Fiber optic or tritium front sight

[HighVelocity]

But, for competition use, I prefer a plain black rear and a red fiber optic front sight. The tritium is nice but I found out the hard way that the white ring around the tritium does not help when shooting steel plates that are painted white.

I am thinking about the same setup but wasn't sure about how the red front is in a low light situation.

I shoot a lot of matches that are indoors with very poor lighting and I have no trouble seeing the front sight. But, you could always start with green fiber, which shows a little better in low light than red.

[CompVest]

I have fiber optics for my front sight and Plain Jane white dots for my back sights on my competition guns. I use a gree fiber in mine. I have tried red, blue, and yellow but have found I pick up and see the green best.

For my personal carry gun I have Trijicon tritium night sights. I love them. I have no trouble locating my gun at night or when it is in the safe!

[Excaliber]

I have sent 2 sets of TFOs for my 1911 back to the company for replacement as they went dim or dead within a very short time. When I got the 2nd set back from them I sold it in the package and took my loss. Nice when they work, short life span in my experience. The company rep I talked to on the phone said they have a 2 year expected life span and for once I was able to find my receipt and show just a few months from time of purchase.

thanks,
George

I had no idea they had such a short life span. The night sights on two of my 1911s are over 8 years old. They are dimmer than when new, but still functional. I hate to hear this.

BTW, did you have them on a Kimber?

Chas.

Mine were installed on a Springfield XD .45 service model.

[jbirds1210]

I have seen several LEO that have a problem with the TFO sights rusting. I bought a set a while back and almost immediately sold them. No matter how many fancy new products come out.....I just hate having anything on the rear of my gun other than plain, smooth black...yes, even the ridges on some rear sights really distract me.

Jason

[saj111]

go to gt distributors in austin. $95 and they will install them free.
i have a set on my glock and a set on my kimber ultra carry. both bought from gt.
they are near burnet road and breaker.

enjoy

[SCone]

My issue with tritium sights is I have a mild case of color-blindness. Red-on-black is very difficult for me to pick up quickly. Green works better, but it's still such a small dot in a sea of black for my eyes.

Here's a quick test for you...

http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/ishihara.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can "see" all of the numbers, but some take longer for me to recognize. Not a good situation when you've drawn your weapon in the dark of night.

[Excaliber]

My issue with tritium sights is I have a mild case of color-blindness. Red-on-black is very difficult for me to pick up quickly. Green works better, but it's still such a small dot in a sea of black for my eyes.

Here's a quick test for you...

http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/ishihara.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can "see" all of the numbers, but some take longer for me to recognize. Not a good situation when you've drawn your weapon in the dark of night.

The XS sight system with a huge front tritium dot might work out better for you.

[SCone]

[quote="ExcaliberThe XS sight system with a huge front tritium dot might work out better for you.[/quote]

Might be a possibility, I'll see if I can find one to try out. I'll stick with my flashlight for now.

[Skiprr]

While we're one the subject--well, we were a month ago --does anyone know of a source local to the Houston area for 0.40 Dawson fiber optic replacement inserts?

[Excaliber]

While we're one the subject--well, we were a month ago --does anyone know of a source local to the Houston area for 0.40 Dawson fiber optic replacement inserts?

The post above highlights a significant difference between the two types of sights - fiber optic rods break much more easily than tritium vials.

Sightlink, which makes some pretty nice fiber optic sights, specifically states in their instructions that they are not to be used for tactical or defensive use. They come with lots of replacement fiber optic material for a reason.

[airbornerangerboogie]

TRITIUM! The fiber optic shell are not very rugged.