Novak Tritium/Fiber Optic in low light

mackattack

mackattack

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Debating between Novak Tritium night sights or Novak Fibre optic sights.

Was wondering if anyone knows if there is enough ambient light with a surefire 200 or 300 to allow the fibre optic sights to pick up enough to be useful at night or in low light situations.

How long do the Tritium sights hold their effectiveness for would be a follow up question to that as well.

Thx.
 
OK, I did a little in-home experiment. Did not try this shooting on the range. I used a High Power with Tru-Dot Tritiums fore and aft. Also used a CZ-85 with fibre optic front sight, standard rear sight. Light is a Stinger XT HP with the 120 lumin head.

Using flashlight both sights are equal. The tritium bead is not visible through the glow of the flashlight. The rear glows very, very slightly; not enough to focus on in a hurry. Both guns showed black outlines only on the front sight. Fiber optic front did nothing in a total blackness environment. Answer: no advantage to either.

Turning flashlight off, who'd a guessed I could only see the Tritium's, duh!

In low light it depended on where the light was. When the light was behind me the tritiums showed up fairly nicely but disappeared when the light was in front. Just looked like normal sights then. The fiber optic did not glow at all in the low light, no matter where it was positioned. I used the Streamlight for all this test too.

My conclusion: The fibre optics work best when there is a good light source available. Otherwise they are just the same as normal metal sights. I myself have put fibre optics on most of the guns I shoot competition with because they are the hands-down winners outside in normal light. A my age I need all the advantages I can get to keep up with the kids.

Maybe someone will try a live fire test.
 
I find that in low light fibre optic is better. In low light with the tritium sites I just normally pick up the white paint that surrounds the tritium vials.

In near dark, the tritium comes into its own.
 
I should add that the TFOs don't have a white suround. they can be had with differing colors front to back as well. I've yet to see a set of F.O. sights that work in low lighting, and several sets that don't even work in diffuse lighting.
 
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