Sight choices as we "age"?

Ive been avoiding a red dot on my handguns, simply because I know Im going to like them, and want them on everything after that, and Ill never be able to afford it. Three dot night sights are already starting to break the bank.

^^^^^^^

Said the same thing many times myself.

BOARHUNTER

I am pushing 60 (darn that seems so weird to say). I have always had really bad eyesight and have worn glasses all my life.
In the past couple of years being able to see my sights has become problematic. All black sights do not work for me, especially black ramped front sights like on my revolvers. Patridge front sights are slightly better but not by much for me.
Also, I purchased a couple of Sig Sauer Romeo 5 red dot sights, one is on my AR-15 and one is on my Ruger PC Carbine. I got them for an excellent price. I was very happy with my purchase.
Before that I had installed a red fiber optic Williams Fire Sight on my Ruger 10/22 to replace the brass bead stock sight and when I bought my S&W model 63 it came with a red fiber optic front sight.
What I found was all the red sights, red dot and fiber optic, all blur out on me in use. The red dot looks like a blob.
Around the same time I had purchased Tru-Glo TFX sights for my Glock 45 and my Glick 26. I noticed that the green fiber optics and the green tritium night sights do not blob out on me.
So, I decided to “up my experiment” and I ordered a green fiber optic front sight for my 10/22 from Ruger. They were having a sale. I installed the sight yesterday (and yes, I know this is Handguns: Gen’l Duscussion forum) and I took the 10/22 to the indoor range and I was absolutely please with the results. I had to do some tweaking to the rear sight as the red sight was .570” from top to base and the new sight was .420”, a difference of .150”. So I installed the front sight, did some creative measuring with my calipers and adjusted the rear sight (note the pencil marks on the sight in the picture) and I tried 5 different .22 LR ammo brands at 20 yards shooting off-hand. I am not a great shot when free standing, wearing a mask that’s causing my glasses to fog and wearing a pair of non-rifle-friendly ear muffs but I was very happy with the results of my quick green sight test.









I do believe I will be switching to green dot sights and using green paint on my black front sights.

Oh, almost forgot. On my S&W model 63 that came with a red fiber optic front sight I replaced the sight with a gold dot blade sight like in the link here:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005958054/
That was a waste of money. The gold bead blurs out in low light and in bright light for me. I guess I will be going to a green fiber optic sight on that one.

I have found that aging eyes and trying to find what works can be expensive and very frustrating. I hope I am on the right path now.

As I have aged, my appreciation for a longer sight radius has increased, in the case of iron sights. I especially want the front sight to be farther from my eyes.

A contrasting color, in the front sight, has become more valuable. Any amount of white, on the rear sight, has become more annoying.

I sampled an RMR, on a Glock MOS, and liked it. That particular RMR, which uses the tritium-power triangle, is more-suited to long guns, and dark conditions, so I did not consider this to be a permanent installation, but simply a proof-of-concept experiment. Based upon this, I obtained a G45 slide, milled for the Aimpoint ACRO P-1, to use on my G19X, as an actual carry/defensive weapon. If this pandemic situation ever gets resolved, so I can safely use a formal shooting range, or, I can make a long road trip to public land, where I can fire enough rounds to thoroughly vet this upper unit, on my G19x frame, with enough carry magazines, this combination may well become a normal, regular carry gun, after I re-build enough skill with the Glock trigger.

I recently bought an Aimpoint S-1, to try on a shotgun rib.

Lads, I just had cataract surgery. For those who don't know about it, they replace the lens of the eye with an artificial lens and it works just like the original.

I am working the computer with my naked eyes -- no cheaters needed, and the patridge sights on all my handguns show up needle-sharp.

Vern,

Happy for you.

I, too, had cataract surgery and am very pleased with the results, with one qualification. Distance vision is perfect, but my front sight is just close enough to be blurry, particularly with the snub guns I prefer. For precision, reading glasses are still required.

BOARHUNTER

What exactly are we trying to shoot? When I still had thots' of shooting bullseye, a really precise sight picture/alignment was critical. Now, for more defense-style shooting at 21', a perfect sight picture isn't as critical.
A lot of my shooting is indoors, which makes it all worse.
Frankly, standard Glock sights work for me, as do fiberoptic fronts.
I've had cataract surgery, and can find the sights without glasses. It's not like you're apt to shoot the wrong person, but it might degrade accuracy.
BTW, a tang sight on a rifle makes a huge difference using irons. On ARs, an XS big stripe front sight is a help.
Moon

I had Lasik done about 16 years ago. It corrected a really bad astigmatism and my generally dismal vision. I'm still 20/20 at distance, but have finally had to get some glasses for anything closer than arm's length. I've gotten used to red dots (actually, I love Holosun's circle-dot reticle) on several of my firearms. I also have lasers on a few and fiber optic sights on some. Those guns with iron sights that can't be replaced are all getting treated to a high-viz paint job courtesy of this kit: https://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Casey-Super-Bright-Green/dp/B00JSAE234. Anything that helps put sights on target clearly and quickly is a good thing in my book.

On my Kimber Target II I painted the front sight neon pink for visibility. (I used finger nail polish for easy removal)
Prefer sooted black on black for serious target work, but too many cloudy dark days lately (or is it my 60 year old eyes?) made it hard to see the front.

I'm not going to a red dot until manufacturers copy the Luago Arms Alien. Or until it comes down in price.

Front fiberoptic, plain black rear is still king. Especially if you have a sight island.

A lot of good stuff here .... at 50, I find three dot fiber optic to be great, with the front a different color for contrasting reasons. Tried the 2-dots and the like, but after some late afternoon - early dusk (low light) range trips, decided the 3-dot was better for me. Red Dots are cool too, but like another poster stated they get expensive. I’m not color blind, but I understand that may be an issue for some when considering a RD set up. I often wonder why we don’t have blue dots as choices ..... at night or low light the light bar on the cop car sure carries far.....just thinking out loud.

I've used nail polish, despite feeling like a twerp spending 10 minutes in the nail polish aisle at WalMart. Our late range officer used to goober all kinds of paint on his sights (his prescription was years out of date). For all that, he could still hit stuff.
Moon

halfmoonclip said:

I've used nail polish, despite feeling like a twerp spending 10 minutes in the nail polish aisle at WalMart. Our late range officer used to goober all kinds of paint on his sights (his prescription was years out of date). For all that, he could still hit stuff.
Moon

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Might as well have some fun while youre there and ask the girls there how they get the hair off their toe knuckles. Do they pluck or shave?

My daughter bought some orange nail polish awhile back. She hasn't seen it in a long time because it's in my gun drawer. I like blacked out rear and use orange on the front.
My wife says if my eyes get worse, I may need to switch to a shotgun to have a better chance of hitting something.

Here's a pic of my Taurus 605 after I painted the front sight with the Birchwood Casey kit. Their advice is to paint the sight with 2 coats of white first, then with the color. It turned out really nice and is MUCH quicker to pick up than when the front and rear sights were both black.

See you eye doctor. Try some readers at the store see what you need in diopters at front sight distance. Buy safety glasses in that diopter full lens. VA just paid for cataract surgery (community care) at almost no cost to me. It has been a massive improvement.

MODEL-MASTER (testors.com)

For those that feel awkward looking at nail polish. Hobby and craft stores should carry an assortment of colors.

55 years old here and have always been nearsighted.

I prefer red fiber optics, red dots, or red lasers over green because my eyes pick up the red much easier.

For my defensive handguns I have to at least have white on the front sight. My favorite is a red fiber optic with white painted on the metal around the red tube as seen from the rear.

Still, all handgun sights are blurry to me*, unless I take my glasses off which happens to make handgun sights perfectly in focus with the sacrifice of seeing small targets further away.

*not counting red dots or lasers.

Something I wish a sight manufacturer would offer for aftermarket sights is a white line up the middle of a black front sight blade coupled with a white square rear sight like the old S&W revolver sights. Years ago my Colt Combat Government had a white rear sight outline with a black front sight. I used Whiteout to create a centered white line up the center of the front sight and it worked great.

A few years ago I bought a set of XS Sights for my Winchester 94. The rear is a peep but the front is a blade that is black with a white stripe up the center. I think they are excellent iron sights. I wish they made similar revolver and pistol sights. Maybe not a rear peep but a white stripe blade front.

Pat Riot said:

The rear is a peep but the front is a blade that is black with a white stripe up the center. I think they are excellent iron sights. I wish they made similar revolver and pistol sights. Maybe not a rear peep but a white stripe blade front.

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How about a gold line?

Harrison Custom selling the Yost front sight https://shop.harrisoncustom.com/yost-001

JTQ said:

How about a gold line?

Harrison Custom selling the Yost front sight https://shop.harrisoncustom.com/yost-001

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Thank you, but this will not work for my revolvers. Neat design, though.

A couple more pistol sight options:
Holosun on a S&W 622



William's Fire Sights on a PT145 MilPro

I have found some non adjustable fixed sights that I really like for my G45 and my G26. I have decided for now to leave the sights on my two G34s as the factory adjustable sights and I see and shoot the Glock factory sights pretty well. But for the G45 and G26 I wanted fiber optic night sights so I went went Tru-Glo TFX sights.

Side view


View of white ring around front fiber


Sights outdoors


Sights in moderate indoor light


Sights in the dark


Sights with rail light on at night


I think I am pretty well covered in all lighting with these sights. I just wish I had these options in other guns.

Welcome to the club! Myi solution was to go to the eye doctor and he gave me a prescrition for my normal glasses for nearsidedness...except only the right lense has a progressive bifocal in it. All I have to do is to tilt my head back to be able to get clear focus on the sights and my left eye (i shoot both eyes open) sees the distant target and my brain puts the two images together.. Not as good as 20 year old eyes but good enough.