I finally decided to pull the trigger, so to speak, and get
some upgraded sights on one of my Glocks. It’s been something that I had been
thinking about doing, but was on the fence for a while… I was hung up on what
brand to get, where to get them installed, and then how would I adjust them if I
needed to (not that I could adjust the factory sights either).
I took a look at the Trijicon and Meprolight sights at one
of my local gun shops, City Arms East in Pleasant Hill, CA.
It was strangely one of the only places I could find that would sell them to
me, and actually install them. Northern California, amongst its many issues,
really is lacking places for gun accessories and gunsmiths. I like to at least
attempt to support local, or semi-local, brick and mortar businesses, but that
is becoming harder and harder these days. They have to charge so much, that in
most cases, I just can’t justify spending the extra money. But, I digress…
The reason I chose the Meprolight sights, really was just a
factor of availability. The gun shop had the correct ones for my gun, and would
install them while I waited (it took about 10-15 minutes). The difference
between the two brands are pretty small from what I could tell. This is not
really going to be an in-depth discussion on, or a comparison of the different
brands, but simply a discussion of what I like about the Meprolights and what
my impressions are of them now that I’ve used them briefly.
So first things first, the basic construction of them is good. They are sturdy and have clean
lines. They don’t appear to have any burrs or discrepancies with the actual
sight dots and the dots glow quite bright in the dark, even after being tucked
away and out of the light for quite a while.
I did some initial low light shooting, and the dots were
surprisingly bright, and very easy to get a good sight picture with. I know,
from trying this with the factory sights, I would lose the sights in the
background when it got dark. With these, that’s not going to be a problem, not
in the least.
The model that I have are the ML-10222 (for 10mm and .45
ACP) with orange rear dots and a green front dot. For more information on them
from Meprolight, take a look here. You can also
take a look at them on Amazon, here (the ones on Amazon are a different model, so make sure to get the right ones
for your firearm).
A thing to note, and I’m sure this will pass with more
practice and usage, but I’ve noticed that I occasionally have a hard time
focusing on the front sight when the sights are glowing brightly (in very low
light situations). I think this is mostly related to the sensitivity of my
eyes, and it’s a different experience seeing these illuminated dots when its
dark. I can’t really explain the specifics, but it’s something that I thought
was worth mentioning. With a couple of dry-fire practice sessions, it’s getting
less and less pronounced. So I think with more training and getting used to
them, it will be a complete non-issue. This goes to show you that NOTHING makes
up for constant and consistent training with your firearms, especially if your
life depends on it.
