Sights for seniors?

[DocV]

I am at that point in life where handgun sights seem fuzzy. I wonder if I should consider other sight options. If you know someone who has the same problem as I would you be so kind as to share their experiences or impressions of:
1) Trijicon
2) XSsight 24/7 Express sights
3) Advantage tactical sights
?

[Mike1951]

Testor's fluorescent orange on the front works for me, lasts a long time, and is much cheaper.

[Jumping Frog]

... share their experiences or impressions of:
1) Trijicon

Can't speak to the others, but I can to standard Trijicon sights. In ordinary indoor light, they are more difficult to see than the standard 3-dot sights with white dots.

The little white circles around the tritium do not provide anywhere near the same visual brightness/contrast as an ordinary painted white dot.

If I knew any self defense incidents were going to occur in daylight, I would have ordinary 3-dot or fiber optic sights.

Obviously, we cannot know that. That I why I carry night sights and a flashlight.

[Crossfire]

Tru-Glo.

Pick a different color for the front than the rear. That way, when they run together, you can still pick out the front sight. And they are bright in any light, but light up like Christmas lights outdoors.

[Keith B]

You didn't post what gun you were putting them on, but I agree with Crossfire as TruGlo for first choice if they have them to fit your gun.

Another option is Suresights that make the triangle. http://www.suresight.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Really depends on the configuration you like; stacked, aligned side-by-side, or some other pattern that is easy to see.

[57Coastie]

Recognizing that the answer to your question depends on so many factors not shared by everyone, I can only give my take on it. I will assume, only because of the general subject-matter of this forum, that you are inquiring about sights for a handgun intended for self-defense or the defense of others, not for sights intended for calmly shooting at the x-ring on a piece of paper. I am a firm believer that this distinction must be taken account of in both deciding what handgun to routinely carry and what it might best wear for sights. A factor we appear to share is failing vision, in my case a not-unusual consequence of near 4-score years

This old timer, after trying many others, has opted for XS Express Big Dot Tritium for his carry handguns, both revolver and pistol. They are not made for hitting the x-ring on a piece of paper, and one should not expect to be able to do so with them consistently. They are made for shooting in self-defense or the defense of others, possibly in haste, perhaps no more than half-awake, with no time to find my glasses, in either daytime or nighttime, no time to worry about a perfect sight-alignment, and perhaps at a moving target.

Indeed, one can of course add only the Big Dot Tritium as a front sight on my favorite carry handgun, my Ruger SP-101, .357 mag. revolver. My vision has become bad enough that being able to see the Big Dot in front is perfectly adequate, in my opinion, for self-defense and the defense of others -- the sole reason I carry the handgun. It has a CT laser affixed, and I keep a bright flashlight at my bedside next to it. I feel adequately prepared, day or night, and that, for me, is good enough. I stress "adequately," not "perfectly." I consider the latter to be an impossibility.

Jim

[gfmun]

I also put the XS Big Dot Tritium on mine, and stayed with the factory rear sight after I found I really did not like the XS rear sight. I had the factory rear sight milled wider to give me a better sight picture. Works well for me.

A buddy of mine is experimenting with the small red dot sights made for pistols on his carry gun. I have seen on other forums this is becoming a way to go. I am not sure I want to put the $600 + into a quality sight, mount, etc.

George

[RPB]

I'm a huge fan of the triangle sights, though I put Advantage Tactical Sights on all mine\After testing lots of color configurations in lots of lighting conditions with lots of shirt colors bad guys might be wearing (background colors) in the various lighting conditions....
http://www.advantagetactical.com/colors.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I use dayglow yellow front and dayglow orange rear

Reviews here:
for old eyes, read "sight sense"
http://www.advantagetactical.com/ats-in-the-press.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RPB]

ATS is working on 3 different versions of night sights and will release one or more types next year, but I like the original sights, even with almost no light, you can still make a triangle.

After years of orange rear yellow front, I decided (out of laziness) to try green rear, yellow front on a Taurus; it's "ok" I'll change it to orange rear yellow front soon though.

Different rear color than front
Front should not disappear on a white shirt or dark hoodie or low light, and red is a dark, white disappears on white Tee-shirts Bright yellow works on most any background/shirt color to find a front sight fast Orange contrasts with the yellow, so you can find the front sight, but isn't a dark like red to disappear as easy in low light. The green doesn't give me as much "contrast" to the yellow front so it blends with the front more than I prefer. I'm sold on yellow front + orange rear.

[MoJo]

For my 66 year old eyes I find a green fiber optic is most desirable. They work well in 99% of the situations I find myself in. As far as tritium sights are concerned, I am a huge fan of Tru Glo's TFO sights. I think if you are in a situation where you can't see the sights you can't positively identify the threat. In that case you need a flashlight. A fiber optic sight will pick up enough ambient light to be useful in all but the darkest situations.

I have abandoned three dot sights, I use a plain black rear and a [abbreviated profanity deleted] front on all my guns except for one with TFO and another with Meprolights neither of them get carried often.

Just the ramblings of a FOG* in the fog.


*Fat Old Guy

[gigag04]

If I was in that predicament I would opt for a reflex sight. This one is larger, but there are smaller variants:

[DocV]

Thanks everyone for the good information and food for thought.
I will try Mike1951's Testor's suggestion first on one of my current pistols.
Like many folks, I use different handguns for different tasks. The XS Big Dot Tritiums look perfect for my GP100 bedside gun.
The triangles and Tru-Glos are intriguing. It looks like I need to get pistols that they will fit before trying them though!

[C-dub]

If I was in that predicament I would opt for a reflex sight. This one is larger, but there are smaller variants:

[ Image ]

[ Image ]

A reflex sight on my night stand gun, hmmm? Interesting.