tritium

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XS Sights DIY sight pusher

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 I have always needed a sight pusher to install handgun iron sights. The old brass punch and hammer system was getting old. When XS Sights told me they were coming out with some sight pushers, I was all in. XS came out with two different styles, both for Glock style pistol slides. They are the “DIY” and the “Gunsmith” version. The DIY sight pusher is what I received. It’s a no frills sight pusher, but gets the job done with ease.

  XS DIY sight pusher is a convenient way to install Glock sights. It also works to remove the old ones. The DIY sight pusher isn’t very large at all, it fit’s on a workbench or table top with ease. It’s under 6” long and 2” wide. The size makes it super convenient for throwing in your range bag. That way if you need to adjust your sight at the range, it’s really easy to do so. The pusher tool has a screw on the end which is used to push on a brass piece using the provided allen wrench. This brass piece is what pushes the sight in. Then there is an open channel where your pistol slide fits. Also included is a plastic wedge to hold the slide up tight against the tool. A Glock style front sight tool is also included. 

  A cool thing about these XS sight pushers is that you can also get them in a kit. The XS kit includes the sight pusher and a set of XS R3D night sights. This is actually the kit they sent out. The R3D’s are not a tall sight, so they are not for use with red dots or suppressors. So I rounded up a normal slide and went to work installing them. The R3D front sight has an orange ring around a tritium insert. The rear is blacked out with just 2 tritium dots on both sides of the notch. This gives you a 3 dot sight picture in low light and a very fast regular sight picture under normal conditions. I can’t say enough good things about the XS tritium sights.

  I was really impressed with how the DIY sight pusher worked. I took my slide, set it up against the pusher surface. Lining up the sight with the center of the brass pusher piece. I slid in the plastic wedge until it was snug. Then took the allen wrench and started turning the screw. Put some oil on the screw threads before each use so it won’t bind up. The old sight pushed out with ease. So I backed the screw back out and removed the slide. I then took the new R3D rear sight, pushed it into the dovetail, by hand, as far as it would go. Then re-installed the slide in the pusher as before. Turned the screw and watched the new sight push in with ease. Once the sight was visually centered, I stopped. To tell if the sight is in the center of the slide, just turn the slide around in the tool and look at the reference marks. They are on the brass pusher, as well as the frame of the pusher itself. Once the same marks line up, with the slide in the tool on both sides, you know the sight is centered. The DIY pusher also works with an optic mounted on your slide. The only difference is that you have to use the edge of the brass pusher instead of the center. 

  The XS DIY sight pusher has really good instructions. They are included as a hard copy, but are also available online. I like the hard copy because I can reference it, if needed, on my workbench, without having to pick up my phone. Being that the DIY sight pusher is an open top design, it also makes it much easier to see what is actually going on with the sight install. On a side note. Even though it is for Glock style sights and slides, I did find it to work on my Sig P320 rear sight. So it may or may not work on other handgun manufacturer slides.

  XS Sights did a pretty good job with the DIY sight pusher. I don’t think I will probably wear it out in my lifetime. If you change a lot of sights, it’s worth the money. If you change even more sights, look into the Gunsmith version for only a few bucks more. The DIY sight pusher made easy quick work out of changing sights. Go take a look at the DIY pusher over at XS Sights.

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Do It Yourself sight pusher for Glock style slides

Target Market:

Those who frequently change sights

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

  • Tool Life Span: 50 – 100 Installations

  • Kit includes semi-professional sight pusher and steel Glock front sight tool

  • Fits all Glock OEM and Aftermarket slides

  • Glock MOS Compatible – Install sights with optic mounted on pistol

  • Non-marring brass bit prevents scratching sights or slides

  • Built-in Centering Scale – 1/16” scale

  • Bolt Thread Pitch: 1/16” – 1.5 Bolt rotations equals 1/16” of travel

  • Weight: 1.4 lbs.

  • Sight Tool Dimensions (LxWxH): 5.5" x 1.75" x 1.5"

  • Designed and Manufactured in Fort Worth, TX

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

Gunsmith version

What others are saying?:

Nothing found

Link to other reviews:

Shoot On 

Price point:

MSRP = $150.00 

     Bundle with XS sights = $254.99

Retail = $150.00

I need it now! Availability:

XS Sights

Our Rating:

Pros:

  • Super easy to use

  • Can get as a kit with sights

  • Size makes it useful anywhere

Cons:

  • Price if only doing one or two installs

  • Only for use on Glock style slides

Score: 7.50 Good

Favorite Link:  Kaiser US 

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XS F8 Night Sights

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  XS Sights is known for their fast acquisition Big Dot sights. XS has come out with a more conventional night sight called the F8. These F8 sights combine the fastness of the “big dot” with the sight picture of a standard sight. When they first came out about a year ago, I was on the list for a review sample.

  First thing one notices on the F8’s is the big orange dot front sight. Inside this orange ring is a green tritium dot. The orange ring makes it extremely easy to pick up the front sight with the eye. Besides the glow from the tritium, the F8’s orange dot is photoluminescent and can be “charged” up with a flashlight, or other bright light. The white glow, from charging the front sight, lasts a few minutes. I even charged the dot up when just using my handheld flashlight, while dry firing with both the light and pistol. It just happened to get enough spill over to illuminate the dot. The tritium is also very bright, but more on that later.

  The rear sight uses the standard square notch style. This pairs nicely with the front sight. XS uses what they call a “wide notch rear”. This wider notch allows for more light on each side of the post, aiding in quicker pick up of the front sight. I really like this style of system. I tend to like narrower front posts and a wider rear. The F8 rear does this, but with a wider front post. More light on each side of the front sight picture is faster for me also. The tritium is a single dot below the notch of the rear sight. This is to give a dot over dot sight picture, or figure eight, as some call it. This is where the “8” in F8 comes into play. The rear sight is also very square shaped, with a slight angled overhang on the back side. Angling the rear sight slightly helps to reduce glare in certain lighting conditions. The squared shape also gives plenty of real estate for one handed slide manipulation. Another thing that is nice about the rear sight, it is all black with only the one tritium insert.

  I installed these on an aftermarket G17 slide. Installation was straight forward enough. XS provides a front sight tool and threadlocker in the box. The front sight was a little loose in the oval hole. I would have like it tighter. So what happens when you overtighten a screw, it breaks off in the first few rounds. XS has one of the best warranties in the business. I emailed them, and a few days later a new front sight showed up. Free of charge. So I followed the instructions perfectly for the new installation. A few months later, and hundreds of rounds, at a match, the front sight breaks off again. I emailed XS and even sent a video of when the sight fell off. I offered to buy a new one, NOPE. They sent me a shipping label to send the slide in for them to install the front sight! I have had no problems with the front sight since. They get a 10/10 for customer service. Now onto the rear. I coated the dovetail with XS’s threadlocker, slid the sight in, and tightened down the 2 set screws. I was done, and it hasn’t ever moved on me.

Low light, no photoluminescence

After shining flashlight on front sight (photoluminescent glow)

  As a combined sight set, the F8’s really shine. They are slightly taller than most factory sights, which I like. But not so tall that they can be called suppressor sights. The front is 0.280” tall, and the rear is 0.300” tall. The tritium is super bright. I just love the sight picture I get. Everything needed for installation is in the package (threadlocker, sight tool, allen wrench). The height, along with the bright orange front, really does make them easy to get on target fast.

  If you hadn’t guessed by now, I like these sights. XS Sights did a fantastic job with the F8’s. If you are in the market for some night sights, or just a really good sight, definitely go check out the F8’s. The warranty is also fantastic!

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Night sights with photoluminescent front sight

Target Market:

People wanting fast, easy to see sights

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

  • Tritium

  • Orange color front ring around tritium

  • Glow dot front sight

  • 0.160” front sight blade width

  • Wide, square notch rear sight

  • Rear sight ledge

  • 10 year warranty

  • Figure eight sight picture

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

Other handgun models

What others are saying?:

Imaposer on Amazon 5/5 stars

My favorite pistol sights of all time!

I absolutely LOVE these sights! I installed a set on my G19 last year. After using them a bit I decided that they were the best sights I'd even used on a defensive type handgun. Yes, they are larger than most. And for my eyes that along with the orange front sight ring makes them very fast to acquire. I've used XS Big Dots for years... since they were called Ashley Express Sights if that tells you anything. And while I always found them fast to acquire a flash sight picture with, I never felt that they offered much precision. Especially in terms of elevation. With the F8 on the other hand, I think they're just as fast. Maybe even faster since the more traditional sight picture gives me a very quick reference of elevation as well as equal light. While the Big Dot is quick to pick up, I often found myself losing time trying to get the front centered in the shallow rear trough and trying to get the front dot at just the right height above it... Just didn't work as well as the theory would suggest. For me at least.

A secondary thing that I like, other than the speed and visibility of these sights, is the rear sight. The height combined with the profile of the leading edge makes these the easiest sight I've ever used to do one handed manipulations with. I can easily run the slide on my belt, boot heel, table top, edge of a door jamb, and just about any solid surface I can press the rear sight against. And much more securely than any other I've used. Speed of acquisition and precision is obviously the primary focus of sights for me, but this is an added bonus, IMO.

This review is for the second set of these that I've purchased as since using them on the G19 I decided to put them on my new G43. And now I've considering replacing the Big Dots on a couple of other pistols, and an almost brand new set of Truglo TFX Pros on another, with these as well. Yes! I like these that much! And currently there's nothing else on the market I'd even consider buying.

Link to other reviews:

GunDigest

Price point:

MSRP = $142.00

Retail = $127.80 on Amazon

I need it now! Availability:

XS Sights or Amazon

Our Rating:

Pros:

  • Easy to pick up front sight

  • Good sight picture

  • Sight “Glow”

  • Bright Tritium

  • Excellent Warranty

  • Everything needed is in the package (Allen wrench, loctite, front sight tool)

Cons:

  • Wide front blade

  • Tritium washes out (a fault of all tritium sights)

  • Loose fit on front sight

Score: 8.5 Great

9.5 for customer service

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Favorite Link:  Freedom Flag Products




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FT Bullseye

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   The Meprolight FT Bullseye sight is very non-standard. It utilizes a bit of smoke and mirrors, but works better than I expected. When I first saw the FT Bullseye, I immediately sent them a review request, and as you can tell, they sent one out. The FT bullseye is a fiber optic/Tritium sight, that doesn't require a front blade. 

  I mounted the FT Bullseye on a Kahr handgun. They of course make them for other makes of handguns also. Installation is pretty straight forward. Remove the old sight or sights. I left the stock front sight in as it doesn't have to be removed. Slide the new FT sight in, they recommend loctite 609, but not on the screws. Center it up, and tighten the torx screws with the supplied wrench.  

  When I first took the  FT Bullseye out shooting, my main goal was to see where it shot, and adjust accordingly. While doing the initial sighting in, I realized that the sight was really easy to use. Since it it a dot inside a circle, your eyes naturally want to center the dot. This is exactly how the FT sight works. If you don't have the circle dot lined up, your not on target. Also if it is not lined up, it will appear dim on part of the circle, or nothing at all. Very similar to a red dot sight in that aspect. If for some reason you can't see the sight, it has an outline like a standard channel and post sight. This also helped me with learning where to look for the circle dot, as it is on the same plane as normal pistol sights. 

  I did see a few quirks with the sight. Noticeably was the lack of windage adjustment. You can move the sight left or right, but since it is fixed on one plane, it does nothing for you. I ended up loosening the mounting screws and biasing the sight at a slight angle to get it to shoot point of aim with my chosen ammo. Next up is the size of the fake notch/post sight. Because of the integration of the fiber tubes and how it projects the circle dot, the size tends to cover up some of the targets. On 6" steel plates at 15 yards, I could only see the top 1/3 of the plate. You definitely want to shoot with both eyes open so that your mind superimposes the circle dot over the target. Last on the list, the FT Bullseye washes out when aiming at a brightly lit target while you are in a dimmer area. It gets even worse if you shine a bright light at the target, or aim it at a bright light. Standard tritium sights do this also, so it's not just these. The FT Bullseye does have the "fake" sight blades, as I call it. So when it washes out, you still have some sort of sight reference. 

  Even with the above mentioned quirks, this  sight does work well. I timed myself before and after installing the FT sight. This was low ready to firing 1 shot on a 7 yard and 15 yard target. I did this several times, 25 with each sight at each yardage. When I averaged both of them, they were close enough to not matter. Accuracy was on par for both at those distances also. One of the times when I had it at the range, I sprinkled some dirt on the sight to see how it worked. Even though the sight picture was dimmer, I didn't have any problems seeing it while dirty.    

Dirt on sight

Water drop on sight

   The FT Bullseye sight is a little larger than your standard rear sight. But since it is very squared off, you can rack the slide by using the sight without any problems. I also tried it in 3 different holsters and it didn't interfere with anything on them. 

  I really like the concept behind the FT Bullseye. Kind of like a red dot, but in a non-electronic package. The Mako group imports these for Meprolight. Check them out if your in the market for a new sight.  

Firearms Insider Reviews - 8 Key Points

Claim to Fame:

Quick access day/night sight

Target Market:

Those wanting a combination Tritium / fiber optic sight

FNBs (Features & Benefits of this product):

  • Rapid target acquisition  
  • Fiber optic
  • Tritium  
  • Circle dot (reticle) 
  • No front sight needed

What other aesthetic options or finishes are available?

Green or Red

What others are saying?:

Harold on OpticsPlanet 2/5 stars

I have purchased two of these sights now. I put one of the sights on a Glock 19, and the other on a Glock 43. I then took the two handguns and a Glock 19 with traditional meprolight night sights to the range. After 500 rounds, I found the sights neither faster nor more accurate. I believe they may be able to be as accurate as traditional sights, but it will require more practice behind the sights. The problem seems to be that it takes a slightly different process to get the dot aligned in the circle. I found that shooting with both eyes open was also more difficult with the sights. I seemed to have something akin to parallax happening with both eyes open. With practice these sights will work, but unless you convert all of your handguns to this style of sight, you may have difficulty switching between styles. My choice will be traditional night sights.

Pablo on Amazon 4/5 stars

i got the green for my glock 43 because as my primary carry gun (in AZ - hot with minimal clothing) i wanted to minimize any protrusions, size, and weight while keeping the area in front of trigger guard empty for my supporting hand. so optical sights, flashlights, and lasers, although used on my other 3 pistols, were not an option for this purpose. it lines up well. i used a bore laser to get it close windage wise - it's not adjustable for elevation. at the indoor range the sight is not visible at all. since i had the front sight off i was using instinctive aiming over the top fairly well, but i would not trust myself to attempt a head shot on someone more than 15 feet away with these sights in dim light. i'm going to put the front sight back on my pistol, paint the white dot bright green, and see if that helps for indoors.

Link to other reviews:

The Truth About Guns Review

Price point:

MSRP = $199. 05

Retail = $169.88 at Amazon 

I need it now! Availability:

Mako Group or Amazon

Our Rating:

Pros:

  • Intuitive to use
  • Easy installation
  • Bright in daylight  
  • Tritium  
  • No front sight needed
  • Same presentation as standard sights 

Cons: 

  • Washes out on white or lit backgrounds
  • No windage adjustments
  • Covers a large quantity of the target

Score: 6.5 Okay

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Chad’s Favorite Link: Staheli's Shooting Supplies (SX3)

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