The Best Night Sights for Glock 19

Ah yes, the Glock 19. For many years now it has been viewed as one of the best all-around handguns. Light, smooth, easy to use, and high capacity. I am a little biased because it is my every day carry gun and I’m also a Glock armorer. But what an excellent specimen of a firearm.

You buy one brand new, fresh off the assembly line in Georgia. You look it over in awe, what could go wrong? And then you see the sights. *record scratch*.

For those of us who have been in the gun world for a while, Glock is not exactly known for having great stock sights. Plastic, with a white dot on the front and a “U” shape on the rear sight. Why can’t they just put a decent set of night sights on these otherwise, nice pistols?

I received some feedback from a Glock representative about this during my armorer’s class. According to them, the price of a new Glock pistol has not changed much since it first came out. Their strategy is if they were to put nicer sights on the pistols from the factory, then the later price increase would drive customers away.

Fine in my book, run your business the way that’s effective. But where does that put us as the consumers? Those plastic sights are just simply not going to do. Especially since many of us are carrying these to protect our families.

Metal day sights are nice on the range, fiber optic sights are neat for competitions, but in the middle of the night we need something that’s going to be effective. And that is a good set of night sights.

Let’s look at a few of my favorites as well as the favorite Glock 19 night sights of other consumers:

Trijicon HD Series Night Sights

Essentially the gold standard in night sights, Trijicon HD series sights are used all over. They are bright, effective, and durable. I have used these sights several times and they are top of the line.

The XR version of these sights has a thinner front sight post that allows more precision particularly at distance.

The HD series comes in multiple front sight colors and configurations to allow you to find a solution that fits your pistol best.

My favorite feature of this sight is the large orange circle around the smaller dot on the front sight post. It may not seem like much just talking about it but when you come out of the holster it allows for quicker front sight pickup which gets you on target quicker. Many other sight manufacturers have followed suit in this design. They come at a premium, hovering around $130, but these sights will be there when you need them for years to come.

Truglo Tritium Pro Night Sights

Not too long ago I was at a firearms instructor seminar. As the day came that we were going to do so no light/low light work I happened to notice that the night sights on my 1998 Glock 22 had recently gone completely dark. Realizing my mistake, the first chance I got, I visited my local gun retail store. Now, at the time I was a broke police officer who also happened to be away from home already spending money on a trip. So, I picked the most apparently reputable night sights I could find and just hoped I wouldn’t have issues with them. These sights were a set of TruGlo Tritium Pro night sights, and I was pleasantly surprised.

I broke out my armorer’s kit while sitting in the back hatch of my Ford Explorer and pushed the new sights on. Wow! Was my first thought, as I leveled the pistol off and looked down my new shiny set of sights.

The Tritium Pros stayed on that pistol until I left that department. They went with me to countless ranges, through swamps, and through the worst fight for my life I’ve ever had.

If budget is what you need then these sights are the ones to go with.

For $75 you get a good set of night sights, with a ring around the front sight like Trijicon’s, And the rear sight blade has an angled forward notch that allows you to run the slide on your belt.

Just be careful when the sights are new as that rear sight notch can be sharp.

Meprolight FT Bullseye

So, here’s something different. Meprolight has come up with a night sight system that allows you to eliminate a front sight altogether. The system mounts to your rear sight section and is just as low profile as your original rear sight. The difference is that when you line up the proper line of sight, a small dot appears in the center of the rear sight circle. This gives you more exact feedback on your sight picture and makes you more accurate.

Meprolight claims the sight acquisition is fast when using this system, but I assume it takes some training to line it up quickly. Anyone who’s gotten lost trying to line up an RMR knows that having that reference of lining up two sights can help see how far off you are.

As with any system training is the most important thing to do after an equipment change. I would recommend after changing any sight, especially one that is quite different like this, that you practice drawing and sight picture several hundred times before carrying it every day.

Using one of these three night sights you will become more effective in no light/low light operations. Statistics say that most defense situations occur in hours of darkness. Always be prepared, always train effectively and often, and be safe.