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What Color Front Sight is Best

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An Official Journal Of The NRA | What Color Front Sight is Best?

When it comes to color, firearm manufacturers have responded with handgun frames, slides and grips in a wide-ranging palette, but that myriad of tones is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the front sight. We asked some of the industry’s foremost experts why front-sight color options are...
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Everyone's eyes are different.

As a rule, though, the human eye is least receptive to blues - which is why I never understood this craze about "blue" headlights in cars. I used to teach a Color Theory class in college - concert and stage lighting, which colors impart which moods, which colors do what to what color scenery or costumes or skin tones, etc. Certain colors can be used to sharpen edges and motion; some colors can be used to blur outlines and motion. Deep blue was always used for "work" lights between scenes because it gives the stagehands enough light to not run into stuff, but is "invisible" enough to the audience that they a) didn't see the stagehands, and b) the parts they did see were sufficiently blurred out by the color of the light, that it was an effective "blackout" so stagehands can work invisibly.

Yellows and pure whites are the most noticable by the majority of human eyes, due to the rod and cone construction in our eyes. The Kelvin scale is used to measure "color temperature", and generally 3000k (yellow) to 4300k (daylight white) is the most responsive. Higher numbers are "cooler" (bluer); lower numbers are "warmer" (yellow/orange/redder).

That said...pick what works best for YOUR eyes. Everyone's cone/rod construction is unique, which means everyone's color perception is also unique. Personally, I prefer contrast - I just put TruGlo TFX on my XDs, in yellow rear / green front, to help me differentiate between rear and front dots. Not so much a "vision" thing, but a "thinking/processing" thing, as an obvious difference between front and rear. I also have a green Viridian laser mounted, as opposed to red, because my eyes pick up the green much better than red. Also, the green wavelength travels further than red.
 
Interesting question . I'm a working Pro photographer for over 4 decades and also do a lot of show production. On screen mostly yellow seems to pop the best. Actually the front site on my new Hellcat is fantastic with a nice bright yellow. A lot of this is the blending aspect or contrast between it and background color if it's blending in color it will be hard to pick up. My issue doing production shows. You need that contrast difference and yellow does it better than others. On a gun site I'm new to this but it's seems pretty nice with yellow front sights
 
My eyes have definitely changed over the years, and by change, I mean they suck....lol
I used to be able to shoot a handgun pretty reliably with whatever stock sights came with the handgun....not anymore......over the last two years I've either installed fiber optic sights or had them installed on literally every handgun I own. I used to have night sights on a few of my handguns but I've since gone with fiber optics on those as well. Nowadays, the white dots that a lot of handguns come with I can barely see them. I've tried several different colors but red front and green rear are definitely the fiber optic colors that my old, tired eyes pick up faster than any other color. The rear ones don't really concern me that much, I try to focus on the front sight, but that red front definitely gives me a good focal point.

I will also say that the red front fiber optic sights that Springfield Armory puts on their XD mod 2 series handguns are very high quality, I've very impressed with my XD45 Mod 2, it has a great sight picture.
 
For your photography (if you have the ability), add some downlight or backlight on your subjects - it will light up their top edges (scalp, shoulders, etc) which allows you to a) add some accent color, and b) helps them "pop" out from the background. I generally use a sunlight amber, or if you use any Rosco gels, Light Bastard Amber is a very nice, soft, warm pinkish-amber that plays well off any color clothing and any skin tone.
 
ghosttwofive said:
My eyes have definitely changed over the years, and by change, I mean they suck....lol
I used to be able to shoot a handgun pretty reliably with whatever stock sights came with the handgun....not anymore......over the last two years I've either installed fiber optic sights or had them installed on literally every handgun I own. I used to have night sights on a few of my handguns but I've since gone with fiber optics on those as well. Nowadays, the white dots that a lot of handguns come with I can barely see them. I've tried several different colors but red front and green rear are definitely the fiber optic colors that my old, tired eyes pick up faster than any other color. The rear ones don't really concern me that much, I try to focus on the front sight, but that red front definitely gives me a good focal point.

I will also say that the red front fiber optic sights that Springfield Armory puts on their XD mod 2 series handguns are very high quality, I've very impressed with my XD45 Mod 2, it has a great sight picture.
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I also forgot to mention, on my new Taurus G3C, I went with the red front fiber optic sight and blacked out rear sight. I did that on a recommendation from a friend who is a firearms trainer. So far, I'm definitely liking it. I haven't had a chance to take it to the range yet but the sight picture with the blacked out rear sights seems to be easy to pick up so far.
 
10mmLife said:
Yellow or red for carry but I prefer blacked out on target pistol's.
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I seem to see yellow front sights the best. Long before fiber optics I had a yellow insert installed on front sight of my duty S&W Model 19. I also put yellow front sights on my Dan Wesson revolvers. The yellow seems to show up the best on all color backgrounds. Just my two cents. :)
 
I find the green to be easier to focus on,for me.
That being said,I think it has alot to do with the background. The targets I shoot at have a redish center,so its easier to get on the green bead. With a black 10 ring,though, the red bead is a winner.
 
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