Can These Meprolight Mepro FT BULLSEYE Sights Help Old Eyes?
In my continuing quest to help shoot better with older eyes I bought this Meprolight Mepro FT Self Illuminating Night Sights (Fiber & Tritium Combination) for a Glock 17 – available in red or green, I chose the green. I see on their website that they now – wisely – refer to these as ‘FT BULLSEYE’ sights and ARE available for quite a few different pistols including Glock, Springfield Armory, SIG Sauer, S&W, H&K, KAHR and Remington.
(It does have FT BULLSEYE on the package for mine but I had to hunt for it…)
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Like most high end night sights for handguns these are expensive, retailing for upwards of $200. I picked them up on a Black Friday special from The Mako Group website at a huge discount otherwise I probably would have not gotten them yet.
My previous endeavor to help ‘Old Eye Syndrome’ was a set of Speed Sights that I installed on my XDs (this pic is NOT mine)
They also were quite expensive, nearing $200 all in and they were NOT easy to install on the XDs. (Long story about how the slide was scratched up and the sights not placed in the center by the gunsmith who did the installation.)
Suffice it to say, though, I desperately am trying to overcome the disadvantage of not being able to see gun sights clearly with these ‘over 40 eyeballs’!
If you suffer this malady you probably know that adding ambient light always helps – immensely! In broad daylight I don’t have too tough of a time shooting reasonably well with a set of basic Glock white outline plastic sights. But once the sun starts to go down, or indoors, or God forbid at night and it all goes out the window.
Yes, at close range in a self-defense situation the sights really aren’t all that necessary; but it’s still disconcerting to have to look down the sights of your handgun and realize there is no way in God’s green earth you are ever going to be able to FOCUS on the front sight…
Meprolight FT Bullseye Sight Installation
I cheated… I installed these on a Glock. Glock factory plastic rear sights push out easily. I used a sight pusher anyway, but it was a piece of cake.
Installing the FT Bullseye sight was also easy; the tough part would probably be making sure it really is centered before any glue you choose to use would dry. Watch the video for my comments on the recommended green Locktite™ 609!
The new sight is a simple 2 piece slide in with 2 set screws that compress the locking piece up against the Meprolight pressing against the angled sides of the sight notch on the slide.
Does This Fancy Night Sight Work?
Overall I am quite impressed with this sights visibility in all lighting conditions (see video) and I don’t think I’ll have much trouble transitioning from the traditional sight systems to the ‘bullseye’ style. One’s eye really does center the dot in the circle pretty intuitively.
More importantly, though, can one SEE the dot and circle without corrective lenses?
Short answer is yes…
The sight is still blurry for me yet since it is so bright when properly aligned I think it has a chance to be a real contender against something else like the speed sights pictured above.
Once I get more shooting time in I’ll try to update you on how it went.
For now, watch the video below and leave a comment about your experiences and thoughts on this revolutionary new Meprolight Mepro FT Self Illuminating Night Sights ‘Bullseye’ system.
P.S. – One reason I feel my eyes are not worse than they are at close range is because I’m a firm believer in QUALITY supplements. This is what I have been taking for better eyesight for years and I can honestly say that every time I run out and don’t immediately reorder I notice my vision getting worse. On Amazon: http://amzn.to/2khGe2N
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Meprolight Mepro FT Self Illuminating Night Sights Fiber & Tritium Video Review
Interesting concept. I have been “wish looking” at tritium/fiber sights for some of my Glocks. Just wonder how quick the acquisition and alignment is with that sight. Off topic – the sweatshirt you were wearing looked like an Air Force Museum shirt. Where was that? Thx.
So far acquisition seems to be pretty good. I think better with practice and maybe better if the front sight were removed or blackened just so you NEVER see it (if you do you’re still aiming high).
Yes, Air Force Museum sweatshirt – I wear the heck out of that and it’s still holding up after 20+ years 🙂
Do they come in Novak for Colt 1911’s?
You would have to check with the company to see what they offer or plan to offer soon.
Same old eyes here; and wondering how you made choice of green over red for these sights. Thanks.
Just about flipped a coin! I polled other shooters in our group and one had owned a set of the red and thought they were not quite bright enough. The green seem to be plenty bright and in broad daylight almost too bright!
Thanks for the “Old Guy’s Eyes” angle! I’m in the same boat. I’m nearsighted, now, at 62.
I am using snake eyes type sights; front post with h3 insert and an aperture, ghost ring, rear sight with 2 h3 inserts. They work pretty well for me. Currently, I can get a good focus on the front post, very fuzzy rear aperture. But these sights still require some nominal two sight plane juggling to get the front sight centered in the aperture.
Q1: Have you found that the FTs reduced the effort/time to “align” the sight?
Q2: Is there a lens element in the FT that moves the focal plane of the sight forward, towards where a conventional front sight post would be?
Thanks for your time.
Joe Fahy