Another Bersa Thunder .380 Question - Sights

[ChickenHawk]

First of all, the Bersa sights are pretty darn nice. But ...

My favorite sights are my Meprolights ... which are on my Glocks. I'd love to have similar sights (or some decent night sights) on my Bersa Thunder.380 but can't seem to find any alternatives by searching the web. In fact, I haven't been able to locate a home page specifically for Meprolights at all.

The Trijicon website says they'll make custom sights for most guns, and I may consider them. But, has anyone else considered alternate sights for their Bersa?

Here's an experiment at a side-by-side photo ...

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[horge]

Chicken,

The dealbreaker's the front sight, which is peen-fixed inside the slide.
Good luck DIY-ing that sucker out

Of course, if you're thinking along the lines of having a smith go to town on your Thunder 380, then I'm sure the smith could scare the front sight out for replacement.

Keep in mind that tritium does decay, and it's not unheard of for the luminance in the vials to drop significantly in as little as 4 years from purchase (the clock is ticking from even before they start waiting on store shelves), or at least that's the case here, overseas, with imports from the US.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Well, I sent an email to Trijicon asking what custom options they might have, and what they would charge for the custom job.

I'll post their reply if anyone is interested.

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[ChickenHawk]

And the answer is ...

Trijicon replied (quick reply!) that they know of no aftermarket sights for the Bersa Thunder .380 at this time. They added that they would be "working on it" at the Shot Show in February.

I'm sure horge's reply regarding the front sight is the main reason for this. I knew that fact, but assumed they'd offer me a custom job since I asked.

Luckily, the stock sights really are pretty nice, I was just investigating a night-sight alternative.

That's that!

ChickenHawk

 

[ChickenHawk]

Addendum Post:

In case anyone else was interested in this (it sure is getting lonely in this thread )

Trijicon sent a follow-up email indicating they would do a custom job for what amount to approximately 3x their regular price (total a bit over $300.00)

Of course, that's a custom job, drilling out the front sight, and includes mounting and shipping it back to me (whereas if you buy them off the shelf for a gun they make stock sights for, you still will probably pay a few bucks to get them mounted).

Anyway, that's more than I paid for the gun, and more than I want to spend, so I'm gonna pass. But, that's the rest of the story.

Regards,
ChickenHawk

 

[71Commander]

Hi there.

If I am going to be out at night, I will carry my SA micro .45 with night sights.

To bad you can't buy glow in the dark paint

 

[ChickenHawk]

To bad you can't buy glow in the dark paint

Actually, I think there are luminous paints you can buy. I seem to recall Bright Sights has some (but might be mistaken about that).

I never really considered those because it seems like they could never be as bright as tritium vials. Also, don't they have to be exposed to light initially to have some energy to luminesce with? Seems like carrying concealed means they won't get that opportunity much.

Anyway, I obviously don't know much about those so my presumptions may all be incorrect.

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[horge]

Thiose paints and plastics all need to be excited by a strong light source, and then they dump the energy in the form of light for several minutes afterward.

Believe me, I tried:

I bought some cheap Glo-in-the-dark cord (kids' toy store)and cut sections from it. The resulting tiny discs almost exactly fit the sight-dot recesses on a Bersa Thunder 380, and were promptly glued in place.

If you're the type to leave a home defense piece overnight under a bedside table-lamp, then it'll give you up to thirteen minutes of glow, depending on the thickness of the cord-section and the strength/duration of lamp light exposure.

For concealed carry, it is virtually a waste of time.


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I have to wonder about luminous sights at all, for CCW.
In a stress situation you're likely to revert to instinctive point-shooting anyway, and the luminous sights might be too distracting when everything else is so dark --the target is already going to be out of focus, a dark shadow amongst the shadows, as you concentrate on this fierce green or orange dot.

I'd always suspected that the object of rigorous training in DELIBERATE aim was to produce accurate and dependable REFLEXIVE aim. It's because of this that some folks include 'blind-shoots' (shots in reduced light, at white steel poppers) in their training, after attaining expertise in normal lighting exercises.

When outdoor encounters are at abbreviated range, and many claim data to show that the vast majority of encounters do, that's another taint against the true usefulness of night sights for CCW: at four arms'-lengths or less between me and a deadly assailant, I'm likely to point-shoot pelvic region and work upwards as fast as I can pull the trigger.

In the dark, does muzzle flash blindness make night sights more useful?
Or does it make any such sights (briefly) useless?


JM1.00 (PhP1.00 = US$.02)