Old Eyes - Anyone Painting Front Sight? What Color?

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

I use bright Yellow, works for me.

I used to buy nail polish for fishing lures.

I guess a lot of local fishermen do, as the girl asked if I fished.

 

[GF]

Orange nail polish ...

GF

 

[tinman931]

X2 on florescent green. I use my daughter's fingernail polish and it works pretty well. I also have poor eyesight and this definitely helps factory black sites to stand out.

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

I was told by Dr. Howard Stakes of the Stokes eye clinic over 25 years ago that the first color and last color a human eye picks up in darkness is......Baby Blue. Try it, it works.

 

[BaaBaa]

I painted the whole ramp on my 640 but soon swapped out for a fiber optic sight in red as that works a whole lot better.

 

[vytoland]

at the dollar store, i got the brightest orange nail polish....after it dried thoroughly.. i applied a coat of clear nail polish...works well and is very durable.....

 

[Wee Hooker]

Florescent orange model paint........ remember to do a base coat of white

x3 I've found orange over white to be the brightest and best for range use. Red over white works good too. I steer clear of the florescent colors as hey seem to fade over time.
BTW, use a toothpick to spread the paint precisely and evenly. Seems to work better than a brush.
Here is a 617 I just finished. I had planned to go fiber optic on this one (even bought the sight) but actual prefer the crispness of the sight picture better with the original painted sight.

 

[ammocan]

I steal a dab of the wife's red nail polish.

 

[shotgun693]

I started painting my front sight, on my Duty Gun, in about 1980. Currently I use nail polish, Sour Apple #14, a bright light green. Red tends to be to flat. Yellow and orange blur. White disappears. No point in trying black is there? BTW, this green does not fade into a green tree or grass background.

 

[sandmansans]

Those of you using nail polish, make sure your telling your lady why....don't want her thinking something else is up!

 

[Whitwabit]

I have heard either orange or a shade of red are the optimum colors ..

Do you shoot with both eyes open .. if not might be worth a try ..

Years ago when I started wearing glasses I switched from dominant right eye only shooting to shooting with both eyes open and seemed to help me .. but every person is a little bit different ..

 

[wnwitzell]

Red or yellow over a white base works for me.

 

[oldRoger]

I am old fashioned, I find that the flattest black possible works best with a 6:00 hold. I still "smoke" my front sight.

 

[Ed Fowler]

I smoke the sights and like to use a Merrit optical disc that sticks on my glasses, it really works well for me!

 

[shouldazagged]

In poor, failing light, red very quickly turns black. Orange continues to reflect light in deep dusk.

I've used fluorescent orange paint; but on my carry J-frame and my K-frame house gun I've had a smith install bright orange inserts in the blades. Been doing it for years, but the older I get the more I appreciate it.

 

[Biggfoot44]

From the viewpoint of simplicity aka lazieness , red nail polish works well in single coat. Perhaps it would work better with paint, but with nail polish, orange needs an under coat of white.

 

[OLDSTER]

Paint sights

Here's my method which, after a few years of trial and error, I've found to work the best.----After cleaning the sight with rubbing alcohol, I use the wide end of a flat tooth pick to dab on Testors Model Paint ( comes in many colors). Let dry for a few hours, then over-coat with a generous layer of "Hard Nails" clear finger nail polish. After this is thoroughly dry, it is virtually permanent-it'll resist solvents, oils, holster wear, etc.

 

[Cyrano]

I have a 638 and before that a Colt Mustang. Both had matte stainless front sights. I found matte stainless does'nt show up well against any background: it's light against a light background and dark against a dark background I first tried white nail polish which showed up fairly well; the overly made-up young lady behind the counter gave me an odd look when I presented the bottle for sale. I'm not the typical nail polish buyer. I told her: "It matches my hair". She didn't know which way to look.

I find a bright red shows up better, and it's even better when I have a white subcoat under it. When I presented the bottle of red to another young lady, I restrained myself with some difficulty from telling her: "It matches my eyes".

The Internet Snubby Matches have taught me that the matte stainless rear sight on the 638 also leaves something to be desired. I guess you can find almost any color in nail polish: I found a bottle of matte black which is a just as good and a lot more permanent than smoking the sight. Don't think I'd like to date a girl that wore matte black nail polish, though.

 

[BigBoy99]

Day-glow orange or Day-glow yellow are the colors I use.

 

[imashooter2]

The silver blade in a silver notch of my M64 were near impossible for me. I fixed it with Chevy engine orange on the front and flat black for the rear notch.
Edit to add picture.