Night sights on Sig Sauer M17 (P320)

[AlexanderA]

I've been trying to familiarize myself with my newly-acquired Sig Sauer M17 (P320).

The sights have some kind of Tritium inserts that are supposed to glow in the dark. Well, the glow can't be seen unless it's almost totally dark -- conditions under which it's almost impossible to make out the target anyway. In addition, the Tritium will go dead after 6 or 7 years (it is said).

The front sight has a decent white dot surrounding the Tritium insert, but the rear sight has no dots -- just the inserts. Since the Tritium inserts are unusable 99% of the time, what we have is clearly a step backwards from the Beretta M9 (92FS) white-dot sights. In well-lighted conditions, you wouldn't use the dots, but in dim conditions the Beretta sights are much better than the Sig sights.

I can't believe the military accepted this design as an improvement.

 

[Old Dog]

Actually, the military M9 has plain white bar/dot sights.

In daylight most of us don't even worry about lining up the xots on three dot sights, simply center front sight blade in the rear sight notch.

But your nightsights should glow in low light and you shouldn't need total darkness for them to indicate.

 

[AlexanderA]

Actually, the military M9 has plain white bar/dot sights.

Yes. I have both an M9 and a civilian 92FS. The rear sights are actually the same.The difference is that on the M9, the center indentation (bar) is filled in with luminous white paint, while on the civilian 92FS, the side indentations (dots) are filled in with the paint. The front sights are the same on both. Either is superior to what Sig is putting on the M17. I can get aftermarket target-adjustable 3-dot sights to put on my Sig, but that will cost me something like $100 extra.

ETA: The M17 has a different rear sight mounting system than the standard dovetail P320 system, so finding a replacement 3-dot rear sight might be a bit of a problem.

In daylight most of us don't even worry about lining up the dots on three dot sights, simply center front sight blade in the rear sight notch.

Right. My point is that if you're going to make a big deal about the night sights on a gun, as Sig is, they should at least work as advertised.

But your night sights should glow in low light and you shouldn't need total darkness for them to indicate.

This is a brand new gun! I had to turn off all the lights inside the house at night to even see the dots. It was a very, very weak glow. And of course I couldn't see any target to shoot at in those conditions. (My eyes are not those of a 20-year-old, but they are not all that bad.)

 

[RA40]

What is the date code on the sights?
A few years on the vials should not be significant unless they are already aged. My oldest is the AN ('14) and they are barley a hair dimmer then the AO ('15) but not by much. My newest are dated '16.

 

[AlexanderA]

What is the date code on the sights?

The code on both front and rear is "AR" which I take to mean 2018. The front sight has a height of "6" and the rear of "8".

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

If you have the M17 commemorative edition with the orange rear sights, they are dim to spec. The rear sight is also supposed to be almost impossible to acquire the dots during well lit conditions. It's supposed to be close to using a complete black rear sight and white dot front sight. There is a good amount of theory and practice showing that set up leads to faster on target times.

 

[Old Dog]

Here's what mine look like in natural late-afternoon low light in the bedroom (my pistol was born in December 2017): note - just saw previous poster's remarks about commemorative edition sights, mine is the commercial FDE edition

 

[AlexanderA]

If you have the M17 commemorative edition with the orange rear sights, they are dim to spec.

I have the regular M17 edition and the dots are green. They certainly are dim, though.

I can understand having a plain black rear sight, with or without a white dot on the front sight. But then why go to all the trouble of putting Tritium inserts in the sights? They could have just saved themselves the expense.

A simple 3-white-dot setup would be better than this in low-light situations.

 

[paulsj]

I've been trying to familiarize myself with my newly-acquired Sig Sauer M17 (P320).

The sights have some kind of Tritium inserts that are supposed to glow in the dark. Well, the glow can't be seen unless it's almost totally dark -- conditions under which it's almost impossible to make out the target anyway. In addition, the Tritium will go dead after 6 or 7 years (it is said).

The front sight has a decent white dot surrounding the Tritium insert, but the rear sight has no dots -- just the inserts. Since the Tritium inserts are unusable 99% of the time, what we have is clearly a step backwards from the Beretta M9 (92FS) white-dot sights. In well-lighted conditions, you wouldn't use the dots, but in dim conditions the Beretta sights are much better than the Sig sights.

I can't believe the military accepted this design as an improvement.

The only use for tritium sights is to be able to locate gun in the dark. They are pretty useless otherwise. I like fiberoptic front ones because they work well in daytime and at night with mounted weapon lights.

 

[AlexanderA]

Here's what mine look like in natural late-afternoon low light in the bedroom (my pistol was born in December 2017):

Mine look nothing like that. They're like tiny pinpricks and you have to squint hard or you'll miss them. If the ambient light was like that in your bedroom, you couldn't see them at all.

ETA: It appears that you have Sig's X-RAY1 sights while I have the X-RAY3's. Since mine is a year newer, they must have changed the specs.

 

[Old Dog]

The only use for tritium sights is to be able to locate gun in the dark.

Okie-dokay then. Some of us have actually utilized them from time to time in the dark and low-light for actual shooting, even when using lights. It can be very comforting to be able to actually see the front sight , and put same, over a target at night. (and not have to hope one's point-shooting technique is working) But then, it's possible some of you have never actually used a handgun at night before. Though I will say I get a warm fuzzy from being able to open one eye in the middle of the night and detect the green glow on the nightstand, so I'll agree with that part, just not about the "only use for them" piece ...

 

[AlexanderA]

The only use for tritium sights is to be able to locate gun in the dark.

In my case they wouldn't work for that either. You can't see them unless you are staring directly at them, in the dark. The luminous white dots on the Beretta are far more visible. Now, Sig did use white paint on the front sight, surrounding the tiny opening for the Tritium.