Painting Front Sight Red

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
I have two small bottles of Testor's model paint. Bright White and Fluorescent Red.

To make the red paint real bright it is critical that the sight is first painted white.

This picture does not do the red justice.


redfrontsight2.jpg


redfrontsight1.jpg
 
Thanks for showing this...I've got it on my shopping list to get some white and red model paint since I read your suggestion in the other sight painting thread. :)
 
On blade front sights like that I've also used a thin strip of Scotchlite™- the same stuff they use for stop signs and reflective auto detailing tape. Not easy to cut or place but it really shows up. If the surface is absolutely clean and pref. smooth, it's pretty durable once the adhesive is fully set up.

Here's some red on my S&W 625 (although, like your pic, it doesn't quite do it justice)

Scotchlite%20625.JPG


The white is probably the best. Here's the front sight on my Marlin 1895:

Scotchlite%201895.JPG


I've also tried Brite Sights™ paint and it's OK but I doubt it's any better than the Testors product.

:) Stuart
 
Pink nail polish, seen it done on a Hi-Power and a TT-33, it really helps. About 2-3 coats of pink and then 1 or 2 of clear. Won't work on guns with a muzzle break, though, blasts it right off the sight.
 
Musky Hunter said:
why not just install a FO sight? 1mm or 1.5mm drill bit and you're done.
Click to expand...

F/O sights are great, but I don't quite see the connection between them and a drill bit.:confused: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can't just drill a f/o-sized hole in the sight blade and insert a bit of F/O rod; it needs to be open to light from above.

And drilling such a hole dead centre is pretty difficult without a proper mill-drill. I was thinking of inserting a gold bead (actually a small brass brad) in the front sight of my 625, rather than shelling out big bucks for a real gold bead like the one from SDM Fabricating, but I don't think there's any way I can do that accurately on my drill press.

:) Stuart
 
I put two coats of white-out followed by two coats of blazing orange nail polish on my Jericho's front sight. Stays put after over a year of shooting & cleaning.
 
mlehtovaara said:
The targets my club provides are RED.

Makes black sights work well, and red sights not so much.........
Click to expand...

There are many fluorescent colours to choose from. Surprisingly fluorescent green is one of the most visisble but there is also pink, red, orange, yellow, etc. to choose from so suit your own tastes. The key is the white undercoat before the fluor paint is applied.
 
I tried out my orange painted sites today and that colour works wonderful for me. I painted both front and rear, but I think I'll remove the paint from the rear, or use a contrasting colour.

I subconsciously printed off targets that had an orange center and didn't realize it until I brought the sites up the first time.

I might play with some tape too. Conspicuity tape they use on tractor trailers for example. Silver and red reflective.
 
josquin said:
F/O sights are great, but I don't quite see the connection between them and a drill bit.:confused: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can't just drill a f/o-sized hole in the sight blade and insert a bit of F/O rod; it needs to be open to light from above.

And drilling such a hole dead centre is pretty difficult without a proper mill-drill. I was thinking of inserting a gold bead (actually a small brass brad) in the front sight of my 625, rather than shelling out big bucks for a real gold bead like the one from SDM Fabricating, but I don't think there's any way I can do that accurately on my drill press.

:) Stuart
Click to expand...



use an edge finder, touch off on the side, move in half the diameter of your edge finder then move it in half the thickness of your sight blade and voila. dead center to the thou.
 
sask farmboy said:
use an edge finder, touch off on the side, move in half the diameter of your edge finder then move it in half the thickness of your sight blade and voila. dead center to the thou.
Click to expand...

Agreed- not difficult with the mill-drill I don't (yet) have. But I still don't think you can insert a fibre-optic rod into a hole and get any light into it!
It would work for a gold rod/bead, though.

I suppose you could use a slitting saw to mill a slot into the top of the sight blade, then glue a fibre-optic rod into the slot, although in the end it would probably be easier just to buy the appropriate fibre optic-equipped blade, which would also have the "loops" at either end to help secire the rod.

:) Stuart
 
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