We’ve all heard (and possibly repeated) the old saw that Glock doesn’t include sights as standard equipment on the company’s pistols, they include “dovetail protectors” that hold the place where real sights go. It’s a truism that one of, if not the first, the more immediate upgrades to a shooter’s Glock is a new set of sights—the plastic white-dot sights are less-than-optimal for the breadth of shooting the defensive practitioner should employ. Enter the new XS Sights FR8 Glock night sights.
XS Sights has long offered replacement sights for a wide variety of pistols, with the company’s “Big Dot” sights some of the better-known options. XS recently introduced the F8 line of pistol sights, which contain a single tritium dot at the rear and a tritium dot surrounded by a highly visible orange ring at the front. It’s a minimalist arrangement that allows sight to concentrate on that front sight, which is amenable to more-accurate shooting.
Installation is straightforward, and assuming you have the tools (or access to the tools) it can be performed quickly. The front sight installs with the use of an included Glock sight tool, whereas the rear sight requires a dedicated sight pusher tool. These can often be rather expensive, so if this is a one-time replacement, it may be more cost-effective to bring your slide to a gunsmith. If you have access to a Glock sight pusher, however, it takes little time to push the Glock rear sight out and then install the XS F8 sight.
The front sight fits into a contoured opening and can only be installed one way (well, technically you could install it backwards, but it’s pretty hard to confuse the two directions…). The rear sight, similarly, can only be installed one way, but be careful with installation. As with any sight containing tritium vials, don’t be tempted to drift the sight into place with a brass punch, as the trauma to the sight could potentially damage the vials.
Once installed, the difference is noticeable. The orange ring around the front sight tritium vial draws the eye quickly in standard light settings, while containing photoluminescent pigment that glows under low light conditions. The rear sight’s notch is wide, helping bring focus to the front sight in all light conditions. With the two-dot arrangement, too, there’s less chance of an incorrect sight picture when shooting in low-light conditions—the two dots have to be aligned vertically rather than horizontally, meaning you’re unlikely to have improper alignment.
MSRP on the F8 sights is $189 for the pair, although the “off the shelf” pricing is expected to fall somewhere less than $150. F8 sights are expected to become available before the end of the year—check back with XS Sights in December 2017.
