Gold bead on ccw

I am seriously considering a gold bead with black rear for my glock 22 I EDC. I have had trijicon hd on my last 2 carry guns, and thinking about trying something different. Anyone have a good reason not to go gold?

 

No
I have several pistols and rifles with a gold bead front sight !

 

Not on a Glock. Changing front sights is cake.

 

https://shopwilsoncombat.com/Vicker...ar-Gold-Bead-Front-230/productinfo/901BGB230/

 

I was thinking that front, but with the wilson rear. The wilson looks like it is more beveled and wont dig into my fat gut so bad, or at least be less sharp.

https://shopwilsoncombat.com/Wilson...Glock-U-Notch-Black-Serrated-Blade/productinf

 

I had a gold bead on a 7.5" Ruger Redhawk .41 Mag. My old sight was a bit narrower than the Vickers, I found it impossible to see in reduced lighting... especially with a dark target behind. I know that seems counterintuitive since the gold color is supposed to reflect light, and maybe at high noon on the border it would, but without bright sunlight it was so bad I replaced it with a Hi-Viz fiber optic blade.

YMMV.

Stay safe.

 

I ended up going tritium after walking around with a piece of the wifes jewelry and it was not as easy to see as I expected. That was with 24k, and most sights seem to be 14k. My findings align with yours.

 

As you know, the Vickers profile is designed to allow more purchase in a one handed Ex rack of the slide.
Might be worth a second look.

 

It’s not a glock, but I carry this Iver Johnson .38S&W most days and when I cut it down a brass bead seemed like the logically way to go to replace the front sight.



There’s no way to equal the utility of a self-luminous sight with a brass or gold bead, but it’s much better than standard sights that lack contrast. Having just about any ambient light makes it easy to pick up on the bead.

One thing I couldn’t say is if a simple blaze orange dab or stripe wouldn’t be just as good or better. I suppose it would come down to the particulars of which gun it’s going on.

 

I can't see gold beads worth a crap anymore, but they sure look nice in photos.

For a carry gun, I need a dab of white paint, or a dab of bright orange paint on a front sight.

But really, I like a red fiber optic front sight surrounded by white paint even better. Which works well with light behind me, above me, or in front of me.

 

John Harrison (Harrison Custom) on sights from his FAQ page.

http://www.harrisoncustom.com/FAQ.aspx

 

I was thinking of putting a brass BB on my chopped snubs, but I don’t know how it’s done. How do you “sight it in” ie how to you make sure the BB is in the right spot?

 

I don't like round things on open sights. I have a much harder time lining up blobs rather than clean angles, whether taking my time or in a hurry. Lots of folks may be different, but that's my reason for avoiding beads.

 

Honestly, it’s guesswork followed by testing and iterations if it doesn’t work the way I wanted it to. What I do to make things easy is just not tap the hole I’m installing the bead into. This way you can try out various lengths of simple brass rod as a front sight until you find the height you need for your final bead to have the exact POA/POI you want. Simply friction fitting a brass pin into the hole I’m eventually installing the bead into has always held well enough for me to take test shots to walk that final height in.

What revolver did you have in mind? And do you have the original front sight on the barrel stub still?

 

I have used just about every kind of iron sight available, and the only two I’ve ever had an issue with are the standard glock white bracket and ball, and the blaze orange square in the white outlined black rear of the classic S&W revolver sight picture. Almost anything else I can work with, including the brass blob in a tiny grayish metal U notch that is the sight picture on that Iver.

 

I'd be just as well off throwing that Iver at the target!

 

I have Charter Bulldogs with chopped barrels and no front sight. so there is just raw metal where a bead would be.

I thought that with enough practice, I could hit distant targets without a front sight. But these are turning out to be 5-yard guns. So a little something on the front to line up with the rear sight-channel would be nice.

 

Thats about where I was with the I.J. I could hit a personish sized target no problem from less than ten yards just aiming down the top strap and picturing it like a runway the bullet was taking off from. It’s good for point blank but personally I like being able to take an accurate shot if needed and that requires a front sight.

A good place to start might be trying a few shots with a .250 height front sight. Most guns will fall near that for front sight height. From there you can either file it down if you’re hitting low or make a new slightly taller one if you’re hitting a little too high.