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10-8 Performance Sights

If you’ve been following Monderno very long, chances are you’ve seen my two custom Smith & Wesson M&Ps: one from V&C Industries, and the other Business End Customs. Both fantastic guns, and on both, I have 10-8 Performance sights installed.

On one M&P, I have a 10-8 Performance rear and a 10-8 Performance brass bead front, and on the other, a 10-8 Performance rear with a Novak front.

10-8 Performance Front Sights

The brass bead front sight is a good sight, and overall I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s not quite as visible as I would like, especially when it’s either extremely bright (direct sunlight) or when it’s rather cloudy, but other than that I like it. It’s easy to pick up in most conditions and is fairly precise.

10-8 Performance Rear Sights

The rear sights are simultaneously awesome and frustrating. Let’s start with the good qualities.

10-8 Performance Rust

The rear sight is a U notch CNC machined from heat treated 4140 bar stock and is very tough. I’m sure with enough abuse I could break it, but so far with normal manipulations, like racking the slide on my holster, belt, boot, etc, it hasn’t broken off. The rear face is serrated at 40 lpi to reduce glare in varied lighting conditions which seems to work well, and I love the profile of the sight. It’s a rounded square profile, which also makes it snag free for concealed carry.

That’s the good. If you looked at the image above though, you already know what the frustrating part is.

Rust

These sights rust like nobody’s business – in the photo above, the rust you see on the gun on the left is after the rust has been cleaned off once. The pistol on the right I’ve only had for a month or so, and rust is already starting to form. In my opinion, this is simply unacceptable.

When the rust first started to form, I contacted 10-8 Performance to see what the deal was. Here is the response I received from someone named Donna:

The sights are carbon steel and only finished in black oxide.  Unlike the finish on the Glock slides which are nearly impervious to rust, these require a little bit of oil on them after installation.  They currently come packaged dry, as we have also had complaints in the past that they were too oily and unattractive (I know, we can’t win).  Try cleaning them off and coating with Shooter’s Choice Rust Prevent or Froglube paste.

Update 9/19/2012: Hilton from 10-8 Performance left a more detailed response in the comments below.

I know some of you are probably thinking “so what?”, and to a certain extent I agree. Put some lube on the sights and no worries, right? There are two problems with that thinking as I see it though. The first and most obvious is that I don’t want to have to keep oil on the sights in order to keep them from rusting on a gun that I’m going to carry inside the waistband (IWB). Your mileage may vary.

Second, I don’t want to have to “fix” sights that I paid $80-90 (front/rear pair) for. Why can’t they come with a more corrosion resistant finish out of the box?

To be fair, not everyone has had the same rust problems that I have had. It very likely has something to do with living in Houston and the horrendous humidity. But out of all my guns and all of the aftermarket sights I have, these are the only ones with rust on them.

Wrapping Up

This is a tough one for me to wrap up. I really like these sights, but the rust issue is super annoying. I know I can work around it, but the fact that I have to is frustrating. What do you think? Valid complaint, or stop whining?

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20 Responses to 10-8 Performance Sights

  1. Jonathan September 18, 2012 at 7:55 am #

    I would say that it is a valid complaint. If I buy something and pay that much for it I want it to work correctly right out of the box. Also even though you carry your gun iwb, you want to show off your guns and it looks bad to have rust coming off of gun. In my opinion its not with the price so thanks for the heads up.

    • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 9:10 am #

      Thanks for the feedback.

  2. Bernardo September 18, 2012 at 9:29 am #

    EXTREMELY valid complaint. I also don’t want to ruin my Monderno T so I will stick with my stock Glock sights!

    • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 9:32 am #

      haha, thanks man

  3. Mike September 18, 2012 at 9:40 am #

    That does stink and it makes it worse that you really like the offending item and want it to work, too. Of all the torture tests out there, the least dynamic looking and most punishing is sweat. I had minor rust issues with my M&P9 I originally bought and after Smith made good on it I did start to keep everything wiped down with Break-Free CLP. Whether after a session of shooting or at the end of the day before heading to bed it got a quick rub. Sucks to think that you have to take a bit of an extra step when it should just come with a better finish overall.

    • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 9:46 am #

      Yeah, it would be easier if I didn’t like the sights so much. I actually bought them for my Glock 19 too…

      • Mike September 18, 2012 at 10:20 am #

        I initially had a huge confidence problem when my M&P9 started to develop those small rust spots; my Glocks NEVER had even the slightest hints of anything like that and I had punished those far more than the M&P. I liked the Smiths just that much better than the 9mm Glocks I was shooting at the time but felt a bit cheated since I never had to take that much extra care when I was using nothing but Glock. I switched holster type/manufacturer and started every couple of days to hit the M&P with a rag and a little CLP and I haven’t had an issue since. Not sure if it was one or both that made the difference.

        Keep us posted on what you’re doing with this; I like those sights and while that issue won’t completely turn me off to them, it does make some serious food for thought when considering what aftermarket items to buy next.

        • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 10:29 am #

          Will do man. I will probably get just get them Cerakoted.

  4. David September 18, 2012 at 3:05 pm #

    Dude, yeah, that’s BS. Spend that much on a tiny piece of CNC’d steel and they can’t even put a corrosion resistant finish on it? Umm, no thanks.

  5. Robert September 18, 2012 at 3:12 pm #

    The rust issue is a No-Go. Using a gun for concealed carry everyday, my gun tends to get sweaty when its hot out(I’m a big guy and tend to sweat a lot). I don’t want to have to worry about something like this. Plus every time it rusts, a small amount of material is being broken down. Will it be enough to notice? Probably not, but its not something I want to worry about.

  6. Ken September 18, 2012 at 3:27 pm #

    sights on a Glock rusting? It is time the 10-8 people revisit what they made!
    You can make something BETTER than the weapon it is used on, but not inferior.
    The corrosion properties will have to match, or exceed, the Glock’s slide, or they will lose business and reputation.

  7. Chris September 18, 2012 at 4:41 pm #

    10-8 states on their website and sight product page that one needs to apply a corrosion inhibitor on the sight when installing. Ya it should have something already but a bit of prevention goes along way, especially when they tell you to do so.

    • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 6:30 pm #

      I must have missed that Chris. At any rate, if it were just a one-time application that wouldn’t be a big deal. But once the oil barrier wears off, you’re back to being vulnerable to corrosion unless you re-apply. That’s where the frustration comes in.

      Thanks for commenting.

      • Robert September 18, 2012 at 7:34 pm #

        Plus I don’t want oil getting all over my clothes.

        • Brandon September 18, 2012 at 8:33 pm #

          Me neither.

  8. Hilton September 19, 2012 at 5:43 am #

    Brandon:
    Thanks for your review, glad you like the function of the sights. We appreciate the overall concern with the rust issue, but I would like to clarify that almost every sight on the market, including OEM sights on most guns, are carbon steel with black oxide finish – just like our sights. We are not saying you need to slather oil on the sights and keep them glistening wet with oil. Clean them, oil them, and wipe them dry. Your properly lubricated Glock or M&P will end up leaking more oil out of the slide rails, barrel hood, and muzzle than the oiled sight. If you do any maintenance to your pistol, it takes only a few seconds extra to wipe down the sights.

    As far as using other finishes, we have explored other options and are very limited on the M&P. The M&P dovetails have varied wildly over the production cycle of the guns, and our sights must be oversized to fit all the variations. As such, most sights will require some minor fitting during installation, which would disrupt any surface finish. If we painted the sights (Durcoat, Cerakote, Gunkote, etc), there is also the additional issue that the surface is easily damaged when installed with a metal punch, which is a common method. If we used the same Melonite finish as on the Glock/M&P, the sight would be so hard that a file would skate right off and you would not be able to install the sight.

    We hope this answers your concerns about the sights and addresses any maintenance concerns. If you are still dissatisfied with your sight, please contact us through our website and we will provide you a warranty replacement unit.

    • Brandon September 19, 2012 at 8:20 am #

      Thanks for the clarification and for the detailed response. As a part of my normal maintenance, I do wipe the entire slide down with oil after cleaning (including the sights), and then wipe it dry.

      I think what concerned me the most is that out of all of the aftermarket sights I have owned and currently own (Warren, Novak, Trijicon, etc) and all of the OEM sights from many different manufacturers, these are the first that have rusted.

      Having said that, your rear sight is also my favorite. I now own three of them (two for M&P, one for Glock not yet installed).

      I appreciate you commenting.

  9. Steven December 9, 2012 at 6:14 pm #

    Checking in from Michigan. My 10-8 rear sight on my M&P is apprently rusting somewhere in the dovetail area. I did NOT have to sand any of the oxide off to fit them, although it did go in pretty damn tight.

    Anyway I keep seeing rust appearing right in the cracks of the right side of the sight and dovetail. I keep having to put a drop of oil in the dove tail, let it sit for a few minutes then hit it with a tooth brush to get the brown rust out.

    I’m considering removing the 10-8 sight and going back to my factory rear sight.

  10. Chris in GA March 23, 2014 at 5:52 am #

    I’ve had Trijicons and factory Glock night sights rust on my duty pistols over the years. The Heinie sights I have on my G35 duty pistol now have held up better than anything else I’ve had.

  11. Chase Hicklin July 12, 2014 at 6:53 am #

    I’ve recently been thinking of changing my rears on my carry gun since my trijicon hd rears are just too sharp I was looking at these I guess they have a nitride treatment now so no rust