Rear night sight distracting?

Just picked up a Gen 4 Glock 23 that has super bright Meprolight night sights on it. I'm a front sight shooter and I've always shot a pistol and a shotgun with both eyes open. In low light I love having a front sight lit up, but front and back together cause a major distraction for me. I've always just put front night sights on my carry guns and this somehow is the first I've had that had the combination of front and back. Looks like I'll be taking some paint and blacking out the rears. Anyone else have similar problems?

Yep I like them dimmer as well, and a different color. A touch of sharpie might do the job.

I like black rear sights, too.

Anything else makes me mad!

Heinie Straight 8's have always worked well for me. I just don't shoot the 3 dot sights as well.

With black rears I can focus on the front and keep both eyes open but with a full set lit up there's too much going on and I have to close one eye to sort things out. It's doable but really slows me down.

I can run with either but I prefer front night/FO and blacked out rear

Lol, seems the preference. I also shoot only blacked out rears.

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My buddy Billy always used a blacked out rear sight. I tried it found it works much better for me, too. I take a black Sharpie to the rear sight and a dab of orange polish to the front sight.

Blacked out rear and night or FO front.
Anything more than that is too busy for me to focus on.
Been trying the XS F8 sights and they seem to be doing ok so far.

I'm not big on night sights, one gun wears Ameri glos with a single dot f&r, it's not bad.

Sharpie should dim it but leave enough for a reference in very dim conditions.

CZfool68 said:

Heinie Straight 8's have always worked well for me. I just don't shoot the 3 dot sights as well.

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DAMN expensive, but my favorite sights.

I can shoot both 3 dot and top/bottom 2 dot. Doesn't matter to me.

Because of the way my front sight is slightly higher than my rears when going from guard to full extension, it's difficult to mix them up even in the dark.

Pineoak said:

DAMN expensive, but my favorite sights.

I can shoot both 3 dot and top/bottom 2 dot. Doesn't matter to me.

Because of the way my front sight is slightly higher than my rears when going from guard to full extension, it's difficult to mix them up even in the dark.

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They don't seem expensive if you just buy a really stupid expensive gun.

This is very unpopular with many people but I personally like the bright green front sight and yellow or orange rear sights because the yellow or orange is not nearly as bright as the green, the orange is my favorite “just because”, I have green/yellow on my G17 and just picked up a set of Meprolight green/orange for my G19 carry gun.

I am currently running the Ameriglo “Hackathorn” sights on the G19 but I am about refinish the slide due to rust issues so I figured after 10-11 years I may as well replace the sights.

With that said I thought I would like the Hackathorn sights but I honestly hate the damn things, the front has an orange “doughnut” around the vile and the rear are plain serrated, which should have been perfect for me but I never really warmed up to them.

I'm getting ready to take some factory Heinie Straight 8's off a Dan Wesson and replace them with a rear blacked out u-notch sight and fiber front. Yer eyeballs need to be on that front sight.

Tarowah said:

that said I thought I would like the Hackathorn sights but I honestly hate the damn things, the front has an orange “doughnut” around the vile and the rear are plain serrated, which should have been perfect for me but I never really warmed up to them.

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That's basically what the Ameriglos on my Shield are, that orange ring grabs my eye quite well. I love it as long as "good enough" will do, precision of any sort requires a lot of time/effort.

fieldgrade said:

I'm getting ready to take some factory Heinie Straight 8's off a Dan Wesson and replace them with a rear blacked out u-notch sight and fiber front. Yer eyeballs need to be on that front sight.

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That makes sense in good light. Just depends on the use. The FO are about useless at night. At a range I like the blacked out rear and FO front. It is about perfect. Carry gun not so much.

CZfool68 said:

That makes sense in good light. Just depends on the use. The FO are about useless at night. At a range I like the blacked out rear and FO front. It is about perfect. Carry gun not so much.

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I can shoot 10 head shots in a row in the dark with a gun I am familiar with at 7 yards, no night sights. Did it at Hackathorn's class.
That said, if one needs night sights to see one's sights then one likely can't ID one's target. It's a conundrum.

I carry a wee Glock with a front night sight and blacked out u-notch rear.

fieldgrade said:

I can shoot 10 head shots in a row in the dark with a gun I am familiar with at 7 yards, no night sights. Did it at Hackathorn's class.
That said, if I need night sights to see my sights then I likely can't ID my target. It's a conundrum.

I carry a wee Glock with a front night sight and blacked out u-notch rear.

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Yep. That night time stuff adds a level of complexity. Good thing for me the only thing that works is my eyes. Although shotguns are sounding better and better. The family knows enough to get out of the way while I shoot!

I'm going to have to be the dissenter here. After 20 years of shooting a three dot Mepro or Trijicon set up, the dots always just line up for me. I have to slow down if shoot someone's gun with a different sight arrangement. It all comes down to your training, as usual.

wemoodydc said:

I'm going to have to be the dissenter here. After 20 years of shooting a three dot Mepro or Trijicon set up, the dots always just line up for me. I have to slow down if shoot someone's gun with a different sight arrangement. It all comes down to your training, as usual.

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We all shoot what runs best for us, and this is likely because it is what you are used to. As somewhat of a dissimilar example, if I shoot 1911's for regular matches week after week after week, then shoot a small Glock in a BUG match (that I run great times with for an old fart) my timing "stutters" because my strong hand thumb is looking for a thumb safety (that's not there) to disengage on draw.

Most of the best competitive shooters I've watched at matches typically run blacked out rear sights. I don't know if you ever shoot "on the clock" but you could time yourself on a favorite drill shooting your current set up, and then put a couple of squares of electrical tape over your rears dots, run the drill a dozen times to acclimate to it, then time it that way.

fieldgrade said:

We all shoot what runs best for us, and this is likely because it is what you are used to. As somewhat of a dissimilar example, if I shoot 1911's for regular matches week after week after week, then shoot a small Glock in a BUG match my timing "stutters" because my strong hand thumb is looking for a thumb safety (that's not there)to disengage on draw.

All the best competitive shooters I've watched at matches typically run blacked out rear sights. I don't know if you ever shoot "on the clock" but you could time yourself on a favorite drill shooting your current set up, and then put a couple of squares of electrical tape over your rears dots, run the drill a dozen times to acclimate to it, then time it that way.

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I'm completely with you. It may very well be faster to only have a bright front sight, but any change requires a period of training where you lose previously established performance while learning the new system. To the original question, though, here is one person who doesn't get confused by old fashioned Mepro 3-dot sights! In fact, if you want a new home for them, @BBD280, just send them up to Winston and I have a Glock that they can go right on.

I use the hackathorns on carry guns. I like them a lot for the price/ performance.

On competition guns I prefer the FO front, with a bigger rear notch. I like having plenty of light on the sides. Likely do to 50 year old eyes.

But I am at the point of an optic gun as it has gotten bad and sights are completely blurred now. Enjoy those eagle eyes while you can whippersnapperz!!