The Hellcat's "U" site. Good Idea?

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CANNONMAN

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This was almost my Christmas gift from my Wife. She said I just didn't seem that excited about it. I know it wins in it's class. I guess. But the "U" rear site? Never saw one and of course never shot one. What are the pro's and con's? It seems like they were trying for a quick acquisition over accuracy. I just don't know. Thoughts?
 
I hate to admit im getting older, but my eyes dont lie.

Both myself and co- workers agree that we can see u notch sights much clearer and with less "fuzz" than standard square notch sights. We dont find we give up much precision at 25 yards either.
 
U notch are becoming increasingly popular and I do like them myself, but I don't like the white outline on the hellcat rear sight.

Id black that out with a sharpie first thing, but I preferred blacked out rear sights
 
I recently put a set of U notch sights on my g26, and while a bit awkward to pull up to your eye at first, I've came to really like them. I give up noting in terms of accuracy as I use the tops of the sights for a slow and deliberate sight picture anyways. It just seems like the bigger front dot finds its place inside the U quicker for me.
 
I am half heartedly looking into some new night sights and have found the "better" models have the U notch rear sight. I like the concept but would like to see a set in person before dropping $100. Maybe I will have to check out a hellcat next time I hit the lgs and see what it looks like.
I find that the square notch factory sights on my shield have a lot of extra space in the rear sight, they are ok for defensive shooting at 7 yards but leave alot to be desired as you move backwards. I feel like the U notch would at least negate some of the error on elevation.
 
I don’t care for then. I’m much faster with a three dot sight setup. And on a defensive pistol I think front and rear tritium sights are the best option.

If it’s dark, and I need to see my sights, I don’t see how only seeing my front sight will lead to a good shot.
 
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I’m fairly indifferent between 3 dot, square notch, u notch, etc. but I do wish the rear sight was also tritium too. Don’t get the pairing of a front night sight and a standard rear sight. Still gonna get one though. Can’t wait
 
U notch sights are great for fast target aquistion. The human eye attracted to sharp corners and angles. So your eyes go to the edges of the sight notch at speed. With the u notch your eyes move to the sight faster. This is great for fast shooting at closer ranges like in defense and gun games shooting. Slower fire and bulleye shooting is not helped by the U notch. IMHO I prefer the U notch because I am not shooting for bulleye type groups.

I have completely moved away from 3 dot sight setups. For me they are not as fast. Again science tells us that the human eye will focus naturally on the dot closest to our eyes so with 3 dots too often that is one of the rear dots. If I am going to use a dot I blackout the rears. This is what works for me for many people 3 dots work better.

My go to these days is a U notch rear with a Gold Dot front.

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Thanks m02. I think the writer works for someone there. Just a bit too "glowing". WVsig. First time in a while to see actual science back an opinion. Nice! And thanks, makes sense. Guess I need some range time. They didn't have one at the time for the range rentals. I'll try again. Thanks all!
 
U notch sights are great for fast target aquistion. The human eye attracted to sharo corners and angles. So your eyes go to the edges of the sight notch at speed. With the u notch your eyes move to the sight faster. This is great for fast shooting at closer ranges like in defense and gun games shooting. Slower fire and bulleye shooting is not helped by the U notch. IMHO I prefer the U notch because I am not shooting for bulleye type groups.

I have completely moved away from 3 dot sight setups. For me they are not as fast. Again science tells us that the human eye will focus naturally on the dot closest to our eyes so with 3 dots too often that is one of the rear dots. If I am going to use a dot I blackout the rears. This is what works for me for many people 3 dots work better.

My go to these days is a U notch rear with a Gold Dot front.

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Totally agree. Never realized this until recently. Black out the rear sight.
 
The tru-glo tritium pro's i recently put on my px4 storm have 3 lamps, 2 rear and 1 front. The front lamp is surrounded by a large white ring, while the rear lamps are surrounded by subdued blacked out rings. Gives you 3 dots in the dark and 1 large dot to focus on in the light.

The photo in this article gives you an idea of what the dots look like during the daylight.

https://www.ammoland.com/2017/03/tr...recommended-by-ntoa-evaluators/#axzz6A7EZUf5d
 
U notch sights are great for fast target aquistion. The human eye attracted to sharo corners and angles. So your eyes go to the edges of the sight notch at speed. With the u notch your eyes move to the sight faster. This is great for fast shooting at closer ranges like in defense.... I have completely moved away from 3 dot sight setups.... Again science tells us that the human eye will focus naturally on the dot closest to our eyes so with 3 dots too often that is one of the rear dots. ....

For the same reasons, red dot without backup sights. With the Hellcat, mount one of the reflex options and push the u-notch rear and front sight out of the dovetails. The clutter is gone.
 
But the "U" rear site? Never saw one and of course never shot one. What are the pro's and con's? It seems like they were trying for a quick acquisition over accuracy.
U-notch rear sights have been around for a long time. I think I first saw them on dangerous game rifles, where they replaced the older V-notch. The first non-custom set I've seen were from 10-8 Performance and designed by Hiltom Yam. He started them out on 1911s and then made versions for all popular pistols.

The idea is for a front dot to more easily drop into the rounded bottom of the rear notch. With a square bottom notch, the tendency is to not drop all the way in and hold the front sight blade too high in the notch. You aren't giving up accuracy because you are still aligning the top of the front sight with the top of the rear blade.

A lot of people don't understand the blacked out rear blade. What they miss is the ability to confirm alignment by linning up the front dot with the rear dots. The thing is that you shouldn't be looking at the rear blade at all. You should be looking through the rear notch and letting your subconscious align the tops of the sights. What the rear dots are doing is engaging your conscious to "read" them, thus slowing down your perception of alignment.

The ring around the Hellcat's front dot is a bit excessive and tempts the shooting into using it as an aiming point (like the XS sights). The outline out the rear U-notch is distracting and somewhat pandering to folks who aren't ready to let go of looking at the rear sight
 
Those are some strange sights. I like the front sight. But the rear seems like a mess. The notch doesn’t seem to line up with anything. The ball doesn’t line up with the notch and the white outline lines up even worse. It’s a cool gun, but those sights gotta go.

I’m a huge fan of U notch sights. Trijicon HD’s. A big bright yellow ball in front. A U notch rear that fits the ball in front. And subtle rear dots that don’t draw your eyes away from the front sight. Perfection.
 
I think the U sights are fine for the Hellcat micro class of weapons. Remember that these guns are for conversation distance target acquisition.

On a related topic, I'm very happy with Ameriglo's Agent sights on m G19/Sig 229. In daylight the sight profile is a big orange dot up front with black rear sights. In the dark, the profile is three very subtle tritium dots. No wonder in the least why the FBI has these on their issue guns.
 
Totally agree. Never realized this until recently. Black out the rear sight.

Yeah, I was all 3 dot till I got my VBob with the straight eight sights and realized I like them more. Moved ally Glocks to Ameriglo CAP (the square front sight "fits" the square notch better and pops to my eyes faster). Then my dad got a Wilson with a u notch and green FO and, in good light, that's so fast to my eyes.

So, in the future I'll probably prefer the u notch, but not enough to switch the current sights on my guns.
 
I shoot mosty small guns, Pocket guns, micro 9mm's. After reading the post on this tread today. I took my Nano and Nanax to the range. I seldom if ever target shoot these guns. Every thing is almost entirely point and shoot and rapid fire. And because of this, I use the front sight only in a Peripheral sense. Today I did something different. I went to a indoor range set a target up at 7 yds and just picked the gun up and fired making sure I did not use the sights at all. Nothing, but totally focusing eyes on the bullseye of the target. Actually had to concentrate on not using the front sight. My first shot went right through the Bullseye. Then fast follow up shots were in a very tight group of about 3-4". Moved the target to 10 yds and the same slightly larger but nice groups. I shot 150 rds through the Nano and then 150 rds through the Nano with the New APX grip which has a low bore axis. I actually shot the Nano better. Maybe it was because I have a lot of range time with this gun and just use to it, I don't know.
Next week will hit the outdoor range and set up steel targets at different distances.

But at this point I am taking the sights off my pistols and will just be doing nothing but instinctive training and practice coming into the new year.
 
What I've read of the church shooting in Texas the good guy made a head shot from 45 feet. What cha bet he used his sights?
 
I can move between SA, DA/SA, DAO, striker fired and revolvers pretty easy and not get hung up on the trigger at all.

Changing between different types of sites is MUCH more difficult for me though. I wish Springfield would have used the same sights that they used on their XD series pistols. 3 dot with the fiber front site is perfect for me (Fiber for all 3 dots is even better). Unmarked rear sites are the hardest to shoot well with my old eyes.

Introducing a new (to me at least) style of site doesn't make sense to me, a whole new site picture to master that is different than everything else. I have had unmarked notch rear sites but never a U rear site.

At least it looks like the Hellcats rear site can be changed easily!
 
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I didn't think I would like the sights but I did like the Hellcat. When I actually shoot my hellcat the sights are fine (but I wish the rear U notch also had some tritium for low light purposes). I am able to keep groups that can be covered with my hand at 20-25 yards, which is plenty accurate for the guns intended purpose. Up close it is very easy for quick shots and pretty accurate.
 
I don't know about the Glockish Outline on the Hellcat but I like the Warren Tactical Wave Profile (U-Notch) on my Canik TP9SF just fine.
 
I like the sights. The U is new to me as is the sub compact pistol. It's good. The pistol is very good. If your into sub compacts the Hellcat is the one I picked. CZ P-01 for comparison. IMG_3704.JPG
 
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