Home made night sights.

[EDCTAC]

A little while ago I ordered some V10 glow in the dark powder from glowinc.com. It came pretty quick, and I was excited to try it out. You mix it with a 2 part epoxi and then apply it to whatever you want. I used it on a couple flashlights and my flint for my camping trip, and it worked great. I came home from work today and had some free time, and was eyeballing my XD .45. I figured why not. Mixed up a small batch and filled in the white painted holes on the sights n then waited patiently for the epoxi to set. When it was ready I charged it up with my flash light n then cut the lights. I was so excited I ran into my roomates room to show him, he quickly gathered his HK and 1911 and said do these too. They all turned out sweet.

The glow powder is about $30 an ounce, and the epoxi is cheep. 1 ounce of glow powder would easily do 100+ guns.

I also did the logos on my endura, delica and ladybug =) I will try and get some good pics up soon =)

[razorsharp]

i was going to do that to the Spyderco logo on my blue ffg Delica 4 , with blue glow powder,

-Travis

[dmon]

With all due respect, while it might be cool to have logos glow in dark, i definitely would not mess with sights. I pray that no one would even need to use night sights for their direct purpose, but if this unfortunate moment should come most often than not every fraction of second will count and unnecessary moves and especially flashing may be extremely dangerous.
Production tritium sights are not that expensive for what they do, and they don't need to be on every gun after all.

[JLS]

I will merely opine that positively identifying your target in low light is much more important than seeing where your sights are...and lighting your target area has the added benefit of giving backlight to your sight picture.

As neat as night sights can be, spend the money on a solid flashlight first.

[Dr. Snubnose]

I never use night sights on any gun...the problem is if anyone comes up behind you...your head position is now on plane with a visible lite sight, that is if you are holding the gun using the sights on target....First time I ever saw this disadvantage was when training some LEOs during a low light and non light situations at the range....standing behind them was a real show of flyflies (green ones) all over the place....I could have picked them all off one by one in total darkness. There are techniques for accurately firing on target without night sights....in low light or no light situations....Doc

[tacticooledc]

I never use night sights on any gun...the problem is if anyone comes up behind you...your head position is now on plane with a visible lite sight, that is if you are holding the gun using the sights on target....First time I ever saw this disadvantage was when training some LEOs during a low light and non light situations at the range....standing behind them was a real show of flyflies (green ones) all over the place....I could have picked them all off one by one in total darkness. There are techniques for accurately firing on target without night sights....in low light or no light situations....Doc

Think of it this way, would you rather have three tiny dots showing off to whoever is behind you (although most training teaches you to clear EVERYTHING before you move up, thus eliminating to worry what's behind you), or would you rather have a 150+ lumen flashlight beam showing off from your gun light or flashlight in a tactical hold?

Personally, my eyes adjust fast enough at night to where I can see where everything is and make out shapes and sizes.....can't aim with standard sights until I've been in the dark for some time, but I would take those night sights any day over a flashlight that gives you away. Of course, flashlights have their own advantages of blinding the opponent, but as soon as they regain their grounding they know to aim for the brightest spot of light, your head

[Dr. Snubnose]

Two different things...clear a house your back is covered, on the street...ut oh different story....I don't use a flashlight either while shooting in low light or no light....I'm not giving away my position at any time...No light...period....Nor am I using the sights in total darkness but then again I'm not point shooting either....Like I said there are techniques...but I am not about to divulge them here on a public forum or in PM messages with people I don't really know....I can tell you it does involve a lot of practice though...probably around 5,000 rounds to get the techniques down pat so that muscle memory kicks in and you can make good hits on the targeted threat every time... Doc

[dmon]

that's why we have more than one wrench or screwdriver in garage and toolboxes - so we have right tool for the job. It is an eternal debate whether flashlight need to be mounted or handheld away from vital centermass area, or perhaps not used at all, and same goes for night sights. But all that really depends on anticipated engagement scenario. What might be right for private civilian citizen disturbed out of bed in the middle of the night may be outright wrong for LE or Military guy or gal on duty. And vice versa. One must evaluate as many factors as they can and chose right tools and techniques.

[I_like_sharp_things]

I like tritium night sights over painted on glow sights just because I know they will always be glowing for the next ten years without being recharged.

[JLS]

The tools in the toolbox analogy definitely applies.

But I'm not aware of any situation where target ID is optional, at least not in civilian life. Night sights nor low-light shooting skills excuse a lack if target ID.

[Jordan]

Well, I think that sounds like a pretty cool little project bud. I have one pistol with night sights installed, and I find that they definitely facilitate very quick sight acquisition. I am in the point shooting camp when it comes to close quarters pistol... so sight acquisition isn't a huge priority for me, but I've definitely popped a few coyotes thanks to those little tritium rods .

[newtothis]

Sounds cool