Stock G19 Sight Upgrades

[mattmd1]

Hi all - I recently shot uspsa and steel for the first time and had a blast. I'm new and have a bone stock G19 that I want to run with for a while before considering upgrading to anything else. I would like to upgrade the sights for now and am hoping someone has advice on good fiber competition sights. All I will be using the G19 for is uspsa and super steel. 

 

Thanks very much!

[Swanny10]

There is a lot of personal preference when it comes to sights. But I’ll wager you are going to hear the word “Dawson”.......ALOT. . 

[MemphisMechanic]

Plain black rear. Fiber front.

 

Warren Tactical.

TTI.

Dawson Precision.

 

Several really good options.

[shooterDrew]

Plain black rear. Fiber front.
 
Warren Tactical.
TTI.
Dawson Precision.
 
Several really good options.

This.

By far the first upgrade you should do to any stock gun as far as I’m concerned. Dawson is great. I recently tried a set of Y-notch sights made by Frank Proctor on a Glock 17- They are solid too. The vast majority of my guns have Dawson fiber front sights on them.


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[Stuey]

Go with the Dawson. I have them on my Glocks and CZ. Can not go wrong with them.


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[Paul49]

Before you buy pure fiber optic day use sights, you might want to consider "how else might I use this G19?" 

 

If that answer includes concealed carry and/or home defense, then you might want to look at day/night combinations such as:

 

Truglo which has an evolving line of tritium and fiber optic combinations, with one example being:

 

http://www.truglo.com/firearms-handgun/brite-site-tfx-pro-handgun-sights.asp

 

Or Trijicon who also make high grade day/ night combinations such as their HD and HD XR lines:

 

https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products/product1.php?id=HDXR

 

If you go this way, then your competition represents intense practice or rehearsal of your HD or CCW weapon, something all the defense experts highly recommend. I have the Trijicon HDs on my HD G22 which I also use for competition on occasion. I got the Trijicons from Glockmeister when they were on sale. At the time I didn't have a sight pusher tool, so sent them the slide and they installed the sights for free and quickly.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Paul49

[mattmd1]

Thanks everyone. I think I will probably give the Dawsons a try.

 

Paul49, I do have Trijicons on a G43 and like them for that, but didn't think they would work as well for uspsa. 

[MemphisMechanic]

@mattmd1 you are correct; the "all around" sights do not offer the same advantage when shooting fast, outdoors, in USPSA.

 

Which means, of course, that the competition sights give up something when it comes to combative use. Unless, of course, you run a  light on the nightstand gun's rail like I do. Then you're back to having the advantage of a tall, crisp, open sight picture. Now it's just black and neatly silhouetted in front of the light beam.

[Tattoo]

7 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

Plain black rear. Fiber front.

 

Warren Tactical.

TTI.

Dawson Precision.

 

Several really good options.

Exactly this^^^^

 

I even use these (warren) sights on my G19 in the nightstand because it has a Surefire X300 on it.  

 

T

[blueorison]

There are many options to choose from great FO mfg's;

 

Dawson's, then there's this other great company, Dawson's; then there's a local company that takes care of its customers - Dawson Precision.

 

I might/definitely favor the first mfg over the last, but only by a little bit!

 

Joking aside, TTI/Warren/Dawsons.  Black, serrated rear, FO front.  Every time, for competition.  TTI places the FO closer to the top of the front sight if you're into that.  I shoot with either, no preference.  I don't magically ignore the top of my front sight blade and suddenly use the FO to aim at my targets, so it doesn't matter to me.  

[mattmd1]

Thanks again all - plain black rear, red fiber optic Dawsons are on the way to my mailbox. Can't wait to try 'em out!

 

Matt

[yosturm]

If you ever think this pistol might be transitioned to defensive shooting then I would suggest something with night sights.  There are a few companies which make a combo night sight and fiber optic if you still want to have maximum competition-ness.

 

Otherwise I like the Trijicon HD XR which have a brightly painted front sight and blacked out rear sight but still has tritium dials in both front and back.  While maybe not quite as bright of a spot as a front sight fiber optic, it is very noticeable and draws the eye.

[Paul49]

1 hour ago, yosturm said:

If you ever think this pistol might be transitioned to defensive shooting then I would suggest something with night sights.  There are a few companies which make a combo night sight and fiber optic if you still want to have maximum competition-ness.

 

Otherwise I like the Trijicon HD XR which have a brightly painted front sight and blacked out rear sight but still has tritium dials in both front and back.  While maybe not quite as bright of a spot as a front sight fiber optic, it is very noticeable and draws the eye.

 

Yosturm and I give the same advice, contrary to most of the others in this thread. There are night sights on the market with fiber optics included. Look up the Truglos mentioned above and linked, for example. 

 

Let me also disagree that putting a Surefire or other quality light on your pistol's rail solves your night sighting home defense situation.

 

Think about it. The light is at the muzzle, it doesn't illuminate your sights, but leaves them in the shadows. I've shot night matches with USPSA like stages. Some of the competitors at these matches used their daytime competition pistols with fiber optic sights, but wore low brightness head lamps to illuminate their day sights which were otherwise in the dark despite their Surefires or Streamlights. Try it in the dark at home with the lights out and only your rail mounted light on.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Paul49

[Tampa-XD45]

On 8/29/2018 at 1:32 PM, mattmd1 said:

Thanks again all - plain black rear, red fiber optic Dawsons are on the way to my mailbox. Can't wait to try 'em out!

 

Matt

Let us know how you like the sights.  I find the Dawson fiber rod size too small.  I think Truglo & Hi-Vis have larger diameter rods but I haven't shot a Glock in years.

[mattmd1]

Thanks everyone - I had the Dawson's put on Friday and took it to the range for a quick tryout. So far, I like them - much better than the factory sights. I'll report back once I've had a chance to shoot more at varying distances.

 

Also, a couple folks were mentioning HD - I use a FNX45 with a light for that - also have an octane can on order. I love the factory sights on the FNX.

[Paul49]

Has any one of you who uses their HD pistol with a light actually taken a dry and empty run with it in the dark with the light on?

 

How did your sights work?

 

Did you notice the almost blinding reflections off framed photos or art, not to mention mirrors and even white walls to a lesser degree?

 

You owe it to yourself to actually try then practice. Your life could depend on your performance.

 

Don't take it for granted. Mr. Murphy tends to show up.

[MemphisMechanic]

@paul49 Are you advocating not running a light on the gun just because you might encounter a reflective surface?

[MemphisMechanic]

18 hours ago, mattmd1 said:

Thanks everyone - I had the Dawson's put on Friday and took it to the range for a quick tryout. So far, I like them - much better than the factory sights. I'll report back once I've had a chance to shoot more at varying distances.

 

Good choice. You’ll only get happier the more matches you shoot.

[Paul49]

9 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

@paul49 Are you advocating not running a light on the gun just because you might encounter a reflective surface?

 

Not at all! Please notice that I said to try it and to practice it.

 

I'm trying to make a couple points.

 

First, who has walked through their home in the pitch black using their weapon mounted light? There's gotta be some who shoot matches, come home, put the light on the rail, but haven't gone beyond gaming it in their heads.

 

Practice with your light in the dark, so if you ever need^ to search your home, you know how and where to point the light. The night an intruder breaks in is NOT the time to accidentally blind yourself off the mirror your wife hung in the dining room. Be smart. Be experienced. Also, tell whoever is home with you the nights of your practice sessions what you are about to do and why. You may discover your 800 lumen super light is more than you need indoors. You can also learn how to use indirect light around the edges of the beam. And you can tell your significant other that if this ever happens for real, they may be the one calling 911 while you search. 

 

When practicing with your light be sure to practice lining up shots. Don't just search using your gun as a fancy flashlight. Sight in on a lampshade or doorknob. See what your sights look like in the dark when the room in front of you is illuminated by your weapon mounted light. You would never go to a match having not tested sight pictures on various targets. Why treat your home defense differently? Be prepared.

 

Anybody shot a night match? Find one, it's great practice. A regular on Trigger Time TV, Tatiana Whitlock advises us to "train in the context of your life for the fight of your life".

 

^ advisability or necessity for searching is it's own topic. Suffice it to say Tier One operators are trained to search as a team not s solo practitioner.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Paul49

[HCH]

I ran Dawson sights on my Limited Glock, and shot some night matches with it. In my experience, the sights would silhouette quite nicely with the light on, so I never saw much of a point in  night sights. 

[MemphisMechanic]

I agree there: night matches in indoor shoot houses are highly instructional.

 

One of the big things I learned is the value of bouncing the beam off the floor to diffuse it and flood the room with light. This was a blind stage, unknown target locations mixed with noshoots. Shining the light on one target makes it bright enough you kinda tunnel vision in.

[Bsbllrooster]

Haley strategic thirteen sights look interesting. I believe they have a video of it on their YouTube channel. That have a very deep rear notch so you still get a lot of light on each side of the  front sight in your sight picture but it is more vertically orientated. I believe they have various options in terms of plain black and night sights. 

[45 Raven]

I am in the "plain black rear, fiber optic front" camp as well.

 

However, I have really come to like the set of Wilson Combat sights that came on my Gen3 G19 Vickers Edition.  It has a "U" notch black rear with a gold bead front.

 

I have seen other Vickers Edition Glock pistols with the same "U" notch rear and fiber optic (red or green) fronts.

[zipper046]

Sights are personal.  I've run numerous types...Fiber optics, 3-dot white dot sights, square notch rears, U-notch rears, Trijicon night sights, etc.  I'm partial to night sights, as that is what is on my duty issued weapon and I'm used to them, and I like a traditional square notch rear.  I tried the U-notch...they are good for quick target acquistion, as they have a bit more room to see the target around the front sight....BUT, I found myself burying the front sight lower into the U-notch and pushing my shots down.  

 

As for brand....I  settled on Ameriglo.  Their outlines around the tritium vials are better constructed by Trijicon (they use white paint and Ameriglo uses PVC type material that lasts longer and doesn't flake off), the sight bodies are steel and hold up, and they are a tad less expensive than Trijicon and use Trijicon tritium.

 

As for style....I settled on the "straight eight" type of sights....dot-over-dot....single dot on front sight, and single dot in the middle of the rear sight. 

 

As for model.....the Ameriglo Pro iDot works best for me.  The front ring around the tritium vial is green in color and glows when hit with light (photo-phosphorescent) and the dot-over-dot is very quick upon sight acquisition and it's decent for precise shot placement.  

 

For me....Ameriglo Pro i-Dot's are what I now run on my CCW G19 and I run "straight eight" style sights on my Dan Wesson CCO.  

[MPF]

I started in Steel challenge with a stock G19 too. In fact I still shoot one in USPSA production, but with some stippling, lighter trigger bar, and Dawson sights.

 

Sights are easily the most important upgrade for a Glock. I actually like the TTI sights a little more than my current Dawson's. But ymmv.

Edited September 6, 2018 by MPF