In planning to equip my defensive carbine with tritium sights; I’m at a crossroads as to which combination to get and would like some input from those who have tried various flavors. (I’ve done some searching and not seen direct comparisons.)
Basically the choices I’m facing for the front are the XS Big Dot vs. XS Tritium stripe.
I use a Big Dot on my carry pistol and I think it’s great. So, I can see where commonality of sight picture would be helpful.
On the other hand, the stripe is more like the traditional AR/rifle sight post.
As for rears, the XS “subdued” tritium rear aperture looks good. I don’t realistically expect to be looking through the aperture in low-light at close range, but I think the two dots would at least help with rough windage alignment. Or is it a waste of money?
Failing that, keep the tritium off of your rear sight. It sits much closer to your eye than a handgun sight and will F with your night vision and sight picture.
As for the front, whatever floats your boat but I would say stripe over big dot.
The only issue with the “Stripe” as I see it, and have heard about is that zeroing in the elevation, you have to rotate it 360 degrees at a time so the stripe is always in the rear facing your eye. One full turn may or may not equal the height you need for a proper elevation zero.
Come to think of it…wouldn’t this apply to the “Dot” as well?
As long as you need to rely on the front sight adjustment for elevation, I can’t see a way of guaranteeing the tritium surface will be aligned for a proper elevation.
I use Trijicon and Meprolight night sights.
I like twin rear dots on the rear sight.
In very low light you will not find the front sight in the ghost ring and will end up aiming way high of your intended target unless you have the reference dots on the rear ring.
Trijicon uses vials that are quite a bit smaller and dimmer than the front post so they do not interfere with night vision.
Meprolight uses larger, brighter vials and a larger apeture but they will not impede you as much as was alluded.
Does anyone know "For Sure because the answer used to be “No”) of a vendor who makes a Tritium front sight that will go into the Gen I Troy front BUIS that I am told is an “AK” threaded opening, that can be adjusted as demigod states?
I’ve thought about tritium sights on my AR, but I can my front sight so nicely when I hit the light mounted on the gun (better than in daylight, in fact), I chose not to worry any more over it.
It’s different with the pistola for a variety of reasons in my opinion, but maybe I’m missing something.
Do those of you who have them on your rifles envision using them in dim light when you don’t/can’t use the light mounted on your gun, or do they work well in conjunction with a light?
There may come a time in low light when you can identify the threat (s) and do not wish to use a light. A tritium front sight is a good thing at that point.