XS RAM Sights Review, My New Glock 48 Night Sights
It has been almost a year since I took a chance on a two-tone Glock that I found sitting in the display case at my local gun shop. That purchase has really changed my line of thinking when it comes to Glock pistols.
While I always knew that they were ridiculously reliable and accurate I was never really a fan because they never fit my hand quite right and due to the fact that I found them to be unpleasant to shoot.
If you read my review of the Glock G48, then you know that I was very impressed with the changes that Glock made with the Gen 5 pistols. The deletion of the finger grooves and the toning down of the stippling has really made the 5th generation pistols top notch in my opinion.
The pistol is now getting near the 1000 round mark and I have asked several friends to shoot it as well. People that range from new shooters to experienced long-range marksmen all had the same impression, the G48 is a great pistol.
Thanks to the folks over at Raw Dog Tactical and their Defender Pro series holster the G48 has become my primary everyday carry piece. The G48 has been an outstanding pistol out of the box and the fact that I am carrying it every day is testament to the folks over at Glock.
Unfortunately, it was still not (in my opinion) perfect. While the folks at Glock addressed most of my issues with their 3rd and 4th generation pistols, there was still one glaring defect that has remained the same: Glock’s sights.
I have found that Glock sights do not allow me to get a proper sight picture, with the depth of the channel on the rear sight being too shallow for proper quick sight alignment.
When your sights are properly aligned, the bottom of the white dot on the front sight is hidden, and if you can see the full white dot on your front sight then your sights are not properly aligned and your aim will be high.
Not a big deal? Well the purpose of the dot on the front sight is to draw your focus and in a quick reaction drill I have found myself shooting high, sometimes as much as 3-4 inches.
So, I found myself searching for some sights for the G48 that would solve this issue and that is where XS Sight Systems came to the rescue. I have been familiar with products from XS Sights for some time, having installed a set of their Ghost Ring sights on my Marlin 1894 rifle.
XS Sights makes some of the most versatile sighting systems for lever action rifles on the market today, everything from Ghost Ring sights to scout rail systems.
When Josh reached out to me and asked if I would like to try out the new RAM Sights from XS, I said “hell yeah,” knowing the quality of their other products and hoping I had found a cure for Glock-sight-itis. What follows is my XS RAM Sights Review:
Since the RAM sights are a new product, there was a bit of wait time until they could get a set shipped out to me and after they emailed me that they had shipped, I found myself like Ralphie from A Christmas Story, checking the mailbox daily hoping for my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring to show up.
An interminable wait of 3 days and finally the cure to my ills showed up, a white USPS box containing a set of XS RAM sights and some cool toolbox wallpaper (a sticker).
That very evening, I was out on the bench installing the sights and in doing so I noticed a couple of things. First Glock factory sights are plastic, I had never realized that before and had always assumed that they were made of steel like most other sights.
Second, the XS RAM sights are truly made of steel, which would indicate they are pretty resilient and should hold up to a fair amount of use and abuse.
Once I got the RAM sights installed, I couldn’t resist taking them into a dark room to see how the Tritium inserts showed up in low light. In a word, impressive.
The contrast between the front and rear sights is well done and the front sight really draws your focus, instead of all the glowing dots having the same amount of illumination the front sight seems a little brighter which causes the shooter to focus on what is important.
The RAM sights come with a blacked out rear sight with small inserts and the front sight comes with what XS calls their Ember Glow Dot Technology, which causes the front sight to really stand out. XS offers the RAM sights with your choice of either a green or orange front sight, so you get to choose the color that works best for you.
I prefer green and even in bright light the large dot on the front sight makes it easy to pick up your front sight in a hurry.
(Read Eve’s XS F8 Sight review here)
The deep cut channel in the rear sight also allows for proper sight alignment and proper sight picture which makes it very easy to put rounds on target during rapid controlled pairs and failure drills.
While there is debate on sighted vs. point shooting, I am firmly in the sighted shooting camp, especially at distances beyond the 7 yard line and if you are using your sights you should be focusing on the front sight.
Anything that helps to draw your focus there is a good thing.
Did I say these sights are tough? Well they are, the steel construction and shape of the rear sight lends them to easy one-handed manipulation of the slide by hooking the rear sight on the edge of a bench or table if needed due an injured limb.
I manipulated the slide this way several times on the bench with no ill effects to the sights. Since I am apparently too cheap to buy a sight pusher, I used a brass punch and a hammer to install the sights with no ill effects as well.
The day after I installed the sights, I took a trip to the range to see the difference where it really matters, the ability to put rounds on target. I put 100 rounds through the G48 that day with the RAM sights and I can attest that while the design of the sights doesn’t make the G48 any more accurate, it does make it easier to get a quick sight picture and make accurate shots that count.
The design of the RAM sights makes it easy to pick up the front sight in a hurry and even in bright light, the front sight draws the shooter’s focus and makes it easy to get on target quickly.
The RAM sights are priced at $109.99, which puts them squarely in the middle of the market, price wise and towards the upper end, quality wise. They are available for most popular pistols from FN, Glock, Sig-Sauer, Smith and Wesson, and Springfield Armory.
If you are looking for some sights to take your EDC pistol to the next level, check out the RAM sights from XS Sight Systems.