Not another sight picture question...

[heyyouduh]

I tried searching, but really couldn't find satisfying answers to what I was looking for across several forums I frequent. Trying to decide between my glock 17 4th gen and my H&K vp9 as my "go to" pistol (home and range gun, no plans to carry). Currently the g17 wears plain iron sights front and back and the VP9 wears stock 3dot luminescent sights and I'm planning to get Dawson precision fiberoptic sights for one or both of these pistols, depending if I'm able to decide on one or not. When I shoot the g17 with the plain iron sights I half the target with the top blade of the front sight and line up the 3 top blades. When I shoot the VP9 I line up the 3 dots and place the front dot over the target. My questions are:

1. Any recommendations on front fiberoptic and plain rear vs front and rear (3 dot) fiberoptic sights?

2. If I get front fiberoptic front and plain rears, is the convention to use the fiberoptic dot to pick up the front sight and then line up the top of the blades to aim, or is it convention to just place the front fiberoptic dot over the target as well as in the "center" of the U notch. The latter seems like this would make more sense.

If I get front and rear fiberoptic sights, I assume the convention is to just line up the 3 dots and place the front dot over my target and ignore the top of the blades.

Thanks in advance.

[samuse]

The overwhelming majority of good shooters use a plain black rear. I've never known anyone who had a choice use three dots unless they were some sort of rear night sight with subdued inserts.

You can get a front sight height to hit however you like it. With a front dot of any kind on a defensive use pistol, I like a 'drive the dot' sight picture as it's fast and I tend to focus on the target despite training not to. With a plain black front I like the bullet to land right on top of the front sight at 25 yards. I usually settle for it shooting a bit high since I shoot different weight ammo.

I usually put plain black Ameriglo Defoors on my Glocks. The new DeFoors with tritium at the bottom of the front sight is actually working out pretty well for me as I tend to hit high in low light with a tritium front only.

There's also not a damn thing wrong with stock Glock night sights. They don't excel at anything particularly, but they're tough, cheap, and won't dig into your skin or tear up shirts like damn near every other aftermarket sight out there.

Check out the Dawson MOS non-co-witness rear sight. Looks like a promising sight for those of us who like a minimal footprint.

[heyyouduh]

Thanks for the reply. I really like the narrower front sights that aftermarket sights offer and Dawson seems to be the most well regarded although tehre seems to be alot of choices out there.

[bad aim]

I was debating between the Dawsons and the Trijicon HD's for my daily carry gun, but the HD's won out. But it seems like one of the more popular setups is to have a fiber front with a blacked-out rear and place the dot where you want to hit. May go with that avenue down the line with my next gun, as the HD's are quite wide...