Tag Archives | Handgun Sights

When you think 10-8 Performance, you think 1911. While Hilton Yam, owner of 10-8 Performance, does make excellent 1911 accessories and custom 1911s, he also makes excellent sights for a variety of other handguns. The sights that we will be looking at in this article are made for the Glock family of handguns.

The 10-8 Performance Sights offer a very uncluttered sight picture even with a tritium vial insert in the front sight (mounted on a Glock 19 for reference). Click to enlarge.

Stats

• Front sight width: .125″
• Rear sight notch: .140″ (.125″ and .156″ also available)
• Price: $74 for tritium front sight, $44.35 for rear sight

Front Sight

The 10-8 Performance front sight is thin for a tritium front sight at only .125″ inches wide. It is serrated to reduce glare and the tritium element is unlined. The unlined tritium is what attracted me to these sights. They perform very much like all black target sights when light conditions allow and that makes them very shootable.

The 10-8 Performance front sight is relatively thin and serrated. It features an unlined tritium vial insert. Click to enlarge.

10-8 Performance also offers plain black and brass bead front sights.

Rear Sight

The rear sight is well contoured. It has an strong, chunky appearance. It can be used fairly easily to rack the slide which is important for some one handed manipulations. It is serrated to reduce glare.

The rear sight features glare reducing serrations and a .140" rear "U" notch. Click to enlarge.

It features a true “U” notch. The bottom of the notch is round instead of square. This leaves the shooter free of hard corners that can distract from aligning the only hard corners that matter; the ones at the top of the front sight and the top of the rear sight.

When I purchased these sights, the only rear sight notch options were available were the .125″ and the .140″. I chose the .140″ rear sight and always wished it was a bit wider. The .140″ notch feels a little tight when you are trying to speed things up. 10-8 Performance recently started offering a rear sight with a .156″ notch. If I was buying these sights today, I would definitely buy the new .156″ notch rear sight.

The rear sight has a strong, chunky profile. Click to enlarge.

In Use

I shoot these sights better than any other I own in terms of accuracy. The combination of the tighter rear notch and the way that they appear like all black target sights during the day (the tritium vial insert is unlined and barely noticeable until dark). These sights are just very easy to shoot well. The downside is that sometimes I feel like I am searching for the front sight through the narrow rear notch which costs me some time.

That is not to say these sights are slow. They are not. They just are not as fast as some others that I use and 10-8 Performance has essentially rendered this small issue (if you can even call it that) irrelevant with the introduction of the .156″ notch rear sight. I suspect that the new wider rear sight shoots incredibly fast. The intro of the 1.56″ rear notch should be exciting news for the many fans of these sights.

The 10-8 Sights with the .215″ tall front sight shoot exactly the way I like which is about 1-2″ high at 25 yards. This is relatively intuitive after some range time and allows the shooter to see their shots over the sights. I find it to be easier to shoot longer distances this way. If you choose to, you can adjust your point of impact by purchasing a taller or shorter front sight. You can read details on the 10-8 Performance blog.

You can purchase these excellent sights directly from 10-8 Performance on their website.

Good things happen when you combine the best of two excellent handgun sights. That is exactly what AmeriGlo did when they developed the I-Dot Pro sights. They combined the innovative front sight from the Hackathorn sights and excellent rear sight from the  I-Dot sights. The results are amazing.

You can't miss this front sight! This picture approximates the shooter's point of view (on a Glock 17 RTF2 for reference). Click to enlarge.

Stats

• Front sight width: .140″ (note: this is slightly wider than the standard I-Dot front)
• Rear sight notch: .180″
• Price: $89

Front Sight

The I-Dot Pro sights borrow the front sight from the Hackathorn sights. It is slightly taller to work with the taller I-Dot rear sight and slightly wider (.140″ versus .125″) to accommodate a large red-orange ring around the tritium vial insert. This red-orange paint makes the front sight amazingly fast to pick up in daylight conditions. It reminds me of a red dot sight or a fiber-optic front sight. You really have to spend some time with this front sight on the range to appreciate it. It works extremely well in low light as well thanks to the tritium vial insert.

The bright red ring on the front sight is borrowed from the Hackathorn sights. Click to enlarge.

Rear Sight

The rear sight is identical to the rear sight used for the I-Dot sights which is to say that it is excellent. The notch is relatively wide (like most AmeriGlo rear sights) at .180″. This makes it faster and easier to find the front sight when the gun is brought to eye level on the draw stroke. The rear sight is also undercut which really cuts down on glare.

The bottom corners of the notch are rounded similar to a u-notch (unlike a true u-notch, the bottom is flat). These rounded corners serve to remove all of the hard edges from the sight picture except the important ones.

The rear sight features a single tritium vile insert that does not have a white outline which makes it appear smaller than the insert in the front sight. Everything about this rear sight is designed to help you focus on the front sight.

The I-Dot Pro rear sight features a single tritium vile that is not outlined and a wide notch with rounded corners. Click to enlarge.

The rear sight has many of it’s edges melted so it is snag free. However, the leading edge of the rear sight is left squared so that the sight can be used to cycle the slide in an emergency by catching it on a belt, holster, table top, or any other suitable surface. This may be an important feature if you train one handed manipulations.

The I-Dot Pro rear sight has mostly "melted" corners except the leading edge which is intentionally left squared. Notice the slight undercutting of the rear sight. Click to enlarge.

In Use

These perform very well on the range. The wide rear notch makes finding the front sight very fast and easy. I didn’t see much of a difference in my splits between the I-Dot Pros and the standard I-Dots but there is something very confidence inspiring about knowing that you will be able to find that huge red dot quickly. The red dot becomes even more brilliant in sunlight. It is tough to miss.

I didn’t see any measurable accuracy decrease from the wider front sight (versus the standard I-Dots). If anything, the wider front seems to align more intuitively than the narrower front on the standard I-Dots. I was less distracted by the “daylight” showing on either side of the front sight. This may have to do with the proportions of the front sight to the wide rear notch.

The 2 dot set up is very intuitive in low light. The front tritium vial insert seems brighter and it grabs my focus naturally. Low light shooting is difficult enough as it is so it is nice that these sights really seem to work with you rather than against you as with some 3 dot night sight set ups.

AmeriGlo continues to innovate. By combining the best features from two successful sight sets, they have created a set of sights that is more than the sum of its parts. The I-Dot Pro sights offer a balance of speed and precision while performing exceptionally well in both daylight and low light conditions. These sights, at this price, are pretty hard to beat.

Check out the AmeriGlo I-Dot Pros at AmeriGlo’s website.

The I-Dot sights are one of the newest offerings from AmeriGlo. Their name comes from their 2 dot design. Instead of lining up 3 dots horizontally like you would with most night sights, you align 2 dots vertically with the I-Dot sights. It’s like dotting an “i”. This design feels fast and intuitive in low light.

Front sight focus is easy with the I-Dot sights. This picture approximates the shooter's point of view (on a Glock 17 RTF2 for reference). Click to enlarge.

Stats

• Front sight width: .125″
• Rear sight notch: .180″
• Price: $74

Front Sight

The I-Dot front sight is a pretty standard front sight. It has a tritium vile insert and a white outline.

The front sight is typical of most night sights. Click to enlarge.

Rear Sight

The I-Dot features an excellent rear sight. The notch is relatively wide (like most AmeriGlo rear sights) at .180″. This makes the front sight faster to pick up but may cost you some precision at longer distances. I find the speed gained is greater than the precision lost. It’s a worth while trade.

The bottom corners of the notch are rounded similar to a u-notch (unlike a true u-notch, the bottom is flat). These rounded corners serve to remove all of the hard edges from the sight picture except the important ones.

The rear sight features a single tritium vile insert that does not have a white outline which makes it appear smaller than the insert in the front sight. Everything about this rear sight is designed to help you focus on the front sight.

The I-Dot rear sight feature a single tritium vile that is not outlined and a wide notch with rounded corners. Click to enlarge.

The rear sight has many of it’s edges melted so it is snag free. However, the leading edge of the rear sight is left squared so that the sight can be used to cycle the slide in an emergency by catching it on a belt, holster, table top, or any other suitable surface. This may be an important feature if you train one handed manipulations.

The I-Dot rear sight has mostly "melted" corners except the leading edge which is intentionally left squared. Click to enlarge.

There is no shortage of options when it comes to excellent handgun sights. The AmeriGlo I-Dots have a slew of features and a price that makes them one of the top choices in a crowded field.