Upgrading Sights

as a cheaper alternative u could buy nail polish and put a drop in there? (trijicons are nice tho)

prob find a tool on ebay (not sure if there would be one available from the site sponsors here?)
 
Think about fiber optic, IMO. If it's good enough for Costa... :)

I like the Warren Tactical Sevigny Comp (front fiber, blackout rear) setup on my M&P9. Pretty sure they have a tritium version.

Install with a brass punch and a hammer, nothing much to it (I made a punch out of a chunk of brass rod). Drift out from left to right, drift in from right to left. BUT the M&P slide dovetail cuts have been known to vary somewhat, so you might have some fitting to do. I got mine on (front and rear) in a half hour or so using a fine diamond file.
 
The tritium sights only glow brightly enough to see them under dim to dark conditions. How often do you shoot in truly near dark conditions? Their use makes sense on a self defense handgun in the US where most muggings are going to occur in the dark but not so much up here where we shoot on well lit ranges during daylight only.

And because we shoot in daylight conditions if you want a front sight that jumps out brightly the best option is a fiber front sight.
 
Anyone have experience with Tru-Glo TFO's? This might be a nice compromise.

I guess I'm just a little nervous about the durability of fiber.

Even though she's a range queen, I'd like her to be SHTF worthy ;)
 
just purchased the sevigny comp rear and fo front yesterday lol. are you one of those costa fan boys that needs to know what take down pins he uses etc?
alpining said:
Think about fiber optic, IMO. If it's good enough for Costa... :)

I like the Warren Tactical Sevigny Comp (front fiber, blackout rear) setup on my M&P9. Pretty sure they have a tritium version.

Install with a brass punch and a hammer, nothing much to it (I made a punch out of a chunk of brass rod). Drift out from left to right, drift in from right to left. BUT the M&P slide dovetail cuts have been known to vary somewhat, so you might have some fitting to do. I got mine on (front and rear) in a half hour or so using a fine diamond file.
Click to expand...
 
"...The paint just fell out..." It's not paint. You can either buy a new insert or just use nail polish, Testor's model paint or liquid paper. Either of the former would be way better than liquid paper, of course.
Mind you, changing the sights because you want to is good as well. Doesn't take any special tools, but you'd best leave it to a smithy. The sights need to be centred properly.
 
BCRider said:
Their use makes sense on a self defense handgun in the US where most muggings are going to occur in the dark but not so much up here where we shoot on well lit ranges during daylight only.

And because we shoot in daylight conditions if you want a front sight that jumps out brightly the best option is a fiber front sight.
Click to expand...

Not all of us only shoot on well lit ranges in daylight conditions like yourself.
 
NaOH said:
Not all of us only shoot on well lit ranges in daylight conditions like yourself.
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Trust me, my one club's indoor range is far from brightly lit. But it's still light enough that glow in the dark sights would not look lit up. So unless your range allows night shooting and has no lights I still can't see tritium sights being valid up here in Canada. Well..... other than if you partake in IDPA or some other competition that sticks you in a "night time" stage now and then.

For MOST of us a light gathering and amplifying fiber sight would serve us for much more of the time at the range.

Dusticles, love the name by the way... :D There's no doubt that fiber fronts are a trifle more delicate than solid sights. The open style that is needed to let the fiber gather the light means that if you shoot through openings and don't allow for the recoil bouncing the sight off the top of the opening then you WILL break them after a few times of this. But for regular shooting they really are not a problem.
 
I installed the Trijicon HD yellow sight on my M&P 9mm and loved it despite the hefty price tag. It makes your eye focused on the front sight much easier.
 
here's the thing with night sights...if you can't see well enough to see the sights, how can you see well enough to engage a target and IDENTIFY it before you pull the trigger?

That's why IDPA low light makes you run secondary illumination (whether gun or hand held) to identify the target your shooting. You can turn out the lights on your indoor range so you can see the cool glow from your night sight, but you'll just be shooting at a vague outline of the target in the twilight. Really bright night sights can actually make it HARDER to find a poorly light target, especially when your eyesight gets a bit older.

When i was 30 i put night sights on a couple of pistols....found out i might as well have left the stock ones on other then the "cool" factor..they don't add anything

When i hit 40 I started swapping out my front blades for fiber optic...they good ones are durable, they're fast to acquire and make good use of any light available. There's a reason more and more competition shooters in action shooting are going to fiber optics front blades, because they work! If you want a non optic front, try an XS big dot. They make it in both night sight and non night sight versions.
 
sw433.jpg


AmeriGlo "Hackathorn" sights -- the orange is super visible in the day - and the tritium is visible in low light.
 
Thanks a lot for the replies guys, I needed a couple days to think about this.

As much as I like the M&P, it's not a competition pistol and I'm not much of a competition shooter. I'm looking to get my Black Badge but I'll do it with either a CZ Shadow or Rem. 1911.

My 40 is my right hand man. I'm learning how to defend myself with it and I want it to know it's going to give me confidence in any situation.

I'm dead set on getting a tritium based optic.

I primarily use the top of the front sight for aiming so I wonder, does the bright dot pull your focus down to the center of the front sight?

Only reason I'm partial to this is because my eyes aren't what they used to be and I lose the target behind the front post. I shoot mostly steel right now on an outdoor range. 25-100yds
 
Cocked&Locked said:
here's the thing with night sights...if you can't see well enough to see the sights, how can you see well enough to engage a target and IDENTIFY it before you pull the trigger?

That's why IDPA low light makes you run secondary illumination (whether gun or hand held) to identify the target your shooting. You can turn out the lights on your indoor range so you can see the cool glow from your night sight, but you'll just be shooting at a vague outline of the target in the twilight. Really bright night sights can actually make it HARDER to find a poorly light target, especially when your eyesight gets a bit older.

When i was 30 i put night sights on a couple of pistols....found out i might as well have left the stock ones on other then the "cool" factor..they don't add anything

When i hit 40 I started swapping out my front blades for fiber optic...they good ones are durable, they're fast to acquire and make good use of any light available. There's a reason more and more competition shooters in action shooting are going to fiber optics front blades, because they work! If you want a non optic front, try an XS big dot. They make it in both night sight and non night sight versions.
Click to expand...
Which fiber optic front would line up properly with the standard trijicon night sight rear? I wouldn't mind swapping them out once in a while.
 
dusticles said:
I'm dead set on getting a tritium based optic.

I primarily use the top of the front sight for aiming so I wonder, does the bright dot pull your focus down to the center of the front sight?

Only reason I'm partial to this is because my eyes aren't what they used to be and I lose the target behind the front post. I shoot mostly steel right now on an outdoor range. 25-100yds
Click to expand...

Any "dot" front will bring your attention to the center of the dot, so vertical alignment becomes a real issue that you have to address in training. The fiber optic front that I have is designed so that the top of the dot coincides with the top of the front sight post, minimizing the issue, but it's still there. Not sure about the tritium...

But given all that you've said above...

http://www.wanstallsonline.com/smith-wesson-m-p40-4.25-pro-series-c.o.r.e.-.40s-w.html
:cool:

Why worry about sight alignment at all? :stirthepot2:
 
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