G
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·I finally got my M9 and S9 slides back from PT Night Sights and went to the range this morning. I went with the Green front dot/rear horizontal bar as I believe this is the simplest sight picture for low-light shooting. You simply put the dot over the bar making a sight picture that looks like an underlined donut and you're pretty much on target. Plus the front dot is much brighter than the rear bar so you naturally focus on the front sight in low-light, which should enhance accuracy. Much superior to 3-dot sights, IMHO.
I shot my M9 and S9 in IDPA competition starting around May of last year and put about 9,000 rounds combined through both guns using the stock triangle/trap sights. Until now I believed the triangle/trap sights were superior to a conventional post/notch picture, but now I'm not so sure. I like the triangle front, but I find the stock rear trapezoid is an unnatural shape and there is too much space in the stock sight picture for accurate shooting past 10 yards. It makes me wonder how the front triangle teamed with a conventional notch would do...
The PT Night Sights daylight picture is a fairly wide front post with the Tritium gas vial in the middle, surrounded by a white ring. It fits the rear notch without too much space left on either side:
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I couldn't get the camera to focus on the front sight, I'll have to try again. I think the white outline around the tritium vial is nice and makes the front sight very visible.
There is a mark where the sight pusher or punch contacted the right of the rear sight when they installed it on the M9 slide:
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There is a similar mark on the right edge of the front sight dovetail. You can also see in the first picture above that there are a couple of marks on the rear sight to the left and right sides of the notch, not sure where these came from but probably from the fixture they use to install the rear Tritium bar. You don't notice any of these marks when you are shooting.
I also would have preferred horizontal serrations on the sight surfaces to elimnate reflections as on Heinie, Dawson and other after market sights, although I shot in daylight today and I didn't notice it (I did not have the sun to my back, however).
I shot some 25-yard 5-shot groups standing stabilised over a table with Winchester White Box 115gr FMJ, UMC 115gr FMJ and Winchester Ranger SXT 147gr JHP (my carry load). I held the sights with the front sight covering half of the 2" Shoot-N-C I placed in the middle of 8" paper plates. Here is the M9 5-shot group with Ranger SXT:
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There is a called flyer at the bottom of the plate, and if you throw that out the remaining 4 shots are in a nice 2" group. This load shoots very soft and I am confident in using it for self defense based on its performance in FBI-type tests and its documented performance by the IWBA (International Wound Ballistics Association).
Here is the 5-shot group with the S9 and Ranger SXT:
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I pulled the first shot again and it is the first shot at the bottom edge of the plate. If you throw that one out the other 4 shots (1 double hole at the edge of the Shoot-N-C) are in about 3 inches. Quite acceptable for a 3.5-inch compact at 25 yards!
I didn't shoot that many groups for accuracy and believe I could have gotten the groups sizes down a little bit. The Ranger SXT was the most accurate with WWB and UMC being very close to each other with about 1" larger groups. FWIW, WWB had the stoutest recoil, UMC was noticeably less and Ranger SXT was significantly milder still. This seems to confirm the chrono testing of another member that I read in the ammo/reloading section.
I practiced clearing a steel 6-plate falling rack at 20 and 10 yards and was very pleased with the sight picture and speed. At 10 yards I also shot at the paper plates after clearing the plate rack and with the S9 I was able to put 3 rounds rapid-fire into the Shoot-N-C sticker and they hit exactly point-of-aim at that distance.
I compared the guns back to back with my newest competition gun, a Glock 34 with Dawson Precision adjustable sights (blank rear and red fiber optic front). The Steyrs had noticeably less muzzle flip which I believe is due to the grip angle and lower bore axis. However, I am slightly faster and more accurate with the Glock, those Dawson sights and custom trigger combined with that long sight radius are AWESOME.
My Steyrs are my carry guns, so I like the stock trigger and now with the PT Night Sights I am supremely confident in my gear. Overall, I am very pleased with the PT Night Sights and at our group buy discount price of $69.00 plus shipping (with free installation if you send them your slide) I think it is a perfect upgrade, especially if you carry your Steyr for self-defense. If you don't know about the special offer for SteyrClub members, go to this thread: http://www.steyrclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1384
I really wish Steyr would come out with their version of the Glock 34 (long sight radius), I would shoot that exclusively in IPSC Production and IDPA matches. After posting that wish here 6 months ago, they still don't have one and I spent $780 on a Glock set up for competition. I think IDPASteyr was working on a competition Steyr project, I wonder how that is going...
Jeff
I shot my M9 and S9 in IDPA competition starting around May of last year and put about 9,000 rounds combined through both guns using the stock triangle/trap sights. Until now I believed the triangle/trap sights were superior to a conventional post/notch picture, but now I'm not so sure. I like the triangle front, but I find the stock rear trapezoid is an unnatural shape and there is too much space in the stock sight picture for accurate shooting past 10 yards. It makes me wonder how the front triangle teamed with a conventional notch would do...
The PT Night Sights daylight picture is a fairly wide front post with the Tritium gas vial in the middle, surrounded by a white ring. It fits the rear notch without too much space left on either side:
I couldn't get the camera to focus on the front sight, I'll have to try again. I think the white outline around the tritium vial is nice and makes the front sight very visible.
There is a mark where the sight pusher or punch contacted the right of the rear sight when they installed it on the M9 slide:
There is a similar mark on the right edge of the front sight dovetail. You can also see in the first picture above that there are a couple of marks on the rear sight to the left and right sides of the notch, not sure where these came from but probably from the fixture they use to install the rear Tritium bar. You don't notice any of these marks when you are shooting.
I also would have preferred horizontal serrations on the sight surfaces to elimnate reflections as on Heinie, Dawson and other after market sights, although I shot in daylight today and I didn't notice it (I did not have the sun to my back, however).
I shot some 25-yard 5-shot groups standing stabilised over a table with Winchester White Box 115gr FMJ, UMC 115gr FMJ and Winchester Ranger SXT 147gr JHP (my carry load). I held the sights with the front sight covering half of the 2" Shoot-N-C I placed in the middle of 8" paper plates. Here is the M9 5-shot group with Ranger SXT:
There is a called flyer at the bottom of the plate, and if you throw that out the remaining 4 shots are in a nice 2" group. This load shoots very soft and I am confident in using it for self defense based on its performance in FBI-type tests and its documented performance by the IWBA (International Wound Ballistics Association).
Here is the 5-shot group with the S9 and Ranger SXT:
I pulled the first shot again and it is the first shot at the bottom edge of the plate. If you throw that one out the other 4 shots (1 double hole at the edge of the Shoot-N-C) are in about 3 inches. Quite acceptable for a 3.5-inch compact at 25 yards!
I didn't shoot that many groups for accuracy and believe I could have gotten the groups sizes down a little bit. The Ranger SXT was the most accurate with WWB and UMC being very close to each other with about 1" larger groups. FWIW, WWB had the stoutest recoil, UMC was noticeably less and Ranger SXT was significantly milder still. This seems to confirm the chrono testing of another member that I read in the ammo/reloading section.
I practiced clearing a steel 6-plate falling rack at 20 and 10 yards and was very pleased with the sight picture and speed. At 10 yards I also shot at the paper plates after clearing the plate rack and with the S9 I was able to put 3 rounds rapid-fire into the Shoot-N-C sticker and they hit exactly point-of-aim at that distance.
I compared the guns back to back with my newest competition gun, a Glock 34 with Dawson Precision adjustable sights (blank rear and red fiber optic front). The Steyrs had noticeably less muzzle flip which I believe is due to the grip angle and lower bore axis. However, I am slightly faster and more accurate with the Glock, those Dawson sights and custom trigger combined with that long sight radius are AWESOME.
My Steyrs are my carry guns, so I like the stock trigger and now with the PT Night Sights I am supremely confident in my gear. Overall, I am very pleased with the PT Night Sights and at our group buy discount price of $69.00 plus shipping (with free installation if you send them your slide) I think it is a perfect upgrade, especially if you carry your Steyr for self-defense. If you don't know about the special offer for SteyrClub members, go to this thread: http://www.steyrclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1384
I really wish Steyr would come out with their version of the Glock 34 (long sight radius), I would shoot that exclusively in IPSC Production and IDPA matches. After posting that wish here 6 months ago, they still don't have one and I spent $780 on a Glock set up for competition. I think IDPASteyr was working on a competition Steyr project, I wonder how that is going...
Jeff
