Best single dot 'i-dot' type sights for K40?

[Monadnock]

Hi, the K40 I have has older trijucon sights. They're still visible but not as bright as some I think. I recently switched to keeping both eyes open when shooting and working on some exercises to find and focus on front sight better..

I've come to suspect that an 'i-dot' configuration, rather than 3-dot would be better for me and my stubborn aging eye muscles.

Has anyone had good experience with the XS or Trijucon HD, single front, single back dot sights? Any preferences in regards to visibilityness and focusery?

[Bawanna]

I love the XS dot setups. They have a shallow V notch on the rear and the big or standard dot on the front.
For me at least they are far more visible night and day than others I've looked at.
Most good night sights I can't see during the day very well.

I'm experimenting with a 10-8 wide rear U notch and a brass bead up front on my CBob. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Hoping it works, if it doesn't I'll be getting an XS standard dot front.

[Barth]

I've got Big Dots on most of my guns.
And like them a lot.

Had I Dot Pros on my Talo EXO Glock.
Swapped them out with Big Dots.

My V-Bob came with Tactical Ledge night sights.
So far I like them.

[berettabone]

I use the Big Dots on my HK..................makes the transition from my Kahr with standard dot the eyes very easy. I like dot the eyes better than 3 dot. Too much lining up, up and down, and side to side with 3 dots. The large sight in front makes it so much easier. I have tried many different sights, and many different colors. The XS Big Dots are definitely the best sights I have used. Make me a much better shooter than I am. I still use just my dominant eye for shooting. I am right handed, left eye dominant, near sighted, astigmatism, progressive lenses. I have yet to find any other sights that work as well as the Big Dots. I pretty much just do defensive practice shooting, and have all compacts as my firearms currently. They all have the dot the eye system except for one. I shoot them all better than the 3 dot system. They all pretty much react the same way. Put the front sight over the top of the bulls eye and shoot. I also have a faster requisition after each shot. Glow white seems to be the only color that I can see well, day or night. I use the night sight Big Dots. If they paid me, I'd be a spokesperson, I like them that much.:):)

[finpro]

What do you want to optimize?. Fast defensive shooting or range shooting or something else? I have Big Dots on a PM9. They are fine for short range defense. The front sight is very easy to pick up, day or night, probably easier than anything else. They are not made for longer distance shooting as they are much less precise and block so much of the target. While I do not think Trijicon HDs are made for Kahrs, the orange ones I have seen are very bright. If I needed a Kahr sight and HDs were avaialble, I would take the HD.
Some experts think that it makes more sense to have only a front night sight to avoid confusion and recommend blacking out the rear sights' tritium. Recently, as an experiment, I replaced ONLY the front sight on an old P9 with a Meprolight Tru-Dot night sight, retaining the much less bright rear. In darkness, the front shows up nicely in contrast to the rear. I like this combination.
I think Dot the I sights or two dot sight sets are better for aiming at vertical humanoid targets and and three dot sight sets are better for horizontal alignment if the aim is to keep poorly aimed shots closer to vital areas. I have seen this as an agument for two dot sight sets for defensive guns. I once had a two dot sight and found it was sometimes confusing at night when it was possible to confuse which one was the front sight. This occurs when the rear sight is higher than the front and both are visible when the gun was pointed to one side.
Except in training, I have never fired a gun at night. I assume that if I ever did in a serious social situation, it would be at relatively close range with minimal sight use. Even at night, most of the time, there is some light, so, for civilians, I doubt there is a lot of responsible shooting in total darkness. This calls for comparison, experimentation and practice to determine what works best for you. Unfortunately, there are relatively few night sight choices for Kahrs.

[Monadnock]

Thank you, good informations. I picked up a gun at shop the other day. It had 2dot sights.. I was shocked at how easy it was to bring the front sight into focus. I've always had 3 dots and still struggle with them..looking forward to ditching. As far as desired optimizations- sight acquisition, accuracy, speed, consistency..for defensive and range situations.

[jeepster09]

I have both XS Big Dots and Trijicon HD's. I have to say for the most part I prefer the HD's for during daytime I think the HD's work better. You can really see that bright orange dot ring.

http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/jeepster09/IMG_1364.jpg (http://s691.photobucket.com/user/jeepster09/media/IMG_1364.jpg.html)


http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/jeepster09/IMG_20141202_164809305_zpsbafa0f64.jpg (http://s691.photobucket.com/user/jeepster09/media/IMG_20141202_164809305_zpsbafa0f64.jpg.html)

http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/jeepster09/IMG_0854.jpg (http://s691.photobucket.com/user/jeepster09/media/IMG_0854.jpg.html)

[Monadnock]

nice, i was also looking at the HD IDOT pro model. the orange look like it gives a fast pick up. between the two XS sizes, I've read some neg on the larger one, that it's 'too large' and covers the target.. yeh, meh, neh?

[Bawanna]

For my full size 1911's where I might have a chance of hitting something out there at 25 yards I use the standard dot for a bit more precision, if you can use the word precision when I'm shooting.

For compacts like my PM45 I much prefer the bit dot. It just sucks your eye out of the socket and puts it on the front sight.
Once you figure out the big dot, I don't see much negative to it at all. For me I just need to cover what I want to hit. No 6 oclock hold or anything, put the dot on the target.

[finpro]

I agree with Bawana in thinking Big Dot sights are best for short range shooting and rapid sight pickup. For longer range, I prefer narrower front sights that do not block out as much of the target and can be indexed more finely. Manufacturers seem to be moving toward narrower front sights with U-shaped rear sights for expanded field of view with brighter fronts than rear. Trijicon is making HDXR night sights that differ from their other HD sights by having narrower front sights and Vickers Elite sights, sold by Wilson Combat, use the same idea. They are supposed to be easier to pick up quickly, as well. I have the Vickers sights on a Glock 19 and like them, but I think the Trijicons in orange will stand out better. In these matters, brightness may be more important than size. (Lets leave it at that!) Unfortunately, these do not seem to be available for Kahrs. I wonder if anyone has ever changed the Kahr dovetail cuts so sights for more common brands could be used.

[berettabone]

In my particular case, no color stands out at all. Old eyes and a color deficiency keep me from seeing anything but white effectively. Long range or short. I think that if the OP wants to practice defensive skills, and some longer range, the Dots are a perfect compromise. Most people walking the streets are not even going to hit a target at 25 yds. much less closer......................................

[Monadnock]

i'm not sure I'd like the big dot XS but it looks like only XS has the standard dot for the same model and they are bummer $140 with 'ample stock' where every other site I go to only has the bigdot, if they carry either.. I really wish companies would start making the basic crap like rails, sights etc. all the same size. Kahr should make their dovetails the same as Glock, since there's really only a few options for them and 11 billion for GLOCK, S&W..

Does anyone know of any 2 dot sights, besides XS for the Kahr K and MK series? I'll probably break down at some point and get the standard XS sights for both but it's going to suck having $300 wrapped up in sights. I'm just over 3 dots, will never buy another set.. on the interim, will probably go with stock 2 dots, get rid of the trijucons on the K40. Baah.

[berettabone]

It's why I never changed the sights on my MK. Too much denaro, and I like the stock sights anyway.

[finpro]

I do not know of a two dot set for Kahrs. As I once mentioned, I would consider replacing only the front sight, which should have the new tritium overpower the older rear sight dots. I did this and like it. You could darken the rear dots for more contrast and you can buy reflective sight tape to give you your "I".
Of possible interest is that Meprolight now shows a Kahr version of their new single rear sight which uses tritium and fiber optics for full time brightness AND replaces both front AND rear sights. This must be for the "new style dovetails", which I hope you have. (See this: http://www.meprolight.com/default.asp?catid={31201890-1C12-4FF9-9689-1291554A0470}&details_type=1&itemid={D9B146C5-DF57-4075-804A-F0E9BDC6DB10} The US importer, themakogroup.com, does not show it on their website yet, but the ones they currently sell are about $200.
This sounds like a fast shooting aid, rather than an accurate shooting aid.

[Monadnock]

They look cool, though $200 is probably a non-starter for me right now.. I may just get a front night sight, get some phosphorus paint and put a single dot on the rear..ugh. Another idea would be to have the slide 'fixed' to accept Glock sights but that sounds like even more $$. There's a point to being proprietary but when it jacks the consumer, and doesn't provide any added benefits and limits use/enjoyment/happiness/performance, it's counter-intuitive and just dumb.

[finpro]

I agree it makes more sense for small manufacturers like Kahr to use larger manufacturers' sight cuts or something like Novak cuts, which are common for 1911s. When Springfield began to import XD pistols, they made a point of advertising that SIG sights fit it.
Re your K40, I think it would be hard to modify it for a Glock front sight, which inserts from the top. This might work for the C Series pistols. For the K or P pistols, I think SIG, Springfield or Novak would be better candidates.
If you replace just the front sight, I hope you like it.