After market sights

[travelerpnw]

As I get older, my eyes continue to get weaker, and being able to get a proper sight picture on my pistols gets more difficult. I have looked at several different types of after market sights such as XS and Hi Viz, but am not sure what I should get. I want something that will assist during day light hours as well as in low light conditions, and I think some of the sights are only good during day light hours. Any suggestions based on what has worked for some of you?

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[Patrick Chadwick]

Any suggestions based on what has worked for some of you?

Fiddling with the pistol sights may be the wrong answer to a very real problem.

The very first priority is: have you got the right glasses? Neither "driving" glasses" nor "reading glasses" are any good for pistol shooting. What you describe as weaker eyesight is very likely to be presbyopia - an age-dependent lack of accommodation, caused by fading flexibility of the ciliary muscle.

Shooting a pistol, with the arm outstretched, the driving glasses will have been optimized for a much longer distance - something like 25 yards. So you can see other cars (or a 25 yd target) quite clearly, but the pistol sights are just fuzzy. Can you see the instruments on the dashboard when wearing your driving glasses?

Shooting a pistol with reading glasses, you can probably see your elbow quite clearly, but everything beyond that is fuzzy. Totally useless for pistol shooting.

Get glasses made up specifically for pistol shooting. And make quite sure that they are optimized for a clear view of the foresight - NOT for driving and NOT for reading. Take a dummy pistol (foresight on a block of wood) with you to the optician (he might not like you waving a real pistol around) to check the prescription on the spot.

[travelerpnw]

Patrick,

Thank you for your detailed reply. I have actually done what you mentioned, and works great when on the range.

In re-reading my post, I did not fully explain the issue. The problem is what to carry on my CCW guns so that I have adequate sight pictures in darker shooting conditions such as you might have after dark.

[Robertk7]

Patrick,

Thank you for your detailed reply. I have actually done what you mentioned, and works great when on the range.

In re-reading my post, I did not fully explain the issue. The problem is what to carry on my CCW guns so that I have adequate sight pictures in darker shooting conditions such as you might have after dark.

Their are tritium night sights available they are not bad in daylight but better in low light you need enough light to see what you are shooting at but the sights are usually clearly visible and identifiable

[jmoore]

Tritium sights are my first choice for a carry weapon. Either Meprolight or Trijicon.

Meprolight sights on the Python:


Factory night front sight on a S&W M&P340 .357:


Fiber optic on a 3" .357:

It's good for fast aquistion in daylight, but when it's really dark- not very useful.

The G34 has an undergun light. and this 1911 has Wilson night sights which will likely be replaced with Novak night sights sooner or later...:


Used to do a bunch of night shooting at Ft. Benning, Your normal type sights get useless long before it's so dark that the target can't be seen. Lights are OK, but night sights are passive and last for years w/o maintenance.