competition rear sight - fiber optic vs plain black

[azrocks]

Getting ready to order a Dawson sight set for a PPQ, and I'm torn between a plain-black rear or one with fiber optics.

From what I've read, it seems most people prefer plain black rears. Would anyone suggest otherwise?

If I ordered the fiber-optic rear, couldn't I either remove the fiber optic inserts or black them out with a marker if I felt plain black worked better?

 

[ATLDave]

Fiber optic front, black rear is the most common for the action pistol games. By far. Next most would be black rear and some other kind of front.

Dots in the rear don't make a lot of sense in the USPSA context. Sometimes you want your attention/focus on the front sight, sometimes on the target... you're never going to want to look at your rear sights.

Maybe you'll end up being one of the small minority of shooters that actually is faster with a 3-dot kind of setup... but there's little reason to anticipate that you would be.

 

[ny32182]

Literally the ONLY guys I see in action games using anything but non-black rear sights are guys, usually older, with vision issues that make it extremely difficult for them to pick up a plain black rear at all, even given great lighting and unlimited time.

Yes you could potentially just sharpie over the fiber on the back if you don't like it.

Assuming you have average visual speed and acuity, shooting at a speed where you are literally shooting through the sights and just using the fiber, you probably won't want the level of "busy" in the sight picture that is going on with three dots. You want to find one dot, and know for sure it is the right one when you see it. If you are shooting at a slower pace on a harder shot, you just want a crisp front post arrangement.

 

[tarosean]

From what I've read, it seems most people prefer plain black rears. Would anyone suggest otherwise?

nope.. you want to minimize your visual distractions, consciously and subconsciously.

 

[johnmcl]

I concur. Here in the mid-Atlantic region the top shooters are all on black rear sights and a fiber optic front sight. I can only think of one exception, and she shoots black on black.