Night sights or a Light?

[BearAZ737]

Hi everyone!
I am looking to get something for my M&P 45 for aid at night and I don't know whether to go with Novak Night sights OR the Streamlight TRL-1!

Now they cost the same, or roughly, so money isn't a factor I what to hear what you guys have to say, experience with one or the other, etc.

I think I am going to stick to those two brands but alternatives are welcome. No silly lasers though!!

Thank you!

 

[PcolaDawg]

Hi everyone!
I am looking to get something for my M&P 45 for aid at night and I don't know whether to go with Novak Night sights OR the Streamlight TRL-1!

Now they cost the same, or roughly, so money isn't a factor I what to hear what you guys have to say, experience with one or the other, etc.

I think I am going to stick to those two brands but alternatives are welcome. No silly lasers though!!

Thank you!

Why can't you do both? Nice to have every option you might want, for any situation you might encounter.

 

[mljdeckard]

I use both.

 

[ForumSurfer]

This is worth a read:

http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/nsights_080906/index.html

You can't go wrong with both. I currently love my heinie straight 8's...although I am about to order some 10-8 sights with the brass bead next (just picked up a new gen4 glock 26 and I am not a fan of the stock sights). I've heard great things and I think they are worth a try.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=53339/pid=26681/Product/U_Notch_Sight_Set__Brass_Bead


I don't lose the ability to see the green dots when firing at night, but my weapons light completely washes them out. I hear that in the same situation, a brass or gold bead shines. Let's face it, I shoot most often in daylight so the brass bead will be better for me. It should still give me excellent low light capability.



FWIW, I'm a fan of this front sight posts and plain black rear sights with a good opening to let light through.

 

[hirundo82]

For carry or for home defense? I have both a TLR-1 and night sights on my HD pistol, and night sights on my carry pistol. I'm not a big fan of weapon-mounted lights for carry, although I do always carry a handheld light.

 

[PabloJ]

Small but powerful light held between the teeth is by far the best option.

 

[Zerodefect]

I vote niether.

If your a civvy, pointing your gun at someone just to determine if they're a threat or not is kinda stupid. Good if your in a nightime fire fight, bad for searching out bumps in the night.

I prefere a good hand held light instead. Surefire E2d, E2d led maybe. Also you may want to move the light away from yourself. Or you may want to hold the light wrist to wrist. Or maybe overhand next to your temple or a overhand neck hold.

Many different holds for many different senerios and lighting conditions.


Also night sights excel in limited liting conditions. But regular sights still work fine. If you can't see your target, you can't see your sights. And a fat .125" wide night sight is slower during the daytime than a thinner FO front sight.

But this really depends on your eyes. A bit subjective. One pistol for daytime carry, and another for night is the best solution.

Keep in mind that lowlight shooting is terrible. A complete nightmare, like the ones where you can't run and are stuck in slow motion. Only in this case, you can't get a good sight picture with a light, or with nightsights, or with plain black sights. Nothing really works 100% of the time.

Sometimes plain black sights work best, sometime gold button, sometimes Tritium. Only thing that allways works are those little Trijicon reddots that race guns often have.

Lowlight training has shown me that all types of sighting (except 1x reddots) are more likely to fail than work. Sights allmost become a luxery when they decide to work. Pointshooting is king of the dark unfortunately.

Bottom line, I recommend a hand held light, and a front sight that is much thinner than your rear sight notch for the best light contrast. Like a .090" fornt and a .156" rear for example.

If someone had a front nightsight that was .090"wide I'd have that on all my guns. But they all seem to be .125" so I run alot of plain black and FO sights.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I see no reason to not have both. You can quickly affix a weapon light when you settle in for the night and have it ready. Hearing the sound of your windows breaking or door being kicked in is not the best time to do this. A weapon-mounted light is pretty unwieldy for carry on your person, however. Here, the best solution is night sights, with a hand-held flashlight in addition.

 

[gohogs93]

Both is my first choice. but the light is far more important IMO

 

[Sam1911]

Small but powerful light held between the teeth is by far the best option.

Yep! Best option right there. That way, when the bad guy can only see one bright shiny target ... it's right in the middle of your face.

Yeah... that'll work.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Everyone knows between-your-teeth carry is for knives.

 

[metalman8600]

Sights can be hard to see even in lighting conditions where it's still light enough to clearly see the target. If it's a carry weapon, definitely go with the night sights.

Why no lasers? A Crimson Trace laser grip for the M&P would surely make it a lot easier to hit your target in a stressful low light situation.

 

[WardenWolf]

My advice: go with the night sights. Here's why: you have to remember that the gun, with light attached, is still a gun. You can't be pointing it at things or people for identification. That's still VERY dangerous, and still VERY illegal. Not having the light on the gun prevents that problem, and leads you to better identify your targets before you point a gun at them. The light also reduces your night vision after you turn it off, and lets every man and his dog know where you are.

Fact is, you're not a military operator in a combat zone. It's not acceptable to sweep someone with your weapon while identifying them. If you have the light on your weapon, you WILL rely on it, and you will have to because it will have destroyed your night vision. Go with night sights and / or a laser. Keep the light off the gun.

 

[WRGADog]

TLR-1 and Tru Glo TFO's

I have both on my XD45c that stays in my nightstand.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I have found that these two items are not interchangeable and it isn't a either or proposition...just like a weapon mounted light isn't interchangeable in use with a handheld light. My personal priority would be:

1. Hand held light
2. Night sight lamp in front blade
3. Weapon mounted light

 

[wow6599]

Night sights and a bright flashlight.

 

[wesessiah]

i prefer a handheld light as opposed to mounted for the above mentioned reasons. i don't like giving a target right in front of myself... it may impair a shooters vision to see what's behind the light, but they can see where the light is. i like the modified fbi technique (with possible painting) since you hold the light away from you, or sort of a modified harries extending the light further to the side and letting your weapon arm rest midways up the light arm.

as far as sights, in my experience with night qualifying i have far faster target acquisition with no light and blue flashing lights in the background. when daytime qualifying with my duty weapon (tritium sights) and any of my personally owned weapons without tritium sights, the scores are about the same, but night qualifying i tend to shoot a couple points better with the duty weapon, and feel better about how quickly i acquire the target when not on a flashlight round.

 

[One-Time]

get both!

Id start w/ a white light, its needed anyway IMO, then when you can add sights in whatever flavor you prefer

I Like Insight Technologies, and Streamlight id pretty good too

 

[REAPER4206969]

Sights and a hand held.

 

[Mr.Davis]

I vote niether.

If your a civvy, pointing your gun at someone just to determine if they're a threat or not is kinda stupid. Good if your in a nightime fire fight, bad for searching out bumps in the night.

If you point a weaponlight at someone, you're doing it wrong. Proper technique is to use the splash of the light to look around while keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction.

 

[Mr.Davis]

You asked either or, so I'll answer directly instead of saying "both".

I'd go with a handheld light first. More versatile, and when you spotlight a threat your sights will be silhouetted against the lit target so you'll still be able to use them.

 

[greyeyezz]

If you point a weaponlight at someone, you're doing it wrong. Proper technique is to use the splash of the light to look around while keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction.

Correct. Weaponlight has many advantages over hand held as in being able to open doors, clear jams and reload with the offhand as well as having a good two hand hold.

Unless you use your teeth.

 

[possum]

if you can only afford one for right now, and maybe get the other later, I would say go with the light. I love the tlr-1's and prefer them over the surefire x 300's. price being the biggest. The new 1's with the strobe feature are very bright, robust, and the strobe is really neat. Though I doubt that I would ever be able to articualte the strobe under stress it is a neat feature, and something that has the potential to give you an advantage.

If you happen to get the light and need a holster for the combo let me know, I can make you a nice one at a good price, and you won't have to wait as long as other places.

 

[Zach S]

I'd go with night sights. The weaponlight can wait, use your quality hand held for the time being.

If you dont have a quality hand held light, you should.

 

[possum]

if you ahve a light already (handheld then yes go with the night sights) if you do not have a good bright quality hand held light get the tlr-1 or a hand held light like i described. You need to be sure of your target, positive ID etc, and night sights don't help you with that.