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Sidearms & Scatterguns Night sights
- Thread starter AK4900PA
- Start date
I've been using the Trijicon for decades, they simply last longer and don't wear out as easy. I use the suppressor height for ones with cans, regular otherwise. The only times I've used other brands was an adj. Mepro when Trijicon didn't make one at the time (it actually is okay, no complaints?) but the fixed ones I put on a carry 17 that got used a LOT, the lens broke and the gas is still there and it glows but one side looks a bit different. None of the Trij. ever did this. So they always get my vote. I also have some that are well past their initial half life and they're glowing well enough to go another 12 years I'd imagine, albeit ever so slightly dimmer.
I'd like an XS big dot for my J frame. I shoot with sights at the range but also not using sights at all, in a fight there simply isn't time. One XS big dot on a Glock with no rear would probably make a good one too. I know some that use no sights at all, but it's a personal preference. Sights are very personal.
All that said, I still get good sights. In a perfect situation where you can actually use 'em, they're worth having.
I'd like an XS big dot for my J frame. I shoot with sights at the range but also not using sights at all, in a fight there simply isn't time. One XS big dot on a Glock with no rear would probably make a good one too. I know some that use no sights at all, but it's a personal preference. Sights are very personal.
All that said, I still get good sights. In a perfect situation where you can actually use 'em, they're worth having.
Trijicon will replace the vials for like $20 when they fade. Does XS offer the same service, or do you have to drill/glue your own replacements?
Ive always liked Trijicon night sight. Bright, but not overly bright and the tritium works in nearly no light.
As stated above, Trijicon sights last longer than most of the other night sights. They have great customer service as well. I installed a couple sets of Truglo TFO sights on a Glock 19 and XDm 9mm. I’ve only been using them for a couple years now so I can’t speak to their longevity.
I have been searching for quite some time for actual tritium paint but have not been able to find any for sale, both in brick & mortar shops and the Web. Maybe it is a radiation hazard or something along the lines, I am not too sure. I have done numerous work on sights and also turned the iron sights on my SAA revolvers 'dark capable' with phosphorescent sight paints which are readily available.
They work very well and in low light conditions, give off a very clear indicator. However, unlike tritium, these paints are 'light activated' and do not carry their own energy source. Rather, it takes a short exposure to light to get them to kick in. I have found that they work even with a few seconds of exposure to an LED flashlight. But, if an emergency arises, let's say, at zero dark thirty and you need to achieve instant target acquisition in near pitch black conditions, that WILL present quite a problem. 'Charging' a sight will be the LAST thing you want to do when you have to clear a room or prepare to shoot at any given second.
Like @Strykervet said above, sights are personal. They can and will mean life or death when you need them. If tritium paint is not offered for sale commercially I am going to have to invest in aftermarket sights. I am always a stickler for being prepared and shooting in dark conditions is something that is often easily overlooked in the subject of defensive handgun use.
Not to shoot your bubble there but tritium paint likely isn't available. Radium paint USED to be available, but they pulled it from the market when young women's jaws started falling off. It's highly radioactive and it mimics natural elements our body uptakes. I forget which one off hand but the typical culprits mimic calcium, potassium, etc., and are taken up as fast if not faster by the body.
If a lamp is broken, it's supposed to be put in a plastic bag and disposed of properly. Those sights have tritium gas inside the bubble and they don't typically break easy, are shock isolated. I have a set with one lamp broken, but the lamp itself isn't broken, just the lens. But it does expose the lamp.
The tritium in the larger sights and scopes is in a glass vial that goes in side the unit. These can be had for replacement, but I'm not sure about the laws. It's legal apparently to import small amounts of tritium overseas provided it's sold in a sealed end use product, typically sold as glowing pendants for keys. The vials inside though are the same size as what's used by Trijicon only made in Chinese reactors. Good luck buying replacement tritium here, I tried a while back and US Nuclear just didn't have any and didn't have a date for when the reactor would be fired up to produce it. That was years ago, but if you can get it from US Nuclear, I would go that route. That, or just send back to Trij. For $20 to replace lamps, can't beat that. And I think they or another operation will repair other brands too.
Good luck, stay safe!
Thanks for the info man, I figured it was going to be the hazardous nature of the material. The liability issues involving stuff like this must be a nightmare. Even the most minute alpha emitters will wreak havoc on the body's organs when accidentally ingested or inhaled.
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