Jim Watson
Member
The Brite Sights paint is rather pastel compared to model or lure paint.
I use Model Master Fluorescent Red that has a bit of orange cast in it.
I use Model Master Fluorescent Red that has a bit of orange cast in it.
Painting Front Sight on Revolver
- Thread starter Hurryin' Hoosier
- Start date
Since my M49 shoots a tad low, I do not paint to the very top of the sight, to bring the poa up a little, for when I am shooting at the range,for more hits on target at slow fire and
testing reloads.
testing reloads.
I just tried this with some cheap nail polish, and made a mess of it when I removed the masking tape. How long do you wait for the stuff to dry between coats and before removing any masking tape? I did 1 base coat of white, 3 coats of bright orange, 1 coat of clear, all over the course of about 2 hours, and thought I'd given it plenty of time to dry, but I found when doing the top coat, that the orange was bleeding onto the brush and then after going for a swim, I removed the masking tape from one and half the polish came off with it. 
Is this a multi-day process?...or something to do every couple hundred rounds while reloading?
Is this a multi-day process?...or something to do every couple hundred rounds while reloading?
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I only paint the portion of the front sight that would normally have the plastic insert of a Factory job because painting more doesn't do anything and can not even be seen when sighting the revolver on a target. I use Testor's Blaze Orange and when I bought the bottle I left the cap off for a day or so to thicken up the mixture. Making it a little thicker results in less running. Instead of putting on a real thick coat, I usually apply 2 or 3 lighter coats and I like to "fill" the serration's on the sight which gives it a bolder, brighter finish and is easier to pick up. I use a toothpick (not a brush) to apply the paint and it lasts just about forever but IS totally reversible if desired. If a bunch of years down the road the finish gets "tired", simply apply a new coat!
Painting front sights
I have a M-65 that I bought in 76.....I shot it extensively for years and competed with it in IPSC....along with a GI 1911A1...I painted both front sights with Testor's white....a lot of my IPSC matches were at night and we had high mass lighting to the rear....the front sights "jumped out" and were very easy to pick up visually.....both guns still wear that paint....and they have been used a LOT over the years....I even had SO's comment on the sights when they were watching me shoot a stage. I found that having the entire ramp painted helped me pick up the sight faster.
I have a M-65 that I bought in 76.....I shot it extensively for years and competed with it in IPSC....along with a GI 1911A1...I painted both front sights with Testor's white....a lot of my IPSC matches were at night and we had high mass lighting to the rear....the front sights "jumped out" and were very easy to pick up visually.....both guns still wear that paint....and they have been used a LOT over the years....I even had SO's comment on the sights when they were watching me shoot a stage. I found that having the entire ramp painted helped me pick up the sight faster.
Like many others my eyesight is not what it used to be. That said I only paint half the front sight with a base coat of white appliance touch-up, then blaze orange from WalMart. It give me a flash sight picture that works good at the range and almost everywhere else.
Cardboard_killer
Member
Don't forget to get all pretti-fied up and paint your gun too.
Here's my Walther done in Walther baby blue.
Here's my Walther done in Walther baby blue.
357-RevolverGuy
Member
I try to mimic the factory red ramp insert seen on S&W revolvers by just painting the first 3-4 ridges on the front sight. I make sure to mask the areas I don't want painted with painter's tape.
Also I recommend model paint by Testors which offers a color in "Fluorescent Red" that stands out better under low light settings than the factory orange.
Also I recommend model paint by Testors which offers a color in "Fluorescent Red" that stands out better under low light settings than the factory orange.
I sure as heck have no idea what the lot of you are drinking or smoking, but when I lift up any of my revolvers to squeeze off a round, I sure as hell don't see any serations, either a big blob of black or a big blob of orange, must be something in the water, although there are some lines that seem to hold the paint on better...............Dan.
hotrod150
Member
I've used white appliance touch-up paint as well as a white paint marker on my blue guns which seemed to work well. Not so much so on my stainless guns. I picked up some cheap reddish-orange nail polish at Walmart for use on those, but it didn't work too well-- not bright enough. I guess model paint or jig-and-lure paint would be better, I'll have to pick some up. I don't particularly like zombie green, but it seems like that might give more contrast than red orange or yellow.
After a couple of days of trial and error I've learned a bit. First of all, serated front sights are way easier to deal with. The first gun I did was my 1911 which had plain black sights with a serated ramp front. Unfortunately, the guns I really wanted to do are a pair of K frame target guns with non-serated black front sights. I'm not sure of the terminology for this type of sight, but the rear facing part of it is 90* up/down relative to the bore axis and flat other than some minor tool marks.
The "paint" I bought is cheap nail polish (Jordana) from K-Mart. I bought 523 Edgy (which is a sort of dark orange that I thought would be bright), 502 white, and clear. This stuff is really annoying to work with. It begins to dry and turns gummy in about a minute or so. It doesn't actually fully dry for quite a bit longer (an hour or more...wait till you think it's probably dry...then wait another hour or so). If I try putting on an additional coat before the first is absolutely dry, the prior coat comes off as I'm trying to apply the new coat.
After I was reasonably happy with the first two guns (1911, and K22), it occurred to me to mix the white (which I'd bought as a base coat) with the orange. Mixing these roughly 1:1 (2 drops of each in the cup of a empty tray of small pistol primers) produces a nice light/bright orange that looks much better than the orange on its own.
I've had better luck applying the polish with a flat wood toothpick than when I was trying to use the nail polish brushes...and with the mixed polish, using the brushes isn't really an option anyway.
I've been using blue painter's tape as masking tape to control how far down the flat front sights I paint. Before removing the tape, cut the border with a sharp knife. Otherwise, some portion of the polish is liable to come off with the tape
Acetone will remove any overpaint, errors, or everything if you're not happy with it. I've been very careful not to touch the wood grips after messing with the acetone. If your grips have any sort of finish or are any sort of plastic, the acetone is likely seriously bad news for those...don't get any on them. I have a swiss army knife with my finger print embedded in the plastic from 20 or so years ago when I was cleaning tape residue off one of the blades with acetone.
The "paint" I bought is cheap nail polish (Jordana) from K-Mart. I bought 523 Edgy (which is a sort of dark orange that I thought would be bright), 502 white, and clear. This stuff is really annoying to work with. It begins to dry and turns gummy in about a minute or so. It doesn't actually fully dry for quite a bit longer (an hour or more...wait till you think it's probably dry...then wait another hour or so). If I try putting on an additional coat before the first is absolutely dry, the prior coat comes off as I'm trying to apply the new coat.
After I was reasonably happy with the first two guns (1911, and K22), it occurred to me to mix the white (which I'd bought as a base coat) with the orange. Mixing these roughly 1:1 (2 drops of each in the cup of a empty tray of small pistol primers) produces a nice light/bright orange that looks much better than the orange on its own.
I've had better luck applying the polish with a flat wood toothpick than when I was trying to use the nail polish brushes...and with the mixed polish, using the brushes isn't really an option anyway.
I've been using blue painter's tape as masking tape to control how far down the flat front sights I paint. Before removing the tape, cut the border with a sharp knife. Otherwise, some portion of the polish is liable to come off with the tape
Acetone will remove any overpaint, errors, or everything if you're not happy with it. I've been very careful not to touch the wood grips after messing with the acetone. If your grips have any sort of finish or are any sort of plastic, the acetone is likely seriously bad news for those...don't get any on them. I have a swiss army knife with my finger print embedded in the plastic from 20 or so years ago when I was cleaning tape residue off one of the blades with acetone.
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Mineral Oil will take off the paint and not harm the finish.
hotrod150
Member
I think you mean mineral spirits. "Mineral oil" is used in airplane engines for break-in.
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