Competition pistol sights – What works, and what doesn’t.

One topic that has a lot of contention among competition shooters is the type of sights they like to use on their competition firearms. When shooting just about any type of pistol competition the sights on the pistol are nearly as important as the pistol itself. Competition sights, especially for action shooting games need to be quick to pick up, durable, and accurate.

I originally got into competition shooting using the sights that came standard on my Glock 17, commonly referred to as “ball in a basket” sights, referring to the white dot on the front sight, and the white U shaped outline on the rear sight. What I found was that the U shape on the rear sight distracted me from keeping my focus on the front sight, and the white dot on the front sight was not as fast for my eye to pick up as I would like.

I ended up coloring over the rear U shape with a black sharpie and that helped me to keep my focus on the front sight, and eventually I pushed the rear sight out of the dovetail, and pushed it back in backwards so I didn’t have to keep coloring over it with a sharpie as it would wear off.

I then found that the front sight was too wide, or the notch in the rest sight was too narrow, now allowing much light to show through the sight picture keeping me from being as accurate as I would like. I removed the front sight, and sanded the sides of it down to make it a bit thinner. This helped considerably but made the front sight less durable, and it eventually broke in half while drawing from a holster during a match.

With my broken front sight, I started looking for some aftermarket sights that mimicked what I had done with the stock Glock sights, solid black rear, with a narrow front that is quick to pick up.

I found the Warren Tactical/Sevigny series of sights used by Dave Sevigny to be exactly what I was looking for. These sights use a very thin front sight post, with a little wider rear notch  than the stock sights. These allow a very quick sight picture, with an ample amount of light on each side of the front sight post.

Sevigny sight picture on my Glock 24:

I’ve found that it is easier for me to shoot accurately with a thinner front sight post than it is with a wider one. My eyes seem to adjust the wider light bars quicker allowing me to shoot more accurately.

In the past I have also tried some “3 dot” type sights, and I have found that they are just as distracting as the regular Glock sights, with an added issue of making it difficult to distinguish the front sight from the rear in low light situations. I’m really not a fan of the 3 dot sights, and I don’t believe I would install them on a pistol again.

On my concealed carry pistol, which is a Glock 19, I am running the Ameriglo GL-433, which is a solid black rear sight, with a wide front sight that contains a tritium dot, surrounded by a bright orange insert that is very fast to pick up. I’ve found there to be a great compromise for concealed carry, as they are shorter than the Sevigny sights, and a wider front sight that is a little more durable. The wide notch on the rear sight allows them to have a sight picture very similar to the Sevigny series, and I can be nearly as accurate with them out to 20 yards. Past that distance, the Sevigny sights take the lead in accuracy, with the Ameriglos being a little quicker.

Ameriglo GL-433 sight picture on my Glock 19:

Final Thoughts:

If you are looking for a competition only sight, look not further than the Warren Tactical/Sevigny sights, but if you are looking for something to pull dual duty on a CCW pistol, and some competition, I would very much recommend the Ameriglo GL-433. I’m hoping to pick up a Glock 34 in the next month or so, and I’m going to experiment with some sights on that pistol to see what else is out there.