Pistol sights for competition

[Puma]

I would like to know which sights are used by the best best competion shooters. And I would also like to know which sights are used by most weekend warrior shooter. I would also like to know if anyone out there has used the Big Dot XS Sight System. Its design appears interesting but I have never seen a set in person much less tried one.

I now have a Dawson Adjustable F. O. Rear and a Dawson F. O. front on my 35 and am very happy. However I think that I would benefit from a set that allows quicker target acquisition in the model 34 that I am planning on buying.

Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated.

[Viggen]

For all practical purposes(and impractical ones too) the Dawson's are as good or better than anything else. Some might like a different brand because some shooter uses them but there isn't a gnat's worth of difference between the 2 or 3 most popular sights, of which Dawson is one.

Run what makes you feel good.

[Glshooter]

If you want fast target acquisition, take a look at truglo's bright sights. They light up like a christmas tree in sunlight. The front sight is a little big however and I find accuracy suffers just a bit on really long shots. I also have another Glock with a Heinie/Dawson combo I use for matches with long range shots.

[Jman]

Big Dot XS Sight...nope.

Dawson's and Warren/Sevigny Competition dominate.

Jim

[Greg Bell]

One of my regular shooting buddies runs his carry gun with the Big Dot occasionally in a match. He bitches if there is a shot required past 10yds or so.

[frenchwrench]

XS Big Dot is great for a carry gun!!!! Sucks for competition( I know, I tried 'em). Dawson/Warrens are the way to go it seems. Good luck!!!

[TonyG35]

I just got a set of Dawson F. O. sights for my G35. Found after some experimentation that cutting out the rear fibers and filling the holes with something to make them all black (I used black silicon) works the best. Also changing the color of the front to Green helped out a lot. All three fibers is better looking but seems to be difficult to focus on for high speed shooting.

[SA Friday]

This question comes up every couple of months, so I saved the following in a pm.

I've used 5 different sight combo's on my glocks:

the Dawson Precision (DP) adjustable rear with a DP FO front

the DP fixed rear with a DP FO front

the Heinie slant pro with a DP front

the Sevigny rear with a Sevigny FO front

the Sevigny rear with a Sevigny solid black front.

My observations are as follows on the sights:

The DP adj rear and FO front - by far my favorite, tight sight picture, shallow rear notch, thin front sight. Front sight can be too high for many holsters. Blade-tech will custom make a holster to fit, Kytec is deep enough to accomidate. Do not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom. Weighs more and can be an issue with a production gun and tungsten guiderod.

DP fixed rear and FO front - my second choice, very similar sight picture to the adj model, tight sight picture but not as tight as the adj model, thin front sight, shallow rear notch. Front and rear are not as high and fit almost all holsters, but still would not recommend it protrude out the bottom of the holster.

Heinie slant pro with DP front - looser sight picture, but not as loose as the sevigny, same front sight width as other DPs, deeper rear notch.

Sevigny rear and FO front - very loose sight picture, FO in front is placed higher in the blade, very deep rear notch.

Sevigny rear and solid front - very loose sight picture, very deep rear notch, more accurate than with the FO, IMO.

In production, weight can be an issue. You only have 2 oz's from the OEM weight to play with. The DP adj sight and higher front does weigh more than the other options. If you are pushing the limit on the gun's weight but prefer the tighter sight picture, I would recommend the DP fixed set-up.

Being able to adjust the sight to a really nice reload instead of adjusting the reload to hit POA is really convienient. With that said, I have had only one round (factory and reloads) that did not strike to POA on any of the fixed sights.

The advantage of a tight sight picture is accuracy. The advantage of a loose sight picture is faster target acquisition. Essentially, either can be overcome with practicing with the sights. I see a lot of sight picture while shooting, but get sloppy with my accuracy with the looser sight picture, so I favor the tighter sights. With others, it's the opposite. I found this out by experimenting with the different sights. The heinie is the best 'middle of the road' sight system for the glocks IMO. Any of the above are capable of taking you to M class.

Hope this helps.

[Rolex]

As some have stated above go with a set of Dawson sights,

adj. rear FO front-ya can't miss.

[mjbine]

This question comes up every couple of months, so I saved the following in a pm.

I've used 5 different sight combo's on my glocks:

the Dawson Precision (DP) adjustable rear with a DP FO front

the DP fixed rear with a DP FO front

the Heinie slant pro with a DP front

the Sevigny rear with a Sevigny FO front

the Sevigny rear with a Sevigny solid black front.

My observations are as follows on the sights:

The DP adj rear and FO front - by far my favorite, tight sight picture, shallow rear notch, thin front sight. Front sight can be too high for many holsters. Blade-tech will custom make a holster to fit, Kytec is deep enough to accomidate. Do not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom. Weighs more and can be an issue with a production gun and tungsten guiderod.

DP fixed rear and FO front - my second choice, very similar sight picture to the adj model, tight sight picture but not as tight as the adj model, thin front sight, shallow rear notch. Front and rear are not as high and fit almost all holsters, but still would not recommend it protrude out the bottom of the holster.

Heinie slant pro with DP front - looser sight picture, but not as loose as the sevigny, same front sight width as other DPs, deeper rear notch.

Sevigny rear and FO front - very loose sight picture, FO in front is placed higher in the blade, very deep rear notch.

Sevigny rear and solid front - very loose sight picture, very deep rear notch, more accurate than with the FO, IMO.

In production, weight can be an issue. You only have 2 oz's from the OEM weight to play with. The DP adj sight and higher front does weigh more than the other options. If you are pushing the limit on the gun's weight but prefer the tighter sight picture, I would recommend the DP fixed set-up.

Being able to adjust the sight to a really nice reload instead of adjusting the reload to hit POA is really convienient. With that said, I have had only one round (factory and reloads) that did not strike to POA on any of the fixed sights.

The advantage of a tight sight picture is accuracy. The advantage of a loose sight picture is faster target acquisition. Essentially, either can be overcome with practicing with the sights. I see a lot of sight picture while shooting, but get sloppy with my accuracy with the looser sight picture, so I favor the tighter sights. With others, it's the opposite. I found this out by experimenting with the different sights. The heinie is the best 'middle of the road' sight system for the glocks IMO. Any of the above are capable of taking you to M class.

Hope this helps.

Nice breakdown of the sights.

Thanks

[Micah]

I have been using a Dawson front/Heinie rear since the beginning of time, and have nothing to complain about. SA's post is the shiz.

Pretty much, pick a good set and practice. Unless they are off, sights are rarely what hold someone back.

[chirpy]

I like the green Hi-Viz front best because you can install different size fiber optics and they are sharp not fuzzy like the red/orange to my old eyes. Dawson fronts are good also. I agree with the comment about plain black rear.

JMHO

Richard

[Madcap Magician]

Warren Tactical Rear and either plain black, the night sight or fiber front sight to match. I haven't found a set of sights that draws my eyes to the front sight like the Warrens. Check them out and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[PLINK]

I agree with SA's post.

I would rather have the Dawson FO front and Adjustable rear than a tungsten guild rod if weight is an issue. I use the same G35 for SSP and Production so I have to use a plastic guild rod anyway.

I tried the Heinie/ Dawson combo, DS w/ FO front and Dawson FO front and Dawson Adjustable. The Dawson adjustable combo is my favorite so far.

[TonyG35]

My observations are as follows on the sights:

The DP adj rear and FO front - by far my favorite, tight sight picture, shallow rear notch, thin front sight. Front sight can be too high for many holsters. Blade-tech will custom make a holster to fit, Kytec is deep enough to accomidate. Do not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom. Weighs more and can be an issue with a production gun and tungsten guiderod.

You can use a Fobus holster with the .285 FO front sight but you have to modify it to clear. I used a die grinder to remove some of the material and now the sight clears with no problems. Is there another reason to not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom other than the clearance issue?

[ede]

all things considered you really need to find what works for you. i've played around with alot of differant sights and have settled on a fixed heinier rear and a dawson FO front. i've just put hiviz fronts on a pair of guns to use on plates since the FO insert is bigger i think it might help me. i'll just need to make sure i use the right gun for steel and the other for paper.

i bet i've seen well over a 1000 glocks used in competition and i think the most common after market set up is a fixed heinie rear with a dawson FO front. lot of the less experienced shooters use hiviz front and rear. couple of the best shooters i know use bo mar adjustable and several use ameriglo target/combat fixed.

[SA Friday]

My observations are as follows on the sights:

The DP adj rear and FO front - by far my favorite, tight sight picture, shallow rear notch, thin front sight. Front sight can be too high for many holsters. Blade-tech will custom make a holster to fit, Kytec is deep enough to accomidate. Do not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom. Weighs more and can be an issue with a production gun and tungsten guiderod.

You can use a Fobus holster with the .285 FO front sight but you have to modify it to clear. I used a die grinder to remove some of the material and now the sight clears with no problems. Is there another reason to not use a holster where the front sight protrudes out the bottom other than the clearance issue?

Not really. As long as the front sight is going to clear and clear every time you should be fine. The only other factors I can think of are cosmetic; you are going to get a lot of carbon on your pants/shorts, and you might get some dings in front of the slide. Others things that could happen are putting a ding in the muzzle crown or breaking a FO rod. Those last two are extremely rare events from a holster like a fobus (tight to the body).

[rc2125]

recently outfitted my glocks with the warren tactical sights (with the radius reliefs on each side), front fiber optics on my 34 & 35, and the tritium versions on my 22. They set up very fast, less of the target is covered up cuz of the radius cuts on each side (compared to big rear blade faces) and I like the amount of light on each side of the front sight (just perfect, imo). Without any doubt, they allow more speed & precision for me(compared to using the factory sights). Wished I would have discovered they're potential several years ago!

Edited August 12, 2008 by rc2125

[GrumpyGrizz]

I'm running the XS standard dot 24/7 on my Glock 20. If I do my job they do their's. The big dot would be great for close in fast stuff, but I don't think they were designed for distance.

[Graham Smith]

I have a green Dawson fiber front/Heinie Slant Pro rear on my G19 and a green Warren fiber front/steel rear on my G35 (not the Sevigny variant). Of the two I prefer the Warren as the narrow fiber optic front in the wide rear really works well for me. With the Dawson/Heinie, if I'm off axis I sometimes end up with the rear sight hiding the front sight and it take a second to sort it out - that doesn't seem to happen with the Warren sights.

At one time, I had FO front and rear on my G19 and they just didn't work for me. Too many bright things fighting for my attention.

Everything I have read about the XO sights say that they make a great short distance defensive sight, but take a lot of getting used to for distance. That seems to be true for every novel type of sight I have read about.

[redmanfixit]

I have a 1911 I often run because I like to shoot single stack. It has XS sights with tritium inserts for low light combat matches. I picked the smallest dot option because of the concern about accurate targeting. It took time to get used to them but they work well for most events except steel shooting. I need a more exact sight picture on the smaller iron at longer distances. They are wonderful in low light scenarios and with flashlight.

Speed is only a question of money. How fast do you want to go?

Sign in the outback. Mad Max

[tonyfalkon]

I've used XS sights on my glocks for about 2 years with only one complain, targets beyond 30 yards. For me its very fast in sight acquisition, but like with any new accessory it takes some getting use to. A lot of people have different takes with different sights number one reason is usually that's what they are used to or it works for them, there will always be pros and cons, my take is try them all and pick the one that works for you. Just MHO with no scientific basis just my own meandering experience.

[OleM]

Hi

I have used the Trijicon Night Sights on my Glock 17 for a while now and they are by far the best sights that I have ever used.

-OleM

[P.E. Kelley]

I just knock the damn sights off.

The small reduction in accuracy is more than made up in the speed

gained with the reduction in wind resistance during target transitions.

OR..............................

To quote my Favorite GM Glockophile

PICK ONE AND PRACTICE!

Patrick

[Flexmoney]

OR..............................

To quote my Favorite GM Glockophile

PICK ONE AND PRACTICE!

Patrick

That sounds like great advise. On many levels.

(even though I am a bit picky about sights sometimes)