Why single tritium front?

D

dyl

New member
I'm considering how to finish my polymer 80 G19 build.

I've heard recommendations for Hackathorn sights, Truglo Tritium pro, Trijicon HR XD, and I've had a good experience with Dawson fiber optics.

The Hackathorns have a single tritium dot surrounded by paint and wide U-notch. Someone on a forum felt that on a short barreled gun like the G19, the widened notch wouldn't degrade accuracy so much because the front post will be closer and won't leave excessive light bars on either side.

But I'm having trouble understanding a single front tritium dot. If it's dark enough for tritium to work, you still wouldn't be able to use / align sights without at least 2 points of reference. If the single tritium dot's job is only to tell you vaguely where the front of the gun is, I could pretty much tell by feel already (hmm. I grabbed the gun backwards....). If we're talking about ID'ing a target with a light source, then no tritium vial is needed as your sights are backlit. Is this a carry-over from the trend of a single fiber optic front sight and black rear sight?
 
S

stephen426

New member
You could always go with contrasting colored rear sights. That is how I had my Glock 26 set up. I have just the front sight with tritium on my Glock 43. As for needing rear sights, they are "less important" at close range since they should be right above your wrist bone. You can get pretty darn close on the horizontal axis even without rear sights and muscle memory should get you pretty darn close on the vertical axis (unless you switch guns all the time and use different grip angles).
 
M

MarkCO

New member
Muscle memory and the front sight is all you need out to anything that is probable SD distances. I have had three dot, bar-dot, straight 8s, etc. and the front Tritium dot is what I prefer. Faster and less distracting.

There will always be some light...still have to ID who you are shooting unless you are wrestling, then sights won't matter at all.
 
C

CDW4ME

New member
Being able to see one sight is better than none; if seeing one is an improvement, all three would be even better. :cool:

Example: Dang it!!!! I can see the front and rear sights. :mad: - Something wrong with that aint there. ;)
 
D

dyl

New member
So I take it the single tritium dot isn’t so much to help with alignment as the top priority but to compliment muscle memory.
 
M

MarkCO

New member
If you do a lot of low light drills, there will be some where you will wish the rear night sights were black...for target ID.

The less light, the more sensitive your eyes are.
 
T

T. O'Heir

New member
"...2 points of reference..." That'd be the 'U' shaped rear and the dot you're supposed to be concentrating on.
"...degrade accuracy..." Neither the notch width nor barrel length have anything to do with accuracy.
Most of the so called 'night sights' are more about marketing than anything else. A white outline rear with a white post front works as well as anything. And stay out of really dark places where you cannot ID stuff well.
 
T

TailGator

New member
I use a tritium on the front only of a G26. It also has a bright outline for daytime. Either way, it produces a strong tendency to take the eye to the front sight. In low light, the alignment of the rear of the pistol, as previously mentioned, is provided by your tactile sense of the grip. It isn't a setup that everyone likes, but it works for some of us, especially since the likelihood of taking long shots in dim light is pretty small.
 
D

dyl

New member
Thanks all, I settled on a Tritium front surrounded by a red painted dot, and tritium only rear in a U-notch. The Ameriglo IDOT pro. I like the idea of the XS, but truth be told I will occasionally try to shoot small groups even with the Glock 19. I can't help it, it's something I like to do. :)

I'm hoping this is a compromise between the Heinie Slant Pro (very thin front post) and the Trijicon HD (super large front post). And the price was about half that of the Trijicons. If money wasn't a concern I'd get the Trijicon HD XR which has a thinned out front sight, colored front dot only, and a deeper wider notch in the rear sights.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top