Hey guys, the paint on the front sight of my Shield has begun to wear off, especially right in the middle. What kind of paint have you used to refresh the factory sights on an M&P that will also stand up to cleanings (I use either M-Pro 7 or Hoppe's 9 depending on what I have on hand)?

While on the topic of sights, I am pondering buying a full size or compact M&P 9 and wanted to know if anyone has an opinion on the factory night sights that come on the gun from Smith and Wesson and whether or not they are worth the extra $56.

My neighbor swears by epoxy paint from True Value for restoring/replacing the dots on all of his non-night sight handguns.

Someone else will have to advise on the factory night sights.

i actually used a bright nail polish for the front of my 9c site (not a fan of all 3 dots being same white), and its held up to regular cleaning for at least a few months+ now. Though to be truthful my cleaning is a little more "careful" when i get near the sights

I don't have any poly guns,but I have used a good glow in the dark paint to re do the three dot system on 1911's.looks white in daylight with a good lume at night,and bright lume if charged before hand.hobby shop is the best place to get a good bottle of this stuff.The secret is to spend a little money and get the longest lasting lume paint.

I've used fluorescent orange from Testor's applied with a toothpick on my front sights with great success.
The bottle costs about $5 and there's enough in it for about 1000 reapplications if it wears off.
I put on a couple of coats after allowing it to dry overnight.

The old typewriter "white out" has always worked well for me.

I am not familiar with the night sites S&W uses on the M&P's, but $56 for tritium night sites sounds like a good deal, when you consider what aftermarket versions cost to buy and have installed.

Larry

I haven't looked so I don't know what brand of night sight they're offering from the factory, but as long as they're name brand they will be well worth it.

Trijicons are well over $100, Ameriglos $75-100, and so on...plus installation fee (most shops will put them on for free if you buy them at that shop). Point is, you can't touch decent night sights for $56, and in any case they're well worth it.

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M&P's and K Frames Pleeze!

For about $3.00 I bought a bottle of flo orange, and flo green nail polish at Walmart. The orange front has been on about a year with no problems and I just did the rears in green about a month ago, replacing blacked out dots. They show up well enough for me in low light, that I finally decided not to go with night sights on my Shield. With the money I save, I'll buy more ammo.

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Most of my night sights are going dark now. I'm not going to replace them instead I'm going to buy some good glow in dark paint. Brownels carries paint just for this plus florecents too that are very durable.

Those look good. What did you use as an applicator?

Tester's make a "signal red" for model railroading which works great.
The trick is to put a coat or two of flat white paint on the sight first. This will really make the red "pop out".
Don't use epoxy paint as you will play hxxx trying to get it off if you change your mind or go to sell the gun.

Epoxy paint is tough as all get out... Its basically a two part epoxy glue with pigment in it.


I use the fluorescent model enamel paint you can get at a hobby store. If you have a black sight, then flat white or primer first.

I just use a toothpick. Stand the slide on end, put a small drop on the end, and carefully put it in the center of the dot, gravity will pull it in. The dot will usually look full, but after a while the center will sink in. Let it dry, and add more to fill. At least that's how it works for me.

These work quite well:

https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Clean...ight-Pens.aspx

The standard night sights on M&P's are Novaks I believe.They were with mine anyway. If you're getting a full size or compact the very best way to go is buy one with the white sights and see what it shoots like with the ammo you use. It may shoot a little high or low or you may prefer a 6 o'clock or center hold. Once you know what you want and need get the right sights for you. It's more money of course but you get what you pay for.