Rear sight shape

If it's not broke don't fix it. Both sights work well but why change? Save your money for ammo and components.

I feel like a sticky in the handguns : general section with the different types of sights would be useful. Maybe I'm wrong.

I got curious and turns out that all my irons have a U shaped rear sight, go figure.

U-shaped vs. Square seems to be an ongoing
debate.

Wilson for instance offers the U-shaped for its
Beretta 92 while Langdon the square notch.

Apparently the U-notch along with the Hackathorn
front "glow" sight or a gold bead offers excellent
sight pictures for
fast competitive shooting where tight groups are
not demanded. And the ranges are fairly close.

The square notch apparently is favored by those
who like tighter groups and more distant ranges
The Langdon front is also a fiber optic.

Does the debate really revolve around "combat"
vs. "target" sighting? It all just might be personal
taste, experience and type of shooting one
does normally.

I'm very curious about "Speed Sights"
https://speedsights.com

The bottom of the rear sight really don’t matter as you concentrate on the front sight, and align the tops. I do see it useful with a big dot type front as mentioned above.

I can maybe see the Speed Sights causing you some hesitation, especially if youre anal about trying to align the points. Same goes for trying to get the "Straight 8's" right, which I think are worse.

I can see the Speed Sights being a pain when trying to get a good traditional sight picture for more precision at distance though.

Ive been using the typical three dot sights since they first showed up and before they were lit, and have aways found them to be instinctive and natural to shoot with. Track the front dot, with it just up and out of the notch, and put it on the target. That alone will normally give you good hits very quickly at closer distances. Rock the rear up slightly, so the dots align, and you get more precision. The bullet goes to the middle dot. If the dots are aligned, which your brain does automatically, and you want a traditional sight picture, its right there, all you do is shift your focus, and its pretty much properly aligned as well. You might just have to tweak it a little.

I use the dots more than I use a traditional sight picture, especially from about 15 yards and in. Its just a lot faster and easier.

With some of the dot sights with the larger dots, the square notch cuts the bottom of the front dot off when the top of the front sight is properly aligned with the top of the rear sight, and the dots are aligned. The "U" notch doesn't.

Other than that, I dont see that it really matters what the bottom is like, the alignment is at the top.

9mmepiphany said:

It isn't about accuracy as accuracy comes from 1) aligning the top of the front blade with the tops or the rear blade and 2) having the sides of the front blade centered and parallel with the sides of the rear notch. Those do not change with the different shape of the bottom of the notch.

Click to expand...

You beat me to it.

I have pistols with both, the last couple sets of Trijicon HD sights I purchased were U notch rear. I personally cant tell a difference when doing any kind of defensive drill, whatsoever. If slow firing for groups, I can notice the difference, but it doesn't make a difference, if that makes sense.

Ive always found the three dots to give an instant horizontal and vertical alignment confirmation. The others dont give that, and with the Straight 8's, and bar and dot etc, my brain wants to fiddle with that vertical gap alignment, trying to get it right, instead of just shooting.

When the three dots rock into a line, I know I have the alignment and the round goes to the middle dot, which Ive been tracking all along.

And I think you may be right about the language thing. When the dots align, it says "shoot".

The horizontal/vertical alignment you get with the three dots also works very well when youre using standard heights sights with a suppressor, and it blocks the target. They let you quickly and accurately shoot "through" the tube, and still make good hits.

The most accurate sights I have tried are an adjustable U notch rear (Wilson TAB) with a flat black partridge front. I chose this set because it is easier to make a long range shot. Sights don't matter at all if you don't have good trigger control and/or good alignment with your hand, as results are not repeatable precision.

I've noted that the rear sight on my P365 disappears in certain types of daytime lighting. That is one of the reasons that I'm considering the speed sights tritium night sights. The bright color of the Speed Sights would seem to help with seeing the rear sight in daytime. I really don't see how aligning the diamond shaped sights would be any more difficult than aligning the present front sight in the square notch of the rear sight.

9mmepiphany said:

Of all the sighting systems which use anything on the rear sight blade, I've found the Heine Straight Eight sights the fastest and most instinctive to use...at least on the 1911 I was using them on. Their alignment taps into the same subconscious tendency which centers the front post in the rear notch. I have a custom set of night sights which a gunsmith put together with a horizontal bar under the rear notch mated with a front dot. A little slower than the Straight Eight...as your subconscious centers the dot over the bar...but still faster than the 3-dot system.

I've also used the 3-dot system, since they'd been available, on a number of different platforms. What I usually end up doing is blacking the dots on the rear sight out. The issue with the 3-dot system is that the subconscious sees it as language

Click to expand...

The dot over a vertical bar are called Von Stavenhagen sights, after their inventor. I personally find them the easiest irons to shoot well with.

9mmepiphany said:

When shooting at speed...either in competition or defensively...you shouldn't be seeing the rear sight at all. You should be seeing the front sight through the notch

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, when you are in a lighting situation where the rear sight disappears and it is obscuring the front sight, you don't know which way to rotate the pistol until the front sight appears within the notch. The Speed Sights rear sight has a wider aperture with which to acquire the front sight