Ar15 night sights

[Alleycat72]

Anyone ever use ar15 sights with tritium?

Is it worth it or a waste of time and money. Setting up some non-optic ar15s.

[gary_boom]

Good question, looking forward to hear people’s opinions 

[leroy]

I'ma thinkin Meprolight makes some nice buis sets.  I've got a set on an AR.  I like em. As I remember, I dot up front, 2 horizontal dots in the center of the peep.  They are well worth the price, s but north of $100...  I'll see if I can find em n post a link.

leroy....

[leroy]

Here is the link...

https://www.meprolight.com/product/mepro-frbs/

leroy...

[leroy]

I've used these guys too...

https://www.trijicon.com/products/details/cp25.

leroy...

[Alleycat72]

I'm doing this on a 11.5" 5.56 upper for my SBR lower. I'll probably get a lower and form 1 it too so I'm not going back and forth on the same lower. It's going to be a 100-150 gun. Trying to see if I can get away without using a red dot. I've done a bit of shooting in the dark with a flashlight, but I'm getting older. LOL

[leroy]

I think they will work like a charm.  The short barrel will just make em better.  I like the Meprolight best.  Mine are on 16 inch guns...

leroy...

[FrankD]

Not going to lie I would spend the $100 from the night sight budget (plus a little more) on a decent red dot.  Shooting with irons at night is going to be tough, even tougher at 100-150 yards.  In order to get positive ID out that far you're going to need a good white light so you're already in $150-ish minimum there (Streamlight HLX).  I tend to lean toward if you can't see your sights how can you see your target?  If it is just for quicker sight acquisition I think a dab of paint would get you the same result.

[Alleycat72]

45 minutes ago, FrankD said:

Not going to lie I would spend the $100 from the night sight budget (plus a little more) on a decent red dot.  Shooting with irons at night is going to be tough, even tougher at 100-150 yards.  In order to get positive ID out that far you're going to need a good white light so you're already in $150-ish minimum there (Streamlight HLX).  I tend to lean toward if you can't see your sights how can you see your target?  If it is just for quicker sight acquisition I think a dab of paint would get you the same result.

Well to be fair, I'll be shooting 100-150 during the day. At night we are talking about the lingth of my living room or house with a light on the gun. 11 years is a long time before the front sight goes dim. I have really bad luck with red dots and it didn’t really matter how much I spend.  

[InertOrd13]

I would recommend for a red dot and flashlight but if you really do not want an optic than at least a flashlight. Night sights work ok as the lights go out but you also are more likely to lose positive identification of what you're shooting at. Tritium does require at least some light so if there is no ambient light than they are just as useful as regular iron sights, not sure what the lighting in your house looks like but figured I would bring it up.

[scatman]

I use a MBUIS Pro front sight with a tritium front post I bought aftermarket, standard MBUIS for rear, for backup in the event of my dot failing. I've tested the rig just using my irons, day and night, and the setup works well. 

[ohell]

What did you get?  
 

I run a XS csat rear which is notched above the distance aperture like a pistol sight and lots of front sight options: xs big dot , Chinese chevron, meprolite. Prefer the notch for close targets.  
also fond of primary arms micro prism except the China production.  Without illumination the etched reticle is easy to find with forward throwing light. Dead battery in sight doesn’t matter unlike a red dot. 

[Alleycat72]

1 hour ago, ohell said:

What did you get?  
 

I run a XS csat rear which is notched above the distance aperture like a pistol sight and lots of front sight options: xs big dot , Chinese chevron, meprolite. Prefer the notch for close targets.  
also fond of primary arms micro prism except the China production.  Without illumination the etched reticle is easy to find with forward throwing light. Dead battery in sight doesn’t matter unlike a red dot. 

Trijicon mro. Horrible parallax. 18.5 moa at 100 yards. That was the replacement. The original had 18 moa of parallax. 

[Chucktshoes]

26 minutes ago, Alleycat72 said:

Trijicon mro. Horrible parallax. 18.5 moa at 100 yards. That was the replacement. The original had 18 moa of parallax. 

Thats just kinda the deal with them. The MRO ain’t a great product. I think folks talk themselves into liking it because of it being a Trijicon. 

[Alleycat72]

58 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

Thats just kinda the deal with them. The MRO ain’t a great product. I think folks talk themselves into liking it because of it being a Trijicon. 

The Eotech is a bit boxy, but it probably has the least parallax. I had a $99 pos that was fantastic, but it needed to be turned on manually. 

[Thearmededucator]

The usefulness of tritium sights is heavily influenced by usage. For a SHTF style rifle intended to be used in near total darkness, they work wonderfully.  But in most self defense usages, they are frankly unnecessary (this is a fairly new opinion of mine, BTW). If it is so dark you cant see your sights, how can you Identify your target? As mentioned above, if used in conjunction with a WML, your sights will work without the tritium due to the throw of the light. 

[Alleycat72]

1 hour ago, Thearmededucator said:

The usefulness of tritium sights is heavily influenced by usage. For a SHTF style rifle intended to be used in near total darkness, they work wonderfully.  But in most self defense usages, they are frankly unnecessary (this is a fairly new opinion of mine, BTW). If it is so dark you cant see your sights, how can you Identify your target? As mentioned above, if used in conjunction with a WML, your sights will work without the tritium due to the throw of the light. 

You're not wrong, but the the same argument can be made about red dots. The red dots do adjust for light conditions. I've been running thermals on ARs for the last 5 years or so and I'm trying to put a less tech reliant option. In no light the flashlight is a 100% must, however there are different degrees of darkness.

[jeff43]

Just get a 1x4 scope

[South Paw]

Paul Howe posted a short but interesting video on YouTube the other day about night sights on an AR. 
If you don’t know who he is, he’s a no BS shooting and tactics instructor with plenty of real world overseas experience. 
 

 

[Alleycat72]

I ended up trying front sight that had limited glow and sticking a cheaper Aimpoint on the gun. I'm not unhappy. 100 yard 3 shot groups. 11.5" barrel. IMI 77gr razor core. 3 shot groups for zeroing. 

 

[whiterabbit]

I've done my fair share of shooting in the dark and here's what I've learned...

A Tritium frt sight way down on the end of an AR15/M16 is all but worthless in high stress, heat of the moment engagement. It's mildly usable in a stable fixed shooting position when you can focus on the itty-bitty spec of trit light.

A fixed 1X or 2x "shake awake" optic will run circles around night sights, esp in high stress moving target situations.

Very very hard to beat the built like a tank Primary Arms 1X Cyclops or the 3X Raptor ACSS series prism optics plus they have adj diopters for aging eyes! Catch 'em on sale during a holiday and you won't believe how you lived without 'em.  I've got them on everything from ARs to AKs to HKs.  (Mrgunsngear sometimes has a code for a free Anti Reflection Device for the front of them)

 YMMV,

 White Rabbit