XS Sights Big Dot Tritium Night Sights | Review

The Big Dot sights have been the staple of XS Sights product lineup for as long as I can remember if they have been a fixture in the aftermarket sight community for this long there must be something to them right? After a quick phone call to XS to set up a review we came to the realization that we were in the same city and set up a range day and visit to the XS facility.

I met up with XS’ new team member Zack for lunch at a local BBQ joint and we talked about the future of XS. Zack hinted at some new products that might be coming to market from XS in the near future as well as expanding their lineup of what firearms they currently produce sights for. I would keep a close eye on XS, there are some really great things coming from them soon.

Once we got over to the XS facility we dove head first into installing some 24/7 Big Dot sights on the Glock 43 that I carry just about every day. Zack started by securing the slide into a vice with a towel as padding and tapped the rear factory plastic dovetail protector out of the slide. Once the dovetail was free of the factory part Zack degreased the dovetail channel with some alcohol and wiped it clean.

The next step was to apply some red thread locker on the bottom of the new rear sight, Zack did say he uses a bit more than is recommended to make sure he gets complete coverage and wipes the excess away once installed. He also applied some thread locker to the channel the sight will be slid into to make sure that there is plenty of thread locker keeping the sight in place.

Once everything is coated in the thread locker Zack slid the sight about half way in then used the included non-metallic punch to tap the sight to a centered position in the slide. The two small holes in the top of the sight house small set screws that you tighten once everything is centered, do not apply thread locker to the set screws!  As for the front sight, XS thoughtfully provides a tool with the Glock sights to unscrew the factory front post and install the new Big Dot tritium front.

Once we got out to the range I had to snap some photos of the new sights, they really do look pretty fantastic. The machine work on them is nothing short of fantastic, they even added little details like the XS logo on both front and rear sights. The tritium vials are provided by and installed by Trijicon, a name that just about every shooter will recognize as the top supplier of tritium vials.

As a surprise, Zack had brought along a P320 for me to run through the paces. I have been dying to take a look at one of these for a while and have been waiting some time to get one in for evaluation. The P320sights are every bit as nice as the Glock sights as you might expect. One feature that people kind of gloss over on the Big Dots is the white dot, they do not use paint because they want to see a lifetime of use with the sights. Instead, they use a machined PVC insert with a convex shape to it in order to keep the dot bright and easy to pick up. A side benefit of the convex shape is it will not collect debris and lint when you are carrying it and the surface area is a bit larger than it would be if they went the conventional concave route.

The rear sight on the P320 also includes a tritium vial to illuminate the rear sight in low light. It took some getting used to getting the sights lined up since I normally shoot 3 dot sights, but after several hours at the range I was getting it down pretty fast.

As I previously mentioned the sight picture is a bit different than most shooters including myself are used to. The shallow V design of the rear sight lends itself to quick acquisition of the front sight, in low light shooters can rely on the Trijicon vials to outline the sight picture. Getting the sight picture in low light was the most challenging thing for me since it is pretty different than the normal 3 dots I am used to.

Time to get shooting with the new Glock sights! I lined up at 25 yards and started taking some shots at the steel target I set up and quickly started landing hits on the man-sized target, it looks like those guys that preach Big Dots might be onto something.

After getting my Glock dialed in I turned to the P320, something that I had been looking forward to since Zack told me he brought it. I started with some shots at the steel target to get familiar with the pistol. I really am impressed, thankfully we will be reviewing the P320 soon.

After I got familiar with the pistol it was time to see if I could still shoot a good group with the Big Dots. We stapled some targets up and stepped back to 7 yards. I was able to get the P320 to turn out a pretty good 5 shot group, turns out that the Big Dots didn’t impact my shooting ability at all.

So what do I think about the Big Dot sights from XS Sights? I really like them a lot and will definitely be buying some more for my other carry guns. If you are in the market for a set of aftermarket sights you really should see if they make a set for your firearm of choice.

The MSRP for the Glock 43 Big Dots tested is $130, the P320 sights come in a bit cheaper at $125. You can learn more about XS Sights and their history by visiting their website HERE.

This post originally was run on The Firearm Blog – http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/07/11/review-xs-sights-247-big-dot-tritium-night-sights/