I believed, based on my stellar performance in the night-shooting exercises, that stance, grip and sound shooting fundamentals were much more important than enhanced sighting equipment. I argued that unless one was shooting in almost total darkness at a distance that rendered instinctive point shooting useless, night sights were probably unnecessary. I suggested that in low-light situations, night sights might actually serve as a kind of distraction to the unseasoned shooter bent on perfectly aligning the sights. Taking the time to aim the pistol might needlessly prolong efforts to engage an attacker with fire sufficiently accurate for defensive purposes.

Rodger Smith encounters a low-light target with a night-sighted Glock 17.

Was I right? There was only one way I could be satisfied that I was correct, and that was to conduct some reality-based tests.

Finding a suitable place in which to properly utilize night sights is not as easy as one would imagine. In my area there are few shooting ranges, and only one would grant me the privilege of turning off the lights. But I was extremely fortunate to locate the Belleville Shooting Range, in Belleville, Illinois. Owned by Steven King (no relation to the writer), it is a state-of-the-art indoor range for both handguns and rifles up to and including .30-06. The only indoor shooting range in Southern Illinois, it has a fully stocked retail gun shop handling the hottest-selling brands of handguns, both new and used, and also has a huge supply of rental firearms of every sort, including Class Three guns like the UZI and an H&K MP-5. Not many gun shops can boast a "try before you buy" policy. There are qualified expert trainers on hand for individual instruction, and there is a professionally designed and equipped formal classroom as well. It was there that my modest test was conducted.

I felt that the fairest test would be to use the maximum distance at which one could identify a target. Since white linen suits are no longer the attire of choice for drug dealers and street thugs (potential cop killers and car-jackers like to blend in with their environment), shooting would be done at darkened silhouettes. I was able to create the proper range and lighting conditions that eliminated any hope of quickly and accurately aligning standard black or three-dot sights, so instinctive shooting utilizing proper stance, grip and sound shooting fundamentals would be the rule when using standard sights.

THE UNSCIENTIFIC TESTS
For the purposes of this test, two identical Glock Model 17 9mm pistols were used. The only difference between them was that one sported the standard white-dot front sight with a white-outlined rear sight, while the other was equipped with Meprolight night sights.

GLOCK MODEL 17 WITH STANDARD SIGHTS		GLOCK MODEL 17 WITH MEPOLIGHT SIGHTS
Avg. time for 3 aimed shots at 10 Yards:	3.31 seconds	Avg. time for 3 aimed shots at 10 Yards:	3.33 seconds
Fastest time:	2.66 seconds	Fastest time:	2.15 seconds
Slowest time:	4.71 seconds	Slowest time:	5 seconds
Average group size:	8.25 inches	Average group size:	4.5 inches
Smallest group size:	4.25 inches	Smallest group size:	2 inches
Largest group size:	11 inches	Largest group size:	8 inches
Three misses, for an 83 percent hit rate on target		100 percent hit rate on target

Ten yards was determined to be the maximum effective range for target acquisition in our low-light situation, and frankly, all the shooters pretty much agreed it was on the ragged edge of a couple feet too far. Any farther away and we would have to introduce additional light to simply make out the silhouette, and this would render the non-enhanced sights visible. Any closer and the silhouette could be engaged strictly with instinctively aimed fire, and the shooter might ignore the sights altogether in favor of pure speed.