Handgun Sights
We universally use sights from Heinie Specialty Products, specifically, the Ledge Straight Eight QWIK sight.
The Heinies use a thin front sight with a wide (QWIK) rear notch that is .156” wide. For defensive purposes, this provides a good balance of accuracy and speed. The Ledge design allows the operator to easily manipulate the gun one handed. Most importantly is the Straight Eight sight design. Night sights are important for low and no light engagements. However, there are problems with the conventional three dot design.
1. With three dots (one on the front and two on the rear) of equal size, the operator’s eyes may be naturally drawn to the rear sight because the dots appear much brighter. If the dots are all equal size, the rear dots will appear larger to the operator because they are closer to the eye. Additionally, there are two of them competing with the single front sight.
2. Unfortunately, under stress and low light, Figure 1 can look similar to Figure 2. Typically, this is not an issue for the skilled operator who should intuitively index the gun correctly from training. However, it is an issue that should not be completely overlooked.
With the Straight Eight design both issues are avoided.
1. The front dot is larger than the single rear dot. This automatically, draws the attention of the eyes when aligning the sights.
2. The two dots are stacked vertically, rather than aligned horizontally. This design guarantees that the sights are aligned properly.
Additional note: The dots are only to be used during low and no light shooting when the edges of the sights are not distinguishable. Proper sight alignment is aligning the top of the front and rear sights and equal sized light bars on either side of the front sight.
7 Comments
If one has a different color front sight than back sight the the 3 dot sight is not a problem. I’ve found a green front sight combined with white rear sight works very well
WRT your point #2, it seems like the Straight Eight doesn’t do much for vertical sight alignment whereas the 3-dot would help address that. Therefore the second sentence of point #2 seems wrong to me. Is this not an issue? Thanks.
Duck, varying the front and rear color is a workable solution and much better than all three dots being the same color. What I have found to be a slightly better alternative is to darken the two rear dots with a Sharpie. This is a much cheaper solution for those that already have three dot sights and the only alternative for those that are issued a weapon with three dot sights by their employer. However, I don’t believe any of these alternatives provide the same precision and utility as the Straight Eight design.
Matthew, remember that for true precision shooting one needs to align the edges of the sights. If you align the dots, particularly in diminished lighting conditions, hits typically are not as precise. There is an accepted variance since the alternative is to merely rely on one’s natural body index.
If the front sight is low, the front dot will be partially or completely obscured by the rear sight. This should be obvious to he operator that the sights are not aligned. If the dots are stacked, then the sights have to be grossly misaligned before the impact with be significantly high. At 7 yards, if the top of the rear notch is aligned with the bottom of the front sight post, then the bullet impact will be approximately 5 inches high. From the perception of the shooter, this is a huge variation in sight alignment. If one has the ability to focus such that they are aligning the sights, then it is unlikely that the same person would not perceive that there is a ton of vertical space between their two dots.
Again, let’s remember that mindset, tactics, and skill carry the day. In fact, sights with no illumination, while not optimal, are serviceable on a combat handgun. Particularly, when deployed with a light to illuminate the target which provides contrast for the sights.
insightstraining.com’s done it once more. Incredible post!
I looked for the Heinie Ledge, QWIK, Straight-Eight sight.
I found QWIK sights and I found Ledge sights, but I didn’t see any that were both QWIK and Ledge.
Is the Ledge, Straight-Eight (without the QWIK designation in the title) what we want?
I don’t want to buy anything until I’m sure if the Ledge-QWIK combination exists or not.
I just called Heinie. Even though it doesn’t say it on the titles or descriptions, all Ledge sights use the QWIK design.
Bob, thanks for the clarification.
If I recall correctly, I had the same problem when buying my first set of Ledge sights. I took me a while to figure out that all Ledge had the QWIK design.
Thanks.