Rear sight finish wore off; now rusting and replaced
I bought a set of these sights as I purchased a new G17 and needed an upgrade from the polymer ones. I also didn't feel like spending $160 or something for some Trijicon tritium so I opted for another American made company and bought these through Amazon from XS.
There were initially no issues, I noticed the vials were a little more dim than others but still visible and could be a plus so they aren't glowing through a shirt or anything (as much anyways). I use my guns as they should be used - as tools. So I carry it religiously, and even practice drawing, manipulating the slide, and reloading. This leads to increased wear on the slide, frame, and every friction point on the gun honestly. I started noticing a small amount of rust developing on the rear sight only (none on the slide or optic right next to it), then cleaned and oiled it well. After about 6 months, (only 2 years of owning them) the sight was almost fully covered in rust. This is extremely disappointing as now I have to remove my RDO, reinstall the new irons, and re-torque and zero my dot all because a product that claims to have a lifespan of 12 years is encapsulated in a steel frame that isn't coated to last that long... Like I said to the XS guys, I hope I don't sound like a picky person - these are live saving tools that need to function and should hold up to at least as long as the manufacture warranties their product. People sell PD trade-in Glocks with 12+ year old tritium that barely glows and the coating is still in tact, and no rust on the irons. So it certainly is possible, it's just not being employed here for whatever reason.
Before anyone says anything, yes I clean and lubricate my firearms regularly as the manual suggests, but for carrying appendix all day even if I slathered the rear sight in oil it will get rubbed off. It is one of the only un-protected parts on a holstered gun... This is bound to be a wear point so they should fix this ASAP to continue to be a competitor with the big guys and possibly even fight for US contracts and thus bring more competition to the market and bring lower prices to us consumers for better overall products as the competition catches up to the guys installed on every PD/Mil sidearm.
November 21, 2024
Unprompted review