I am extremely happy with the TLR1-HL. Great for clearing inside a house or other building. And it lights up a backyard and seems pretty durable.

It would be interesting to know how many of the "you must have night sights" crowd have actually been in a self defense situation where you've had to deploy and fire your weapon or been through force-on-force training.

I've never ONCE seen my sights. NEVER. Stress point, Body point index that's it.

I'll go as far as saying that if you're able to obtain Sightpoint index than you're not in a situation where you should be pulling the trigger.

You could remove the sights from your defense pistol and be just as effective as one outfitted with the most uber cool, expensive, fiberoptic, tridium powered night sights.

I've never been in an actual shooting.  I have had force on force training, low light/no light training, shoot houses, etc.  I always saw my sights when I wasn't shooting from retention.  It's a pretty widely accepted notion that you should be able to see your sights before you shoot something.  With a white light turned on your sights will become a black silhouette regardless of tritium inserts, gold beads, fiber optics, pink nail polish or whatever.  I personally like a contrasting front sight for when the white light is *not* turned on, and I like a tritium vial in there too for those times when it's not completely dark.  YMMV.

Excellent. I was hoping someone would reply with actual experience. I've had my fair share of Force on Force training as well in shoot houses and have only once encountered a situation where I've had the luxury of taking the time to see my sights (and it was a no shoot situation). Even within a 15 foot range, the majority of the "justified discharge" situations went from assessing the situation to "Oh shit they're producing a weapon and charging...MOVE, DRAW, SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!" Situations like that happen way to fast (in my opinion) to support your notion that you should be able to see your sights before firing. That's where your muscle memory should kick in, you point with your thumbs or cover the target with your gun and fire.

During a low/no light house clear I spotted an intruder before they spotted me, which bought me the time to move to cover and order them out which was the only time I've put my sights on someone. I was not within my right to shoot however.

Granted the more situations you train in the less tunnel vision you will have over time and you'll be able to see more, be more relaxed if you will.

They are a tool, much like a weapon light. If you'd like to have more tools at your disposal that's you're right.

Good for you, you can save a ton on sights then.  Other experts who have been in the most dire situations advise otherwise though.  As for most cool and expensive, eh I don't think anything said that was a must.

Just a point on claiming force-on-force training doesn't support the use of night sights...

How many are doing FOF in low light, and how many have night sights on their airsoft or SIMs gun? I do but I'm guessing most don't.

In my FOF low-light training I did find the night sights to be very valuable in getting hits without turning on a light. (The exercise was such that shooting your opponent in the dark was appropriate.)

I think night sights are not the end-all solution to all things home defense, but they rarely hurt and can definitely help.

I started a thread in GD so we can stop derailing this one.


 

what ammo do you plan to use? recommend either 147 grain HP or 124-127 +P HP ammo. My personal favorite is Winchester RA9TA

Shooting on a college budget limits me to Tulammo and my friend's reloads, so this was something I hoped to test once I bought my gun.  I appreciate the recommendation though, this is what you use with a G19 I assume?

Go to sgammo.com and buy some standard pressure 124 HST or Gold Dot.

It's in stock, it's >$25 per box of 50 and it works.

I prefer +p, but it's damn near impossible to find these days and when you do, it's high.

Like this. Not shown is the factory +2 extensions I have on the mags; plain and simple... Oh, and the ZEV Tech trigger job inside.

With 9mm shot placement is very important, don't skimp on range time. Try IDPA, USPSA, and steel plate competitions. All three can be eye opening experiences, they're good trigger time, and should not be confused with or considered training. Training is the next thing you should get after the gun.  Take some classes or make friends with guys who teach classes and pick their brains.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

FIFY

My G19 that serves as my HD Pistol. I have a TLR 3 light attached to it with factory sights.

My favorite night sight is the Ameriglo I-Dot, good sight picture love the two dot setup.



I've got a TLR-1S and a TLR-3, both good but the TLR3 is a better size for the 19.

I disagree strongly.

 

Self Luminous Tritium night sights are unconditionally manadatory equipment on any defensive arm.

If you do nothing else to your bedside handgun, DO at the very least put night sights on it.