Like many of you, I’m a Life Member of the NRA and as such, I get one of their monthly magazines printed with ink on dead trees. Recently, I was reading a column in said magazine and the author was considering handguns and handgun accessories. When they got to the subject of tritium sights, the author rattled off the for-instances by naming Trijicon, Meprolight, and one other that I can’t recall off the top of my head. But absent was one of the biggest players in tritium in the United States, Night Fision.
Nuclear Sights
First, imagine George W. Bush saying “nuclear sights.” Now consider for a moment that tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a mass approximately three times that of the common protium isotope. Depending on who it is that you ask, the NRC, EPA, and DOE all have something to say about who’s allowed to purchase, store, install, and dispose of tritium.
To be a manufacturer who installs tritium, you have to have an assortment of permits and licenses. At press time there are two companies in the United States who have all the permits to do so; Trijicon and Cammenga with its sister company, Night Fision. Coincidentally, both are in Michigan.
I know someone just said, “No, I get my sights from derpa-derp and they’re in Texas.” Regardless of the brand name, all the tritium vials in all of the American-made tritium sights are installed by one of the two aforementioned companies.
Cammenga is the company who produces the tritium compasses for the United State military and they’ve been doing so for over 30 years. Approximately ten years ago, Cammenga, who had been installing tritium vials for other customers, launched the Night Fision company to produce direct-from-the-manufacturer tritium sights for handguns and now rifles.
Night Fision has two big things going for them. First, they don’t need to pay a third party to install the tritium vials so they can offer very competitive prices. Second, the tritium they use is 30% brighter with patented “Dome Technology.” The colored polymer into which the tritium vials are inserted isn’t opaque, but translucent. That allows light from the radioactive tritium to pass through. The sights just look brighter.
SOTG and Night Fision
In late 2017, reps from Night Fision reached out to Student of the Gun and me. Their question was simple, but the answer was complex. “If you were going to design a set of sights for a fighting handgun, how would you do it and why?”
This gave me pause. I really had to think about the answer. One of the major complaints from shooters, particularly law enforcement officers, when it comes to factory pistol sights is that the guns shoot high out of the box. Factory sights tend to be low on the slide or short. That causes the shooter to instinctively elevate or tip the gun up. The farther the target, the higher the shots impact.
When it came time to design a set of sights for a duty pistol, we tried numerous front sight heights and rear sight configurations in order to get our rounds to hit exactly where they needed to at practical shooting distances. The pistol qualification courses for law enforcement officers nationwide, in most cases, require shots to be taken on targets from five yards out to fifty feet. For the curious, shot impacts at three yards and five yards are, for all intents, indistinguishable.
Initially released for the GLOCK 17 sight cut, the Accur8 sights were made to offer Point of Aim/Point of Impact that’s identical from 5 yards to 50 feet using 124 grain 9x19mm ammunition. Specifically, we used Black Hills duty ammunition for consistency. The front sight height was deliberately chosen to provide consistent accuracy at practical shooting distances.
The Accur8 sights are a collaborative effort between Paul Markel of Student of the Gun and Night Fision. These tritium sights are precision machined from high-quality steel, built in the USA with Swiss tritium, and are brighter than ever before. The front sight is surrounded by a brightly colored polymer to enhance sight visibility in all light conditions. Currently, Accur8 sights are made for standard GLOCK and GLOCK sub-compact (G43) slide cuts, S&W Shield pistols and CZ P10 sight cuts.
A Plethora of Products
Would you say that Night Fision now has a plethora of products? Si, jefe, they have a plethora. In addition to the aforementioned tritium pistol sights, they have AR sights and selector-switches with tritium inserts. Just recently they added optic mounting plates for several of the most popular pistols. They even have plate and sight combo kits.
I recently installed a tritium front sight into the front sight housing of my OCCAM 1775 rifle as well as adding the super-bright “safety green/yellow” tritium front sight to my MC9 compact pistol from Canik.
While Night Fision is the sister company of Cammenga, Glow Rhino is their other sister. One group of products that makes you say “why didn’t I think of that?” are the Glow Fobs. These ingenious little devices contain a glowing tritium vial and can be attached to anything that you might want to be able to find in darkness. Yes, car keys come immediately to mind.
Two uses that I have found for the Glow Fobs are my emergency / tactical flashlight. This is the Surefire that I keep on the nightstand next to my bed. Even though I habitually put it in the same spot, it is comforting to know that I can open my eyes in complete darkness and find the light. If the light were to get knocked to the floor, even in the pitch black, I could find it immediately.
The other use might surprise some, but I attached a Glow Fob to my home defense rifle with a zip tie. Like the flashlight, in pitch black, complete darkness, I can see the dim green glow and locate the gun. If it is Zero Dark Thirty, the dog is going berserk and I thought I heard glass breaking; I’m grabbing the rifle and using the light I have mounted to it to maneuver.
Another good idea is to put a Glow Fob on the zipper-pull of your big red trauma bag on the compartment that contains the tourniquets. Afterall, those are the items you will need to access the fastest.
Parting Shots
tritium sights have been around for quite a while in the United States and, thanks to forward thinking companies like Night Fision, they keep getting better. While Night Fision has not been around as long as some of the other guys, they are a name that is worth getting to know.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.