I’ve carried my pistols at night and during the pre-daylight morning hours. In the 80s and 90s I had to open up the offices at an outdoor tabloid in part of Seattle where one might arrive to find strangers sleeping in the doorway. There was at least one homicide less than a block away and the night sights had a comforting effect. On one occasion, one of the early morning crew was met in a hallway by a total stranger. That lady locked herself in her office while myself and another guy cleared the building, checking the darkened offices and restrooms. Whoever it was had made a hasty departure, disappearing into the zero-dark-thirty like a world-class sprinter.
Awakened in the dead of night, when the house is dark, one will discover tritium three-dot sights show up remarkably well. You can get a sight picture instantly, and it could save your life.
I like the Trijicon sights on my two Colts and the Springfield because they do not change the pistol profile much, so they fit my existing holsters. They are simple sights, drift adjustable front and rear, and I expect they’ll be working for a very long time to come.
Night Sights Make Sense
Dave’s custom shop Schuetzen Pistol Works Model 1911 wears a set of Heinie
night sights featuring tritium lamps for subdued light shooting.
My first exposure to tritium night sights came decades ago came at a gun range when I was chatting with a sheriff’s deputy. He showed me his personally-owned sidearm under subdued later winter afternoon daylight that was fading fast.
The three-dot setup just impressed me as a swell idea, so upon taking delivery of a Springfield M1911 and being a bit disappointed in the stock sights, I secured a set of Trijicon sights and replaced the factory setup. Using a sight tool from Brownell’s, I managed to somehow center these sights because my trek to the range to check zero found my pistol shooting to point of aim at 25 yards consistently.
Those sights remain on the pistol to this day and they still work, maybe not as bright, but in a dim light they still glow.
As the rear Heinie sight shows, the tritium lamp comes from Trijicon.
Dave replaced the factory sights on his Colt Commander with a set from Trijicon
which work remarkably well in the Pacific Northwest’s often overcast environment.
In the years since, I’ve mounted Trijicon sight on two of my Commander models, and I’ve got a Kimber Compact Custom with factory tritium three-dot sights. When the late Richard Niemer built a 1911 custom gun for me at his shop, part of the Olympic Arms company dubbed “Schuetzen Pistol Works,” I asked for night sights. He called this pistol the “Street Deuce,” a two-tone marvel with a deep black Parkerized finish on the slide and matte stainless steel frame, two barrels and Heinie Straight Eight tritium sights, with tritium capsules from Trijicon.
This pistol doesn’t get as much use as I’d like because I simply don’t have the time, but with 230-gr. ammunition, it shoots better than I do.
I’ve been less a fan of flashlights and lasers, while others swear by them. For me, the tritium sights make sense because nobody can see them coming.
Tritium, for those who are not familiar, is a gas contained in tiny glass tubes called lamps. They fit into recesses in steel sights and the stuff has a rather long shelf life. It’s remarkable stuff.
Of course, Trijicon has come a long way since those early three-dot sight days, and now the company produces reflex/red dot sights, thermal sights, fiber optics and riflescopes.
The reflex/red dot sight has been around for quite some time and Trijicon has been on the front end of the development. After mounting one on a .22-caliber rifle with a Weaver-type scope base, I was convinced.
This .45 ACP Kimber Compact was test by Dave a couple of decades ago. It came
with night sights and Workman liked the gun so much, he bought it.
Many gun makers now install fiber optic sights as a less expensive alternative
to tritium. They’re showing up even on revolvers, including one from Charter Arms.
I think anyone who carries a sidearm daily, and who isn’t into electronic sights, should take the time to fit your pistol with tritium sights. Some may argue it’s not the latest gadget, but in my experience, the three-dot night sight setup is reliable and it has a proven track record.
Are there other choices? Sure, fiber optic sights have been improving and there are some pistols today with such sights. They are essentially the next best thing for people who want traditional sights rather than electronics. I’ve tested several pistols and a couple of revolvers in recent years with fiber optic sights and they’re impressive. A couple of years ago, I tested a Charter Arms revolver with a fiber optic front sight and it showed like neon in subdued light.
Still, my preference is for tritium sights, and no matter who makes them, they beat searching in the dark for black metallic sights.
