Handgun Training: Pistol Sight Design Breakdown
Rob PincusDescription
Rob Pincus has seen many different sights on students’ self defense pistols and has used even more himself over the last 30 years, but has never seen a design that works better than the traditional notch and blade type sight. The front sight is designed to fit into the notch of the rear sight. Rob discusses how this design has been refined over the years and why it works.
When I'm out on the range with students I see a lotta different types of sights come across the line. And the reality is I've seen a lotta different types of sights in my own hands, of course, on a lot of different guns over the last 30 years. And no matter how hard I try, and how often I look, and how many people try to pitch different ideas, at the end of the day, I haven't seen anything that works better than the traditional notch-and-blade-type design. Now the traditional notch-and-blade-type design has the front sight designed to fit into the notch of the rear sight. So what you end up with is, of course you have to excuse my lack of artistic ability, but what we want is sights that are even across the top, and we want equal amounts of light on either side of that front blade inside of the notch. And that terminology, notch-and-blade really is a little bit antiquated. If you think about a traditional old-style rear sight, it would just be a very thin piece of metal, and you'd have kind of an arch or maybe an angled piece of metal out towards the front of the gun. And that would be considered the blade. And in this thin piece of metal, there would be a notch. And that notch is where you put the blade. And of course you try to get this sight alignment sight picture. Now over time, what's happened is the blade at the front of the gun has become much larger and much more pronounced in defensive pistols. So you now have what is much more like a block or a square, which is appropriate because we also have had the notches become more defined, better 90 degree angles on all the points of the notch, and they've become wider. And that's a great evolution for us, because the wider rear notch, if we have a wider rear notch at the back of the gun, this space is where we get light coming back from the target. So we can see that we're super-imposed over the target properly. Now, if you think about it in a training environment, when you have a static piece of steel or a static piece of paper, you know the target's not really gonna move so you can align the gun properly, kinesthetically, then shift your focus back to the sights and really not have to worry about the fact that you are in front of that target. But if you're training for some target that may be moving subtly as it's running towards you, as it's flinching when you point a gun or fire a gun at it, the bad guy may flinch, may turn away, may charge at you, may try to move sideways. Maybe they've got someone at knife point and they're backing away, or they're talking to you. Well, naturally their head's gonna be moving. You're trying to keep that sight aligned over their head. Having plenty of room inside of that notch is gonna be really important. The reason that we want a thicker front sight, the reason we want to thicker blade, is obviously that'll give us more surface area for light to reflect off of, for us to see. So we can focus easier on it because it's gonna be larger. Having good well-defined 90 degree angles, again, sharp edges. And in the case of what I prefer the way we designed the sights that I came out with with AmeriGlo, they use a square on the front, not a circle, not a dot, not an oval, not a triangle. We actually have a colored-in square, the lumisquare design that I chose to partner up with the wide rear notch of our claw sights, because the square aligns again with good 90 degree angles inside of the notch of the rear blade. So there's a lot of different types of sights out there. You know, obviously one of the popular ones is that large ball sight that kind of sits inside of a notch, a wedge, so to speak, very hard to get proper alignment very quickly and efficiently. We have to remember sights generally are designed to increase our precision. They're not designed to increase speed. So any kind of a design, maybe another one we've seen out there is a triangle that sits on top of a base of a pyramid. Again, makes sense visually, but there's no place for the light to reflect and come back through like there is in the wide rear notch. Also, this is a little harder to align here than all of these 90 degree angles that we can reference and all the straight lines we can reference on a improved and evolved notch-and-blade-style design. Anybody who's looked at something like a ghost ring, with a front sight post in front of it on a pistol. You very quickly realize that the ghost ring doesn't ghost like it does in a rifle. If you think about the ghost ring designs that we have on like an AR-15 type rifle, while your eye is very close to the rear circle, the rear aperture, the opening, that ghost ring. So when you focus down here on the front sight, this becomes very blurry. And in fact, you really don't even notice it if you're doing it right. If your eye is very close, or the nose to the charging handle, traditional way of shooting the AR, you end up with a ghosting of the ring and you focus on the front sight. But when you take that and you put that ring way out here in your hand on a pistol, of course it doesn't ghost out. 'Cause there's not that much difference between the focal distance of the front sight and the rear sights, so you end up with just trying to stick a front sight post somewhere in the middle of a ring. And even if you put some dots or markers out here, it's still not nearly as easy to get your precision alignment as you can with a notch-and-blade. So when we advocate notch-and-blade, it's not because we haven't tried, it's not because we haven't looked at other things. We've just really seen so many failures in the hands of literally thousands of students over a couple of decades. That notch-and-blade is what we keep coming back to. And for personal defense I recommend a bright wide front sight, preferably with a square and a wide rear notch, preferably blacked out, so that you can really pick up that front sight sharply and see the light reflecting off the target on either side.
Rob - I've tried most everything you mentioned or drew on the whiteboard and am still dissatisfied. At 60 years of age, I just cant make the classic sight system work for me anymore. I love the idea of a red dot sight but on a EDC pistol, it is kind of clunky and not as concealable. Additionally, I'm not sure if speed might not be compromised as I try to find the dot. Any suggestions any for us fogies?
I tried several times to start the video and it would not start!! Very disappointing and wasted a lot of time!
I agree w/much of what you said Rob, but I installed some XS sights on my Glock 21 and I absolutely love them. Maybe you aren't a 'fan'of them, but I am, and for the following reasons: I went with the Tritium Big Dot front sight coupled with the Tritium rear sight(24/7 Express sights as they are called). I find it easy to gain a good sight picture by simply 'dotting the "i". At 15 yards and in, where the white dot is, is where the point of impact is(if the shooter is doing his/her job that is). From just shooting my gun once(just recently installed these sights) with said sights, I hit my target consistently. Just sayin'! But I just bought a G19, so in all fairness, I will shoot it with it's traditional sights, and analyze what works best for ME(emphasizing 'me'because all that is important here is how I shoot the gun with the sights I choose. Fair statement?) Keep on rockin' on Rob..love you're videos. I try to be the best sponge I can be and soak in as much good info as I can. Appreciate the teaching videos, Mike D.
I enjoyed the video, thanks. I have to say though that my older eyes aren't what they used to be and focusing on a N&B is difficult. Especially with these progressive lens glasses. That said, I have found my answer in the XS Big Dot. They are on my carry gun and at distances up to 25 yards, they are a big plus and are quite accurate. Takes adjusting to if you spent your life on N&P, but for us Boomers, they work.
You did not mention color coded fiber optic sights. While these are still notch and blade, is there a gain by using the colors to more quickly line up the dots? When I am at the range and trying for speed with three white dots, I find that my clear focus is on the target and the dots are fuzzy until I make a conscious effort to close one eye and bring the sights into focus. So I was thinking the fiber optic sight might work better when the sights are not initially in focus. Also, will the lines in the fiber optic sights 1) make you more effective in non-aim intuitive shooting or 2) more quickly move from holster draw to aimed shot because instead of three points you have three lines (when not in aim) becoming points once in proper aim position?
Rob, I'm curious what your opinion is on the ODS (optimized duty sight), and the AIMLINE sight, both are handgun sights. One issue I have with picking the "right" sight is that I cannot afford to buy one of each set and try them all on my pistol (gen3 glock 30sf). It is my edc so I currently have a Glock front night sight with a TAS TJ sight (tfo style rear sight with sort of a heinie straight 8 style aiming method). Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Wow. Rob I do not think you have ever used the HEX SIGHT. Unlike your notch and blade sight where toy have to focus on the front sight and the target is blurry, the HEX sight is used both eyes open and you are focused on the THREAT. I do not know why you think the ring does not disappear..it does. And for those of us with imperfect vision, it allows one to still shoot accurately without glasses! I think you should try it before you make up your mind.
very helpful
I found this video very informative. I have tried a number of sight packages over the years, such as the ball and wedge setup, but always return to the post and notch. The “square” solid colored front sight makes sense when you view it through a square rear notch. I have never figured out why sight manufacturers offer a round front dot, viewed through a square rear notch. I guess they never heard, “you can’t put a round peg in a square hole”.