Night Fision Sentinel
Improved Shotgun Sights
A Classic Idea Brought Into The 21st Century
Shotgun sights? Oh boy, I have been through the whole gamut of versions over the years. Bead on a barrel, ramped bead, buckhorn, and rifle sights, several flavors of ghost rings, modified ghost rings, optics — and pistol sights. Oddly enough, one of my Holy Grail guns from decades back has pistol sights on it.
Close-up of what Night Fision rear sights look like.
You’ll see a shorter version on your shotgun.
Man With a Plan
Enter some guy by the name of Steve Fisher. He was previously with MagPul Dynamics and currently runs Sentinel Concepts. Years ago he was doing a range day, which started with a lot of pistol work. Later, he switched to a shotgun and realized this particular gun visually aligned the sights roughly in the same place as the handgun he had been using.
Pistol sights give the shooter a sight picture nearly everyone is familiar with, unlike ghost ring sights (too much information) or rifle sights (anemic). Steve wanted speed in-close and precision with slugs at a distance, about 75 yards realistically. Pistol sights seemed like the perfect solution.
Better Visibility
Steve knew years ago we had such shotgun sights. Remember the grail gun I mentioned, the H&K 121M1? It came with pistol-like sights! Early Beretta Model 1201 shotguns (no, not a typo, not the 1301) had pistol-like sights as well.
It took about a decade to bring this idea to fruition but Steve finally got in contact with Night Fision, a Michigan-based sight company.
Their products come out of the same clean room used by Cammenga Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of military compasses and maker of the U.S. Military’s lensatic compass with tritium inserts. While the Night Fision name is perceived as relatively new, it is just the public face as the company has been doing tritium insertion for others for years after spending time developing and honing their process to high levels. Night Fision uses a very high-grade tritium source from Switzerland and throughout the manufacturing process, the company adheres to Nuclear Regulatory Commission processes and standards.
A 25-yard standing off-hand group made with with Sentinel sights.
Excellence in Manufacturing
To get a brighter image, Night Fision developed a now-patented dome for their vial. This dome sits at the end of every tube and gives the vials a much sharper appearance. Unlike vials with flat, smaller, or lower-grade glass, the dome prevents visual haziness. Additionally, with a larger vial, they can use 30% more tritium for a crisper image.
Everything they learned from previous design efforts has carried over to their Sentinel Sights, resulting in the familiar sight picture Fisher was looking for.
Design-wise, the Sentinel Sights are closest to Night Fision’s Stealth line. The front and rear sights are beveled with high lines per inch (LPI) serrations to mitigate glare and front sight blades have either a yellow or orange sleeve around the tritium vial. For those buying rear sights with tritium, those come with black sleeves.
Neither Fisher nor anyone else involved was looking for something sexy. They weren’t trying to change the world. They just wanted a better sight that was more visible to the shooter — they clearly succeeded with Night Fision Sentinel Sights.
