Best Pistol Sights for Old Eyes

Let's talk about the best pistol sights for quote, unquote old eyes. Now, for a couple of decades, I was told on the internet, in person, that every trade event I went to that someday I was gonna have a better appreciation for why this topic is really important. The fact is I'm right there with you. These are my reading glasses. I understand what it is to mean, I might need special sights because my vision has changed, my vision has degraded especially when it comes to focusing on things up close.

But I still feel the same way about this important topic as I did 15 or 20 years ago, because here's the deal. You need to have good sights that you can use reliably in a defensive situation, and that means that those sights need to be able to help you put the bullet where you need the bullet to go very efficiently in the context of that defensive firearms use. So, the best kind of sight for someone that's nearsighted, somebody that's farsighted, somebody that has cataracts, somebody that has bad night vision, there's a lot of different problems that someone might be encountering as they get older. And I know as my eyes have changed, I've really appreciated sticking to the fundamentals that I think make a good defensive pistol sight. And that is very simply, to have not a very thin front sight post inside of a very narrow channel of a rear sight notch.

But in fact, to have a large front sight post inside of a very forgiving and large rear sight notch. And of course, the sights that I designed with Ameriglo, the claws sights, that's exactly what you get. With the claw sights, you get a big right front square and a square I think is really important as opposed to a circle, that sits inside of a relatively wide rear notch. Now, what that allows you to do is pick up that front sight very cleanly and easily, even if your sight has degraded, your vision has degraded up close. So, the problem is, if you've used traditional sights and if you go back 20, 30 years ago, many pistols, even defensive pistols, shipped with a very narrow front sight post.

And in order to be able to be used well for qualification courses, for competition shooting, for bulls-eye shooting, you want a relatively narrow rear notch because what that gives you is less tolerance for error. So, if we have a very thin front sight post, let's go back to that, and we have a very narrow notch in the rear sights, what we get is a higher potential for precision. But with defensive shooting, we know that we're generally gonna be shooting at chests within 20 or 30 feet, possibly shooting at the head, even closer than that. Nine to 15 feet is the average range for the vast majority of defensive shooting situations. So, we are able to get away with a bright front square that sits inside of that rear notch.

Now, a lot of people have supposedly thought that the barge dot would be a better option for them when it comes to defensive shooting sights. The problem with the large dot that sits inside of a wedge is that you are giving up quite a lot of potential for precision far more than you are with a square that lives inside of a rectangle. Now, certainly this is a compromise from a high level precision narrow front blade if you will, post, but this is too big, a compromise, I think, because you do give up the opportunity to really know where that bullet's going to go when you're sitting the ball on top of the wedge. It's just not a natural alignment that human vision picks up very well. And of course, the other option which has become very popular in the last few years is to have a red dot sight mounted on your defensive pistol.

And certainly it is easier for people that have degraded vision in any way, again, a variety of different ways your vision can change over the years to use that red dot sight under the conditions that we find on the range, in competition, all of the sort of choreographed perfect world scenarios we get into in the training and practice environment. The reality is though, you're doubling the cost of your gun and you're really only increasing your potential over this type of a setup with iron sights in a situation that is really perfect for that red dot. And that means lighting conditions, that means a clean window, and obviously it also means that you're going to be able to do better further away because that red dot sight really comes into play when you start getting out to 15, 20, 25 yards. I liked the red dot sight for those environments but I also recognize that the red dot sight on the pistol creates new potential failures. Again, it doubles the cost of your gun, and again, the vast majority of your defensive shooting situations are going to be up close.

So, when it comes to the perfect sight for old eyes, I think that bright front square and the wide rear notch of something like the Ameriglo claw sight or several other options that are out there on the market is the best way for you to go for a defensive pistol.