Don’t worry, it surprises me, too, to be writing “diamond pistol sights.” But that’s what American Tactical is coming out with and once you get a look at them, it’s hard not to see the apparent logic behind this particular gimmick. After all, incredible durability and brightness are important to iron sights, so what better material than honest-to-goodness compressed carbon?
What are the American Tactical Diamond Pistol Sights?
The American Tactical’s Diamond Pistol Sights are exactly what they sound like—or at least, mostly. These are standard black iron sights with gems embedded in them where the dots for a three-dot sight setup would be. The idea behind them is that the diamonds will capture and reflect light—not excessively, but to just the right degree—to enhance visibility and improve target acquisition. Unlike white paint, diamonds gather available light, so the the logic is sound.
Are they real diamonds?
Yes, there really are diamonds in these sights. According to American Tactical, the front sight contains a single 2.5mm round brilliant cut, lab-grown diamond. The front sight has an EF colorless grade and VS clarity grade. The rear sight contains two 2.25mm round brilliant cut, lab grown diamonds. Like the front sight, the rear diamonds have an EF colorless grade and VS clarity grade. So…what does that mean?
EF colorless diamonds are gems that have no color if you’re just looking at them like you would staring at a front sight. You’d need a good jeweler’s loup (and to be some sort of expert gemologist) to detect any color.
What does that matter for shooters? Well, it matters to the extent that it will look like a nice, clear gem to the naked eye. There shouldn’t be distortion.
As for the VS clarity grade, that means there aren’t any obvious occlusions—which could be a chip, bubble, or some sort of trapped mineral in the gem—to the naked eye. VS means it’s very slightly included if you use 10X magnification. Bottom line is they’re reasonably clean diamonds and perfectly good enough for gun sights. (Full disclosure, I know nothing about diamonds and had to look into this myself.)
What guns do the American Tactical Diamond Pistol Sights fit?
The American Tactical Diamond Pistol Sights are designed to fit most of the gun maker’s own 1911s and the vast majority of GLOCKs. They look like GLOCK sights with a dovetailed and drift-adjustable rear sight and a fixed post front sight. Installing them on a GLOCK would be as simple as expected—tap the rear sight out, replace it, and use a GLOCK tool to pop out and replace the front sight.
Do you need diamond iron sights on your gun?
Whether or not you can benefit from diamond iron sights remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a fascinating attention-grabber. They’re priced at $129.95. At first glance it’s clear they grab ambient light, but it’s hard to say how they’d do in low light or no light scenarios. I’ll be installing some to see just what they do.
Useless ghetto bling…
Waste of money. More a bling gimmick, laughable.
I look at this more of an indication of how far lab-grown diamonds have come – and how far De Beers Group’s influence has waned. About time, too.
“I know nothing about diamonds and had to look into this myself.”
Nice. I received an education on this stuff during the dating phase.
Functional bling? We await test results…