Trijicon tritium night sights

[JC0352]

Anybody have these on a sidearm? The green ones are supposed to last 12 years. I've had mine on my USP40 for about 5 years and they don't seem nearly as bright as they used to be.

[gaijinsamurai]

My issue Glock 22 has them, and they're great. Very effective in low-light shooting. My pistol isn't very old, so I can't comment regarding longevity.

[Paulinski]

I had them on my Glock 19. Decent sights they got replaced with 10-8 sight set with Tritium front. I like that set up much better.

[SMGLee]

Anybody have these on a sidearm? The green ones are supposed to last 12 years. I've had mine on my USP40 for about 5 years and they don't seem nearly as bright as they used to be.

they tend of get dim as time pass. also you don't know how long the sight been sitting on the shelf at the store you bought it from.

I have had my Spring field TRP with Novak sight that has the Trijicon inserts, it has been approx. 7 years. It is definitely getting dim. I heard if you have access to x-ray machine, you can help energize the trillium a bit by spiking the gun with some x-ray... not sure if that is true.

[orionhawk]

I have Trijicons on my (civvy Bushmaster) M4. they aren't very bright, but they dont really have to be. it would only be a problem if I was shooting from darkness towards light, and I could still get a good sight picture then...

I have what I think are Trijicons on my Springfield Armory TRP M1911, as well, and they are not nearly bright enough, although I bought that gun used, so God knows how old they are.

In either case, I think it's just that Trijicon uses too small a capsule. I have Meprolights on a Springfield Armory XD40 subcompact, that are almost bright enough to be unpleasant. the capsule appears to be nearly 2x the size of the Trijicons, and is surrounded by a bright white ring.

[orionhawk]

I heard if you have access to x-ray machine, you can help energize the trillium a bit by spiking the gun with some x-ray... not sure if that is true.
that will not work. Tritium sights get their light by the radioactive decay of the tritium, (to lithium, iirc). this produces electrons that react with a phosphor coating on the glass. that will not be affected by x-rays. if you were lucky, they wouldn't rupture, but I suspect they might. (not a big deal, but it would ruin the sights.) the x-rays could also burn out the phosphors entirely.
they get dim because over time there is less and less tritium left in the capsule to decay, and the phosphor coating "burns out".

[JC0352]

Thanks for the helpful answers. SMGLee brought up a great point about how long they might have been on the shelf at the gun shop; it could've been years. On their website, they explain what all the markings on the sights stand for and one of them is for the date or some sort of time reference. I'll check it out when I get home. Thanks again.

[tango44]

I bought my Glock 26 and Glock 27 the same day and I installed the Trijicons on the G26 and the Meprolights on the G27 that was in 2001 and now you can see that the Trijicons dim and the Meprolights are in better shape.
Saturday I compared to my brother brand new G22 he instaled the Meprolighta a month a go and the G27 looks the same, so I'm sticking with the Meprolights.

[Howie Kaluha]

Check out the TruGlo Tritium fiber optics. I've heard awesome things about those. I'll be putting them on my duty gun.

[Edmond]

I have equipped all my toys with Meprolight for more than 15 years, the first I installed is fading now but still usable.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z69/Quickload/Caracal/Nightsights.jpg