Something to remove "shine" off an iron sight?

Aniest

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Let's say you ding a sight and need to file it slightly and now a 1/8" area needs darkened, or maybe its an old well used rifle like a Cooey that needs the sight darkened, to get the shine off to see properly... what to use or do?

There are a hundred examples on why you might need to modify and/or file & stone a sight. The problem is the shiny spot is not the same vision in the sight picture as it was before (or originally). It might not be worth re-parkerizing an entire rifle and/or sight for such a tiny spot.

Is there a recommendation and/or procedure people here have?

Thank you
 
This. The concept of smoking a front sight has been around for ages now. Doesn't need to be from an oil lamp, you could use a match or what ever as long as it smokes.

M

This. Use a lighter or a match..place the sight just above the flame to pick up the soot.
 
Cold blue? Black nail polish?

I've tried the cold blue, but is seems to not work that well as it stays a "gun blue" color and is not dark enough. I have also tried the Burchwood Casey Super Black flat matte black pen and it works ok until it gets the slightest rub and then it gets glossy. That is why i thought I would ask here: I have been enjoying shooting irons a lot lately in older guns and want to get the nest contrast possible.

Carbide sight blackener

Thank you to you and the others that made this suggestion: I will look into it!
 
One more suggestion. Flat black HT BBQ paint. You will need to de-grease thoroughly before dabbing on.

M
 
candle turn rifle upside down protect flame from wind use tip of candle flame (soot)
very old competition rifle shooting trick then they invented carbide lamps for it haha
always keep a candle matches in my shooting kit
 
Engine block paint Sir.
Flat black engine block paint in spray can.
It's $10 for a full sized can.

You sand the front post all around. Follow directions for 2 light coats and 1 medium coat. You can wait 7 days for full cure. I prefer to strip the gun down to just steel and heat bake/cure it at 300 F in the oven.
It's literally indestructible. I just did this for both my 1873 clone and my M14 front post after filing them both down/thinner respectively.
It's far cheaper and more durable than any duracoat/cerakote overpriced junk. Canadian Tire has it.
It comes out a flat almost parkerized look black.
 
The proper way to file a sight is to angle the file so the worked area slopes away from your sight line so you don't see the filed area. Just the sharp lines around the rear face of the sight. It only takes a few degrees to do that. Then you can cold blue it and you don't see the shiny worked areas during shooting.

All the other things work great. But they are all temporary. Even most of the high temp paints (BBQ paint) are going to dissolve and wash away from many gun cleaning solvents or will come off due to oiling the gun. I'd simply carry a butane lighter and on some days when the back face is glaring at you due to the lighting then smoke up the sight at the beginning of the day and go forth.
 
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