Three dot sights
Just say no: When I am shooting, I want to see sights and not a geometry problem.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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November 13th, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Always thought it was just me that didn’t get them.
November 13th, 2014 at 11:15 pm
My BHP has 3-dot sights. Will be putting your advice re. front sight and contrasting paint.
One of my 1911s has a single white line on the front sight. A very positive upgrade from the solid black on another 1911. I like it.
November 14th, 2014 at 7:32 am
Lining up sights is still a geometry problem. So it seems that it is really a distraction problem. It is interfering with your muscle memory of automatically getting the sight picture and causing the brain to actively focus to get the sight picture just right. Thinking back it seems like it took quite awhile for me to get back to a more automatic sight picture with three dot as well. Now I hardly notice the rear dots at all.
November 14th, 2014 at 10:00 am
I used to have a problem quickly aligning the three dot sights on my pistol to get on target. Now I can’t focus on any of the dots without use of my reading glasses, and when I wear glasses the target is a big dim fuzzy blob out yonder someplace.
Problem solved!
November 14th, 2014 at 10:08 am
Learn how to shoot…learn how to use your equipment and stop winning .they work perfectly fine
November 14th, 2014 at 10:14 am
Or pu5 a red dot on it you have bad eyes
November 14th, 2014 at 10:28 am
I rather like them.
November 14th, 2014 at 10:41 am
I thought I might be the only one who takes a Sharpie and blacks out the sights on new pistols. In the Army we used smudge pots to reduce the glare on the sights so we could focus on the target and I still think that is a good idea. With 69 year old eyes and trifocals I have enough going on already without doing geometry problems.
November 14th, 2014 at 11:17 am
He doesn’t know about the three seashells.
November 14th, 2014 at 11:49 am
CJ Minnesota has it right. It is a distraction problem. I have Glock night sights with the white outline around each tritium insert. This was my first pistol and the one I used to learned pistol shooting. I used those sights for 5 years. I say this because I had gotten used to the white dots a long time ago. This last summer I was at a class and we blacked out my sights. I was surprised at how much difference it made. It is subtle, but it was just easier to focus on the edges of the sights. – because of this, im going to move to Ameriglo sights which come from with a black outline around the tritium inserts.
November 14th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Lol @ HL
November 14th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
Basic 3 dots are bad because they look the same, they lack contrast.
All black is “better” even though they look the same and lack contrast. Hmm, yeah…OK.
This guy is over-thinking it.
The dots AREN’T there to help you when you can see the outline of the sight like normal, they’re there for when it’s difficult due to lighting.
Quit trying to ‘stare’ at them and just use the fucking sights like usual if you can see the edges. You know, like you’ve done for tha last X number of years.
Some people love to spend time searching for things to bitch about.
November 14th, 2014 at 5:18 pm
I’ll state that I haven’t used them, but the problem with the two vertical dots that jumps out at me is it introduces a new problem that the three dots don’t cause. Your vision is very good at lining up items, and very good at determining equal spacing of objects.
However, there is no automatic spacing capability. You now have a new wrinkle to deal with: how far apart to space two dots. You now have to refer to the top of the front/rear sites to arrive at the correct spacing.
Eventually, you will learn to judge that spacing from lots of range time while using the outlines, but it will not be as precise as you will be with three dots. In addition, the distance that you hold the gun from your eyes determines this apparent spacing. Try using this mental spacing at three distances (arms length, Weaver, close up) and you will run into different spacings.
November 14th, 2014 at 6:56 pm
About 15 years back I put a ghost ring on my P-14 (Aro-Tek, IIRC, but a quick look at their web site looks like “Glock only” now, but Brownells has one listed for 1911s and amazon shows Ameriglo ghosts) and that sped up sight aquisition quite a bit. It did take a little work and some practice to get the precision back, but for IPSC, and I’d guess also for social work, it works quite well. As soon as students finish breaking the sight-like objects off the slides on the G17s I may put a tritium Ameriglo ghost ring on one.
November 15th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
Yeah, any cred gained from the legitimate critique of the 3-dot setup goes out the door when you praise the incredibly vague “dot over dot” setup. How about plain black, crisp-cornered Patridge sights, period.
*Maybe* with a tritium dot in the front sight.
November 16th, 2014 at 4:14 am
There’s no sights in the world that will make up for a lack of intelligently-used trigger time and competent training from actual experts.
Every darned weird, funky, old-hat or otherwise not-exactly-perfect (whatever that is) sight has been used by somebody to make amazing shots, generally because they practiced, practiced, practiced, and by that I do not mean they made paper look like Swiss Cheese.
Don’t get me wrong — big, easy-to read sights make me happy as all get-out. I’m middle-aged and my close vision is not so great. Three dots, no dots, colorful dots, glowing dots, dot-over-dot, outline-and-dot: it’s really like decorative stripes on a car, a matter of taste. If you have learned to shoot competently with iron sights, you’ll be able to use any flavor of them; and if you’re slow to re-acquire, that’s a lot more likely to be you than the sights.
Silliness like this is why I don’t do a lot of gunblogging. Ask Tam how I shoot.
November 16th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
All sighting is in fact a geometry problem.