Are night sights actually useful?

[advocatusdiaboli]

Easier to pick up for my bad eyes in all shooting situations. Instead of night sights they should be refetrred to as aftermarket sights.

Unless they came stock from Sig (SigLite sights) as on all my Sigs that offer that as an option.
So, no they are not necessarily after-market sights.

[hermosabeach]

If you have a Glock or a pistol with Plastic sights, Steel are better... Night sights are steel...

If you shoot in say a dimly lit parking garage... the night sights do help....

Night Sights are good at Dusk.... Dawn... and in dimly light environment...

[Citizen_B]

I'm not understanding the concept behind these things. What use is seeing the sights if you can't see the target? Why not just attach a gun light or carry a flashlight with you? Am I missing something here?

Each tool has it's place. The most effective tool depends on environment and personal preference/training.

Spend the time/money taking a practical low-light pistol course and you'll learn what works the best in a given scenario. My suggestion would be more training to up your natural pointing muscle memory. If you do it enough, you'll naturally bring your weapon up on target even with your eyes closed surprisingly well. Of course you still use sights but they become more subconscious references to tell you when you're on.

But back to sights. These are your basic options:

1) Stock painted sights. Fine for daylight, ok for low-light assuming target is lit (sights will be silhouetted). Bad for low-light when target is un-lit.

2) Glow type night sights. These require a 'charge' of light to actually illuminate. IMO, these aren't much better than standard painted sights with the same considerations mentioned above. The weapon itself has usually been sitting in a dark location all day before it's accessed so it's not going to be illuminated.

3) Tritium type night sights. Glow all the time. Fine for daylight, good for low-light assuming you train under those conditions. IMO, I'd get a brighter front sight, with a different color (or blacked out) rear sight. If you've ever tried practical rapid shooting in the dark with 3 same colored dots bouncing around, you know what I'm talking about.

4) Fiber-optic front, blackened rear. Good for daylight, ok for low-light depending on conditions. IMO, this is the best daylight configuration that works ok for low-light. If it's pitch black, it'll be the same as painted with a sight silhouette. Some ambient light will color the fiber-optic.

5) Weapon mounted and handheld tac lights. Depends on scenario but usually either or both provides a tactical advantage with appropriate use and training. Obviously, you must ID your target before you pull the trigger. How you do that is scenario dependent.

Personally, my nightstand weapon has fiber-optic front, blackened rear, weapon mounted light, with handheld sitting in obvious location. That offers me the widest scenario coverage for my particular usage. Everyone's scenario/preference will be different.

I'll say it again, if you haven't taken low-light training yet, do it now! Practical shooting and especially shooting in the dark is a different animal.

[JDay]

If you have a Glock or a pistol with Plastic sights, Steel are better...

Anything is better than those horrible sights Glocks come with.