XS Sight SystemsSW-0024S-3 Big Dot Tritium Express Front Sight with S&W M&P Shield

If your looking for a fighting handgun sight for a firearm that may save your life look no further. XS DXT Big Dots originally were developed by Ashley Emerson to copy the sights on rifles used against dangerous game such as lions and such. These sights are for fighting and not to shoot little tiny groups to impress your friends. That being said I took Grey Solutions Advanced Gunfighter class in Washington State and I was able to easily hit 12x12 steel targets at 100 yards with these sights. These sights are highly recommended by Reno Raines the Founder of Grey Solutions. In force on force classes where you are up against actual thinking opponents these sights really shine. There is a small learning curve with these sights but I suggest you stick with them and get proficient. It’s a night and day difference compared to small three dot sighting systems. I’m not saying that other fighting sights like Trijicon HD won’t work for you but I’m my humble opinion Big Dots beat them all.

I had purchased and installed these sights on my compact Glocks with no issues. I figured it would be just as easy to install these on my M&P Shield, but I was so wrong. Getting the stock sights off of my Shield was a major pain in the rear. If you don't have access to a vice you might as well forget about it. My local gunshop was selling these same sights but they were $25 less here on Amazon, so I figured I was saving some money. However, my gunshop would have installed them for free and I probably could have saved myself some aggravation. At any rate, i've installed a couple sets of these before so I figured I would do it myself.The instructions say very clearly that you should have a good steel or emery type of file handy to remove excess material from the bottom of the sights. It wasn't until I had spent over half an hour beating and marring my rear sights into place that I remembered this helpful piece of information. I did remove some of the excess material before I installed the front sights and they were a piece of cake to install.My advice if you're going to install these yourself is to read the instructions, if you can't do that it might be worth a few dollars to have your gunsmith do the work for you.These sights work well, wish they had the tritium in the rear but they don't. XS answered this question (FAQ #19) and states it is due to size issues. The tritium vials have to be a certain size and must have a certain amount of material around them. So there's not enough room according to them. Not an issue, these sights work well in very low light and we shouldn't be shooting at anything in the dark that we can't see, right?

These sights are miles above the factory Shield 9/40 sights (if you don't like the Big Bot you should still change out your sights). Most indoor ranges are not very well lit (I always wonder if they do this on purpose, probably not) and I cannot get a good sight picture with any of my guns with 3 dot sights.I would sometimes shoot low with my Shield (not low and left, just low) and I thought it was me jerking the trigger (I have the Apex upgrade and it a very crisp, light break. 5lbs, zero creep) or just having a bad day, I often noticed the crappy light conditions and shadows everywhere at the range I typically visit (good for practicing bad lighting conditions). I started to realize it happened more so when I was in certain lanes. It took me many range trips before I noticed the pattern. I came to the realization there was a shadow on the rear sights, because of the depth of the dots and the light source being above and behind me the rear sights were creating their own shadow on the top portion of the white making it more like a partially waning moon (like an oval sor of)). Since I focus on the front sight the rear is partially blurry and the rear sights look visually lower than if they were properly lit making me aim low since the shadow is on the top. (I hope that makes sense.) This express sight setup completely relieves that issue.I was worried that since the Shield set does not have a tritium insert for the rear sight (the Glock set and some of the others do) that in low or no light situations I would have no rear reference point, but after installing I realized in the dark you can use the valley of the rear sight, it actually work quite well.Hopefully my explanation of how the stock sights on the Shield are flaud for use in odd lighting conditions as they create their own shadow will help you realize that even though they are metal they are not the best sights you should upgrade.

Nice sights for my Shield. I did the installation myself. Getting the old rear sight off took 90% of the time. From what I understand, the factory rear sights are put on with a pneumatic press and also lock-tighted in place on top of that. Way overkill. I had to drill out the set-screw because it stripped and then had to put the slide in a strong vice and wail on the sight with a 4 pound sledge and a steel punch (the brass punch just bent). Between the pounding, some penetrating oil, and a heat gun, I was finally able to drift out the sight. Funny, all that pounding, and the slide didn't even have a nick on it. The front sight drifted out fairly easily. Be sure to push them out toward the extraction port side of the slide. The new XS big dot sights went on like child's play in comparison. The sights come with a heavy plastic punch to drift the sights on with, and that works well. I haven't had time to get to the range yet to try it out, but I really like the sight picture and the quick acquisition of the target. I plan to CCW this Shield, so I wanted good sights that were also night sights (at least on the front). These should fit the bill nicely. One thing to be aware of is that the spring for the striker block is underneath the rear sight, and unless you're careful, it may launch into space never to be seen again when the factory rear sight is removed. There are many YouTube videos on the XS big dot install on a shield, and I would recommend viewing one or two prior to attempting the install.

Good sights, easy install !!Good product !!