M 66-2 Rear Sight Black Coating

[JohnSmallTX]

I'm in the process of buffing out my M 66-2 snubie. It has a black rear sight base with a black blade / white outline. I'd like to polish the sight base too and leave the black / white outline blade. I've tried some different paint remover solutions, but nothing seems to affect the black coating. I know I can take some emery paper and sand it off, but I'd like to get as much black off as possible before I start sanding/polishing. Especially, I'd like to get the black out of the fine lines on top of the base. Any recommendations on getting the black coating off? Also, on the under side of the sight base is a very small "s". Could this "s" mean that the base is black coated stainless steel? If I recall correctly some of the early M 66's rear sight bases were bare stainless steel. Many Thanks for any inputs.

 

[OKFC05]

Speaking strictly from a shooter's perspective, I think having the black sight base is a wonderful idea.

I carry a can of sight black in the range bag to kill any shiny spots near the rear blade.

 

[sceva]

I believe that the sights on all S&W's now are Black Oxided (Blued) carbon steel. The early ones were stainless but they changed to the black sights fairly quickly. If you remove the black oxide it will rust if not kept greased or oiled.

 

[dfariswheel]

As I recall (note the qualifier), the sights with an "S" stamp are stainless steel with some sort of a chemical? blackened finish.

The early stainless revolvers were criticized about light reflection off the natural finish stainless rear sights, so S&W started finishing them with a blackened finish similar the one they used on some limited production blackened stainless revolvers.
This is some type of chemical finish that gives a flat black color to the stainless.

Later, S&W stopped coating the stainless sights and went to blued carbon steel, possibly about the same time they stopped plating the hammers and triggers of stainless revolvers.
Since these sights were stainless with a black finish and were intended for stainless guns, they stamped an "S" on the bottom of the sight leaf.

The "S" stamp blackened stainless sights were used at least as late as the Model 66-3, and possible the 66-4.

Whatever the finish is, I know of no chemical that will remove it, and polishing the grooves out won't be easy.

 

[JohnSmallTX]

After trying several solutions to remove the black oxide, none of them worked. So, based on the inputs and the removal results, I plan to leave the black oxide coating on the sight base. This coating is really bullet-proof (no pun intended).

 

[dfariswheel]

A wise decision.