Night Sight Question

[07is350]

Why do some people not run tritium inserts on their rear sights? I usually see this with a night sight set up

[myk]

Why do some people not run tritium inserts on their rear sights? I usually see this with a night sight set up

I just installed front and rear tritium night sights on my 1911 and I think I'm regretting it. Why? Because when I'm trying to aim as quickly as possible there're too many dots and things that I need to line up before I'm ready to shoot. I think if I had left the rear novak-style sights in black and changed out the front sight to the white dot/tritium one then it'd be much easier just to center the white dot/green dot into the black brackets of the rear sight and "pow!"

[jdben92883]

I prefer all dots front and back. It's easy to lose the front post at night when it's hidden behind an unlit rear site. For target during the day, I like to run all black on the rear.

One downside of running all dots at night is that you may not have the dots lined up in the correct order since you often can't tell (quickly) which site is which. The sights I run are dimmer in the rear than the front. Another way to mitigate that problem is to use a different color for the front post (like green for the rear, orange for the front).

[redcliff]

I just installed front and rear tritium night sights on my 1911 and I think I'm regretting it. Why? Because when I'm trying to aim as quickly as possible there're too many dots and things that I need to line up before I'm ready to shoot. I think if I had left the rear novak-style sights in black and changed out the front sight to the white dot/tritium one then it'd be much easier just to center the white dot/green dot into the black brackets of the rear sight and "pow!"

+1

3 dot sights just clutter my sight picture. Control the front sight and the rest will fall into place.

[negolien]

yup

I just installed front and rear tritium night sights on my 1911 and I think I'm regretting it. Why? Because when I'm trying to aim as quickly as possible there're too many dots and things that I need to line up before I'm ready to shoot. I think if I had left the rear novak-style sights in black and changed out the front sight to the white dot/tritium one then it'd be much easier just to center the white dot/green dot into the black brackets of the rear sight and "pow!"

That's one of the reasons people go for Heine or XS sights. Easier to set up the sights with straight 8's.

[scidx]

Are you asking why some people do not have night sights?

Most are satisfied with OEM sights. Those that change the factory sights, do so with a purpose depending on the role of the gun. My bed side gun has night sights and I have flashlights within reach. I have a shotgun with a light attached. Everything else is plain black. If a person relies on the three-dot set up, or tritium inserts, the consideration for precision must be present. I've found that metal posts can usually be more precise than the dots or lines, personally. A sight-picture can be complicated enough. I don't prefer to add more shapes and colors.

Of course, in the dark, tritium is great.

[9mmepiphany]

I prefer all dots front and back. It's easy to lose the front post at night when it's hidden behind an unlit rear site.

That is the reason you don't need the rear night sight lamps. If you can't see the front lamp, you aren't looking through the rear notch...and you sights aren't aligned anyway. When you see the front lamp, while looking at the rear sight, it is aligned in the rear notch.

If you aren't looking at your rear sight to begin with...hunting for both rear and front sights...your grip and index are too far off for you to be shooting anyway. Practice acquiring your index consistently.

If you are using the glow of the night sights to align them, it's too dark to identify your target to be responsibly shooting at it.