Don't know what spurred me to check but I took my pistols into the closet and shut the door with the lights out. To my surprise, the sights on my carry pistol were complete dead/dark. My other pistol's sights were so dim, their were unusable. Both pistols are 10 years old or more.

Thanks to Amazon, I got new tritium sights in 24 hours and they have been installed.

May be a good idea to check yours.

Night sights are good, but when the SHTF in a dark alley at night, my first shot from a pistol would be instinctive...point at the centre of the dark blob and squeeze the trigger. The main problem there is the muzzle flash ruins your night vision so hopefully good night sights would be a bonus.

cheap glow in dark powder ad clear nail varnish works a treat IF sights can be given a little light first.....but I agree vince...except a shotgun would be my weapon of choice...the very definition of instinctive shooting.

Elvis wrote:

cheap glow in dark powder ad clear nail varnish works a treat IF sights can be given a little light first.....but I agree vince...except a shotgun would be my weapon of choice...the very definition of instinctive shooting.

Accuracy by volume

not really.....a good shotgun is fired with both eyes open and no aiming at all...its POINTED more than AIMED....you can remove the bead and still shoot just as well if not better...Ive done this numerous times...shotgunning is all about shotgun fit. so is a bush hobbits rifle needs and for same reasons.
a typicle cylinder choke...straight barrel with no constriction will spread by little over an inch per yard...at 10 yards all pattern should still be inside target zone....heck if target is fat fella like most of the blue or red scarf wearers are over here you could work on 18" across target area and double that vertically.
inside house you could keep entire pattern off the walls and furniture...#BBs will cut in half at anything closer than that.
pure theoretical for us K1W1s of course but having tried many different shotguns and loads on wallabies at various ranges I have fair old handle on what works in regards to hitting target and lethalness.

Tritium sights generally last about 10 years. Quite often they are next to useless after 8 or so.

The longest glow I have read about was from a manufacturer stating 12 years.

During a conversation with Scott Warren (Warren Tactical), I was told the you only need the front sight as Tritium and not the rear.

Scotts' bio. warrentactical.com/about-us/

Elvis wrote:

cheap glow in dark powder ad clear nail varnish works a treat IF sights can be given a little light first.....but I agree vince...except a shotgun would be my weapon of choice...the very definition of instinctive shooting.

No arguments there mate, but a shotgun is a bit big to carry in your back pocket or slip under your pillow at night, although there are some brilliant innovative designs to help in that respect.

I learned to shoot a pistol instinctively out to 7m when I was shooting combat pistol competitions when in the Army. I quickly developed the muscle memory to draw from the holster and put 6 shots into a circle roughly 6” round in about 5 seconds...all with the sights below the shoulder line...true instinctive shooting. If you really have to, you can deliver a debilitating shot in less than a second without aiming...in fact the shot could/should be on its way even before you lock everything in. I think it was the FBI that trained it’s agents to do that...draw, punch the gun straight out in front as you squeeze off the first shot.

But yep, I totally agree with a good load of shot from a 12g being the ideal option. Really stops them from farting in Church

I can't find much to dislike about instinctive shot training or the use of a good shotgun. I dislike pistols for in house defense but only because the rounds tend to go through people and a bunch of walls. The shotgun, with the right load of bird shot will almost go through a person but only half a wall. the shotguns are hard to carry concealed though so I carry the 357 for that.

Paul, there are very good home defence rounds for the 357 Mangl’em mate, rounds with bullets that don’t over penetrate and deliver 100% of their energy in the target medium”. The Gold Dot offering is one that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are other available.

Vince,
I only shoot one kind of ammo in my 357s.
It is a 140 grain HP that leaves the muzzle at an average of 1599 fps.
If I got three bad guys in a line it could kill the first two and put the third into the intensive care unit. I don't load it because it can do that, I load it because it will go into 1 inch at 25 yards and in 2 inches at 50; fired one handed from a standing non-supported firing position. I have used it for 45+ years in competition, training, plinking, hunting and general practice. I have never found any commercial ammo that is close to being as accurate.

I only recently put some XS Sights ("Big Dot") on my Ruger Security Six and so far I like them. I'm very interested in some fiber optic w/ tritium sights for some of the other guns.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I only recently put some XS Sights ("Big Dot") on my Ruger Security Six and so far I like them. I'm very interested in some fiber optic w/ tritium sights for some of the other guns.

Look at TruGlo TFO sights and HiViz Highwave H3 sights.

www.hivizsights.com/

www.truglo.com/

I actually ordered some TruGlo TFX sights for the Ruger SR40 right after I posted that. I'll get a pic when I get them installed.