Heinie Straight Eight's.. love em or hate em?

[TNTitan]

Well - I'm loving this little 3rd gen Taurus MillPro .45ACP, but these Heinie Straight Eight sights are taking some getting used to. Heinie says, "It is a proven fact that the human eye can correct vertical alignment quicker then horizontal alignment." Some reviews I see say these Straight 8 sights are designed for fast target acquisition. I'm no tactical expert, so I cant really tell a difference. All I know is its weird.

Before I rip off the sights off this new gun and go back to what I'm used to, I would love to hear from others with more experience. Should I try and stick it out and learn to use these sights?

[Chucktshoes]

I have the Taurus PT1911 and I like the heinie sights. Admittedly, I am not a sharpshooter by any means, but I able to keeps my shots in a reasonably tight area COM. I will say that I am able to obtain my sight picture faster than with standard 3 dot sights.

[G27]

Seems like it would be tough to align the vertical plane in low-light conditions as you maynot be able to see the tops of the sites...

[Guest truthsayer]

I use a flash picture, and the front sight is really easy to pick up with this arrangement. As with anything, training helps. I have heinie's or big dots on most of my carry guns.

[DavidD]

Seems like it would be tough to align the vertical plane in low-light conditions as you maynot be able to see the tops of the sites...

My thoughts exactly! Now I have nothing against the Heinie's (no pun intended ) however I believe the whole vertical/horizontal argument is pure marketing propaganda used to sell their product. If you don't like them, I'd swap them out without thinking twice.

[Guest TnDeerHunter]

I have the Heinie night sights on my 1911 and love them that being said it did take some practice to get use to them.

[krunchnik]

I have the Taurus PT1911 and I like the heinie sights. Admittedly, I am not a sharpshooter by any means, but I able to keeps my shots in a reasonably tight area COM. I will say that I am able to obtain my sight picture faster than with standard 3 dot sights.

+1 I also have the Heinie on my Taurus,at first I didn't like them,but the more you shoot with them the more I like them.I was considering also changing mine,but not any more.

[Steelharp]

big dots on most of my carry guns.

Then you won't have to just lay in the gutter and die.

[Guest Grout]

I like plain black sights,no dots,no bars etc.

[Guest Rugerman]

I am not a fan, I like big white dots front and back.

[Guest HexHead]

I've got Straight-8s on my Nighthawk, love em.

[Guest tennesseevolz]

I have the straight 8's one of my 1911's, and they are a neat concept--- I found them espically handy for when my wife shoots with me--- it is a simple matter of lining up the dots instead of checking L and R side and lining up all three---not a bad sight---

[jbum]

Love em on my pt145

[Guest Todd@CIS]

I like them.

I'd LOVE them if the front sight had a bigger white ring around the tritium (something like Meprolight fronts).

[Guest TXRoadhouse]

I like the concept, just not the price of the night sights, so i went and got tht williams firesights put on mine. they really stand out and are really quick to line up.

[Guest Tn.Mitch]

I have 2 Pt 1911s,the first one I bought was the Bull .it had the straight 8 heinie sights,the second one was the dual tone ,it had the reglar 3 dot sights,we are all use to..I decided to put night sighjts on both, Henie.com makes both kinds for the PT1911, I chose to put the 3 dot on both guns, they are the only ones that make nighjt sights for the pt1911,(Henie.com),at $150.00 a set,they are not cheap, Jeff at Guns and Leather,was nice to put them on for me...

[TnShooter83]

I have a PT111 and they are ok....

But I'd prefer the standard 3-dot sights.

I like to stick with what I know.

[Guest oldhack62]

Hated 'em! It's one of the primary reasons I traded my PT145 for a Bersa 45 UltraCompact. Both have dead-on aiming (which I prefer to a 6-o'clock hold), but I can shoot the Bersa much more accurately than I ever did the Taurus (and, I'm a pretty decent shot!). Now, admittedly, I'm not at all sure that Taurus didn't just plain shoot low... (funny, the Bersa doesn't, though.)

[Guest thomjb]

I have a set on an HK Compact Tactical, took me a while to adjust to them, but now I like them.

[Guest grimel]

Seems like it would be tough to align the vertical plane in low-light conditions as you maynot be able to see the tops of the sites...

That would be a GCE (gross conceptual error). The "thing" about the straight 8's is just that, make an 8 with the dots and squeeze. Close quarters trying to get home alive isn't about shooting quarter size groups dead on the POA, softball size groups within even 2 inches of the POA quickly tends to work.

I don't have a strong opinion either pro or con. I have other sights I like very much and don't worry about night sights. I'm yet to find a situation where I can ID the target and I don't have enough light to see a red/orange fiber optic front sight.

[Guest Funnyrunner]

I was looking forward to trying them out on the Taurus 1911 I just got but got the newest model and it has the 3 dot Novak sights. Maybe next time. The Heinies do seem a bit odd to us old shooters.

[eapking]

H8 them. I'll take the Glock's standard "goalposts" anytime.

[Guest buddysattva]

Keep working with the straight 8's. It's worth it. Keep it up until it's thoroughly instinctive. You focus on the front sight anyway especially in stress situations. The dot right underneath your point of focus really does work better, and keeps your shots center mass.

The Heinies grow on you. No pun intended.

[Derek]

Personally I hate them. Ive pretty much been strictly a 3dot guy personally.

[PaiMei]

I like them.

I'd LOVE them if the front sight had a bigger white ring around the tritium (something like Meprolight fronts).

What he said.