brightly colored in addition to the tritium insert and the rear sight has tritium inserts but no colored rings, making it appear almost identical to a blacked out rear sight in good light.
Best of both worlds, really.
My question is this: In a dim/low light condition, with the 1-dot tritium sighting system, how do you know where the 1-dot is located in relation to the plain black rear sights? You can control left to right to a point, but aside from aiming too low, you have no idea where you’re aiming.
I have the factory three dot night sights on my m&p 40. I have been looking at upgrading them and am really not too sure. I’m presently thinking straight 8 right now. Would that be a good choice? What are some other 2 dot options worth considering?
Night sights (NS) are the way to go as you said for CCW and night stand protection. If you ever tried to shooting in the dark where you cannot see the sights you would understand. Glocks have a lot of options out there and S&W SDVE (M&P) has some really affordable options also for $70 + installation. I wished the sight manufactures would produce an affordable Taurus 24/7 G2 & Millennium G2 NS sights.
You’ll like this story, Jeremy. Just bought a Shield 9 and had done research/due diligence and bought the XS Big Dot sights also. Went to the range and didn’t have any issues w/the factory sights, so I wasn’t 100 per cent convinced I should switch to the Big Dot because much info on web is often questionable. Read yr article just before heading out to the gunsmith to have sights installed, and I felt a lot better about my decision because of the straight-forward info you provided. Thanks!
Hey Jim, glad I was able to help you out!
I have a Colt 1911 Combat Elite and what front night sight would you recommend?
I really go back and forth on this one. I am not sure that I have truly seen a situation where things were so dark that I needed my sights to glow to see them but at the same time actually had the ability to identify a target. i have seen bright sights that take away from the ability to see or track a target moving in dim light.
After more than 20 years training law enforcement professionals in judgmental use of force, I question the value of night sights. In sudden “shoot” situations, officers almost never have time to use their sights anyway. IMHO, a laser is much more effective than night sights in targeting in low-light conditions, as the eye focuses naturally on the threat, not on the front sight. The only use I can see for night sights is in low light firing at distant targets — something one would never encounter in a home-defense situation.
Viridian C5L laser on my XD sub compact .40 makes me far more confidant. Adrenalin,Darkness and insanity all at once,I want the confident upper hand :)
I just bought trueglo TFO, yes! Tritium / Fiber Optic! best of both worlds, glows like a green spark during the day when shooting outdoors, and glows softly at night not to blind you with glare.
My wife and I both have Taurus PT 111 G2 what sight’s would you recommend for this pistol. We would both like something different than the factory sites thank you James Clark