Group size was measured after all the shooting was over. Now shooter No. The same course was fired with the same instructions: Go for center-mass hits, and use only the time necessary to reasonably guarantee them.
Shooter No. We did not shoot a slow-fire stage to obtain the smallest groups, for it was considered a given that a night-sight — equipped firearm would have a definite advantage there. Before I get into the results of my informal test, I wanted to point out that I had never before fired a pistol with night sights in a low-light scenario.
Other than the fact that the sights stood out like a full moon on a blanket of freshly fallen snow, I noticed some important things that I feel must be commented on. When one is concentrating on the front sight, one's focus is directed exactly where the brightest part of the muzzle flash, which is visible to the shooter, is going to manifest itself.
With night sights, the muzzle flash did not totally eliminate the ability of the eye to retain a constant sight picture. The flash did, however, cause havoc in picking up the darkened target silhouette for subsequent shots because after the flash, the light from the night sights was visually stronger than the image created by the silhouette. Imagine how badly the flash would have affected the shooter if the gun had been ported.
Ports really have no place on a defensive pistol. With stock sights it was next to impossible given the amount of light I allowed for this test to make out the white dot and outlines before the muzzle flash. After the first shot was touched off, the muzzle flash destroyed any hope of recovering the pale white dot and outline for subsequent shots.
In this instance, visually recovering the silhouette target was actually easier than with night sights. I have one last comment about muzzle flash.
Muzzle flashes can destroy or severely diminish night vision, and they will not illuminate any but the closest of targets and should not be relied upon for that purpose. I do believe they have a purpose, however. What they can do is allow the shooter to call his shot. At the moment of firing, the muzzle flash creates a strobe-like flash that perfectly silhouettes the position of the sights at the exact moment of the shot.
It is then possible to instinctively make minor corrections for subsequent shots. Using this technique, I was able to call an errant shot during the phase where I was using stock sights. Sure enough, when checking the target later, I had missed the silhouette high and to the left just as I had predicted.
I had entered into this modest test to determine if adequately accurate fire could be directed at a target in extremely low-light conditions without the aid of enhanced sighting equipment.
While I found that, to a point, it could, I also discovered some serious flaws in my earlier theories concerning this. Rather than report each individual's performance I don't want to embarrass myself , I averaged the aggregate times and groups for each weapon. What did I learn? Well, remember my argument that in low-light situations night sights might actually serve as a kind of distraction to an unseasoned shooter bent on perfectly aligning the sights, and taking the time to aim the pistol might needlessly prolong efforts to engage an attacker with fire sufficiently accurate for defensive purposes?
Well, you can toss that theory right out the window. There was statistically no difference averaged between the times our shooters took to attempt to align the sights, whether or not they glowed in the dark. I had argued that unless one was shooting in almost total darkness at a distance that rendered instinctive point shooting useless, night sights were probably unnecessary. However, I learned that the term "unnecessary" taken literally is essentially misleading and should never be confused with "useless" or "needless.
But saying that night sights are not absolutely necessary is not the same as saying they are unnecessary. It is true that stance, grip and sound shooting fundamentals are much more important than enhanced sighting equipment.
However, I learned beyond a doubt for my own purposes that night sights offer unquestionable advantages to both the average shooter with limited or no low-light shooting experience and the police or security officer who periodically trains in low-light scenarios and works under similar conditions.
I might point out that the three of us who performed this test were all experienced law enforcement officers with considerable firearms training, but two of us were complete night-sight skeptics at the outset of the test. Our skepticism has essentially been disproved.
While our average time of fire was virtually identical for both weapons, the average group size for the night-sight — equipped weapon was almost exactly 50 percent smaller, and there were percent hits on target.
Keep in mind that the misses recorded with the non-enhanced weapon might theoretically represent potential tragedies to an officer or private citizen in a defensive shooting situation. So, should you run right out and purchase night sights for your defensive firearms? Of course, that must be a personal decision. If you do, you might check out the offerings from Truglo www.
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