Night Sights
Looking at night sights for the Glock. Thinking about these Heinie Straight Eights
for a few reasons. First, I don’t like three dots. Second, a few folks I’ve talked to say they don’t like the XS Sights because they give up a bit of accuracy. And three, Heinie is fun to say. What say you?
April 19th, 2010 at 11:38 am
My Taurus PT-145 came with Heinie Straight Eights, and I don’t like them – mainly because they don’t line up properly at self-defense ranges (I have to put the top edge of the rear sight level with the bottom edge of the front sight or it shoots so low I don’t even hit cardboard at ~7 yards) and at target ranges (~25 yards) the front sight is so wide it covers about a 10-12″ are on the target. (I’ve tested this resting the pistol on my range bag in an attempt to rule out flinch or tremors as the cause, with the same results.) And, of course, they’re non-adjustable.
I worry that in a real self-defense situation I would instinctively go for a traditional sight picture, and either miss completely or end up with a crotch shot (which probably would end the attack, but that’s not really a good way to do it).
April 19th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Trijicon RMR!
April 19th, 2010 at 11:48 am
The guys that run InSights Training (based in Seattle but offering training nationwide) have recommended the Heinie Straight Eights for years. I have a set on my G19. One feature the Heinie sights have is a narrow front sight, which gives more light in the notch, thus making them more useful for daytime shooting.
The nice thing about the vertical dots is that it eliminates the 3-dot problem (3 dots lining up to a different point of aim than the top edges of the sights themselves), and with the vertical dots you can get all the information you need about the relative position of rear and front sight.
Do you need night sights? For the last decade or so I’ve shot in the annual Polite Society trainer’s conference low light live fire competition. Most years the match winner did not have night sights. You need sufficient light to determine whether the target deserves shooting. If you have sufficient light to make that call, you have sufficient light to see your sights.
Take a look at Dawson Precision sights – either a wide notch no-dot rear and a tritium front, or a standard no-dot rear and a fiber optic narrow front. Increasing that gap either by a wide rear or narrow front really pays off in speed and accuracy.
April 19th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Jake – Sounds like you need to find the right height front sight for your particular loading.
Uncle – Straight eights are good, 10-8s are good, Bowie Operators are good also.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
The correct height for the front sight would be 0 mm. I have to line up the top edge of the rear sight with the bottom of the front sight. Essentially, the top of the rear sight is level with the top of the end of the slide. Also, I get the same results with different brands and types of ammunition (American Eagle, Remington white box, Wolf, and Blazer, and with my hollowpoint carry ammo, too). I will concede that Taurus may be using the wrong sights for that gun, but it’s left me with a bad impression of the sights.
I also just don’t really care for the straight-eight system. I’ve spent too long using traditional sights to make the transition easy, and I would have to train for the difference for just that one gun, since all the other guns I shoot use traditional style sights.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
My Taurus 1911 came with straight eight night sights and I love em’ , they are really fast on target but they are a little hard to get used to when you first start to use them. You have to get the top bottom alignment just right. Once you find the sight plain and shoot them a bit they are great. Luv mine woudnt Change a thing. BUY MORE AMMO
April 19th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Jake – the problem isn’t the Heinie sight so much as the fact they were installed on a gun that was made by a company with a reputation for indifferent (at best) quality control.
Unc – get the Heinies, or get Warren Tactical sights. Dave Sevigny uses the Warren Tactical competition sights, but they also make a night sight version for concealed carry/LE use.
April 19th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I use the straight-eights on my Glocks; as mentioned above, the narrow front post is a plus. I have not had any accuracy problems at any range that are attributable to anything other than operator error. :-0
I’ve got the Trijicons on other guns. Frankly, I don’t notice any difference in target/front sight acquisition, and don’t have any trouble transitioning from a three-dot array to the straight-eight. As with many things, it’s a matter of what a particular individual prefers.
April 19th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
The trick with the Heinies as mounted on the Taurus is putting the front sight dot on, not under, the spot you want to hit. It works well on the Taurus but I don’t know if it translates to other guns Heinies.
You’re right!! It is fun to say…
April 19th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I have Warren Tactical sights with over-and-under dots. I like the sights, but I couldn’t find an image on the Warren Tactical site.
The front sight dot is noticeably larger than the rear sight dot, and the rear sight has low-profile corners that won’t catch on clothing.
Too bad that site is not as good as the sights.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Used a gun with Heinie Straight 8s on it for the first time this weekend. I may have to look into them for a couple of mine.
April 19th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Last time I took a professional pistol course the instructors all used big dots or straight eights. I went with the straight eights myself.
April 20th, 2010 at 4:00 am
all my GLOCKS (including my carry and competition guns) wear a blacked-out factory rear and a HI-VIZ front. With that setup, you look for the bright dot and squeeze.
April 20th, 2010 at 8:16 am
The only gun I have that doesn’t wear a fiber optic is because it’s got a Trijicon night sight on the front end. That glowing green dot is awfully comforting on my j-frame at 10pm.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am
I’ve tried that, with only marginal improvement at defensive distances. It does work well at target distances, but that’s not what you want in a carry pistol.
That being said, that “trick” is another reason I don’t like Heinies – it’s contrary to the proper sight picture on every other gun I shoot, so I’m not likely to remember it in a high-stress situation. Sure, I could train like crazy for it, but then I would destroy that training any time I picked up a different gun.