1911 Sight Picture Question

[dasadab]

I have years of experience shooting Glocks. I am thinking about getting a 1911. Last week I shot a SA MC Operator at a local range. Nice gun with an excellent trigger. However, I felt that the big factory Glock night sights that I am used to were much quicker for me. I shot the MC well and it was very accurate, but for me quick sight acquisition is very important. I have not really looked into sight options for 1911s, but for personal defense gun, I sure liked the Glock sights better.
Further background, I am looking at the Sig 1911s.

Question: Has anyone who has transitioned from Glocks to 1911s found that they missed the sight picture of the stock Glocks? If so, did you switch out sights on the 1911?

[iareConfusE]

You didn't ask a question.

[9mmepiphany]

I gather that you are talking about 3-dot sights, rather than the Glock front dot and rear white outline. All my Glocks came with the rear outline and I switched them to the Heine Slant-Pros with plain black rear sight.

While a front dot...a fiber optic in competition or a night sight for HD/SD...is a great aid in picking up the front sight...it was tested and proven, back in the 90s, that the 3-dot combo actually slows down recognition of the sights being correctly aligned.

The 1911 has the widest range of after market sights available on the market, you can get pretty much any combination you fancy if you just look around. My favorite for a 1911 is the 10-8 rear, with the U-notch, coupled with a front blade with a gold bead or a XS small dot nightsight. For competition,a fiber optic rod in the front sight gives very fast sight pickup

[dasadab]

Yes, the three dots on the Glock. Good to know about so many sight options. I was kinda surprised that the stock sights on the MC Operator were noticeably harder to pick up than those of my Glock.

[9mmepiphany]

A lot depends on what you are used to.

Are you aligning the dots when sighting or the tops of the front/rear blades and balancing the light on either side in the rear notch?

[Voo]

I have years of experience shooting Glocks. I am thinking about getting a 1911. Last week I shot a SA MC Operator at a local range. Nice gun with an excellent trigger. However, I felt that the big factory Glock night sights that I am used to were much quicker for me. I shot the MC well and it was very accurate, but for me quick sight acquisition is very important. I have not really looked into sight options for 1911s, but for personal defense gun, I sure liked the Glock sights better.
Further background, I am looking at the Sig 1911s.

Question: Has anyone who has transitioned from Glocks to 1911s found that they missed the sight picture of the stock Glocks? If so, did you switch out sights on the 1911?

This is pretty normal when switching to different sighting systems as well as handguns.

I personally run fiber optics on all my handguns (or a nightsight) for the front. The rears are always plain black. A lot of "competition" shooters Ive shot with have a similar setup. It's generally accepted that you're primarily looking at the front sight and anything else is going to slow you down.

The other thing is how methodical you're being when you "present' the gun to eye level. Ask the common shooter how precise they are when they bring the gun up to eye level and most will simply say they bring the gun up to eye level. This is fine, but it's like anything. To really improve, it makes sense to practice a deliberate method and refine the movements so that everything is reproducible and efficient. ie. does the front sight come into focus at shoulder level? does the sight come up or down into your rear sight? when do you punch out?

All this really pertains to drawing from the holster, but once you practice it, you'll always be a little quicker on the draw than the 'common' shooter.

[JanG]

what's a sight picture, i usually just point and shoot

[dasadab]

"A lot depends on what you are used to.

Are you aligning the dots when sighting or the tops of the front/rear blades and balancing the light on either side in the rear notch?

I think I primarily focus on the front sight and fine tune the sight picture with the rears as I prepare to pull the trigger. I certainly agree that methodical practice is important. "

[ajaffe]

This is exactly why I love the dot the "i" style sights. They are faster for me than three dots.