Night sights are cool, however they are also extremely useful when the light go out. Most of us are familiar with the typical form of night sights with two rear and one front tritium illuminated dots which never require batteries or photoluminescent charging. What is a bit unique is the new R4E ODS (Optimized Duty Sight) offering from Meprolight which combines two unique features into one heck of a sighting system.
There are several night sight competitors out on the market, but Meprolight is considered the global manufacturing leader of night sights. The company offers more models and color options than any other competitor backed by up to a industry leading 15-year warranty. Their sights are also the most highly regarded by militaries around the world.
Mepro was approached by a two highly experienced U.S. Special Forces veterans with a different idea for night sight which addressed two needs noted by more than just these two veterans. The two main features were to improve one-handed charging/clearing of a Glock and also to make the sighting more precise.
The Meprolight R4E ODS night sights are angled forward on both the front and rear sights optimized for this charging method. The result are a set of sights which can be very easily and reliably used to catch on just about anything to charge your full sized Glock. The design works incredibly well.
MY PERSPECTIVE
Here is the downside. All those forward angles and sharp points which allow the sights to do their job of catching on stuff during single handed weapon manipulation also make it the single most uncomfortable CCW inside the waistband gun sight I have ever used. The rear sight can work a hole in your bare fleshy side faster than a Cuisinart. If you have this sight, you must have a full coverage holster that provides leather between your carcass and the gun otherwise there is pain and actually blood involved. During testing I actually broke out the Dremel to take off some of the points on the outsides of the rear sight so that I could carry and test my G19 the sights were mounted to. I had no issues when testing this pistol with an outside the waistband holster.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am not super hard core, nor am I some badass army SOPMOD military dudebut I do carry a firearm every day and definitely have some opinions on what I like. If Meprolight knocked off the exterior (flesh eating) corners on this sight and left all the other corners, this sight would be the most perfect set of combat sights I have ever tested. In the current version, I would not install these sights on my CCW IWB (Inside the Waistband) Glocks. The exception being carry in a Crossbreed SuperTuck Deluxe which includes leather between the entire gun and my skin. Otherwise for CCW I would choose a standard Meprolight three-dot sight. Now for a OWB (Outside the Waistband) carry option the sight is perfect as it sits.
The design is excellent depending on your carry method, the sights are very fast and deliver more precision than typical sights. I think Meprolight just needs to knock off the sharp edges off the sight to accommodate a comfortable CCW carry. The only other downside is that at $174, it is “the” most expensive night sight set on the market. This is a hard core sight designed by hard core folks… and despite its price and “edges” is the best sight set I have tested.
The design does what it is intended to do which is to improve sighting and greatly improve single handed charging and gun manipulation for clearing and reloading. Currently the sight is exclusively distributed by The Mako Group in the US.
SPECS
Glock Large/Full-Sized Format Pistols only - such as Glock 19, G17...etc.
MSRP $174.99
SOURCES
MeproLight - http://www.meprolight.com
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MeproLight - http://www.meprolight.com
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