Sight Touchups

jumpcut

New member
What do you use to brighten sights? I have hearing everything from white out to nail polish. And what do you use to apply it?
 
Many gunshops carry a special paint called BRIGHT SIGHTS which works pretty well. Wite-Out works okay. And a variety of model paints work OK, with the model paints being far more durable than some of the alternatives. (Model paints also come in florescent colors, which adds to their effectiveness.)
 
One thing that you need to watch out for is anything that will cause glare on your sights. To acheive accuracy, you need a SHARP, clear sight picture. Serious target shooters, who demand maximum accuracy use black sights. Then they use lamp black or spray black to take any glare off the sights. Over the years, I have played around with colored sights, painted sights, night sights, optical sights, scopes..... When it was all said and done, I realized that black sights are the way to go on handguns (for me and my uses). Even stainless front sights cause glare. I spray them with sight black.
 
444 makes a good point, but with a cavaet:

I've found that when shooting in certain lighting conditions, target sights, especially black ones (like he describes, blackened to reduce glare) are absolutely useless.

I shoot a good bit of IDPA, and in a number of the scenarios we use, a black sight against a black back drop would leave you almost blind.

I really like the big target sights with a white outline on the back and a big white dot in front. But I've only got that on one gun.
 
I like to use International Orange enamel. Stands out real nice in daylight. Apply it with a Q-tip or toothpick.
 
I'm with Walt (I'm beginning to like you, Walt),

The Bright Sights works for me as it comes in a variety of colors, my favorite being the horrible flourescent green or orange. I purchased the entire kit direct from them to try out all the colors:

Green
Yellow
Red
White
Orange

They also make a glow in the dark coating that is, in my opinion, useless. Unless you have the firearm positioned under bright light immediately prior to requiring it, it does no good. They recommend mixing it with other colors, but even "straight" it isn't worth the time. I suggest night sights if that is a consideration.

The orange and green provide the highest contrast and are the most optimal of the five colors for low light. Red and white are essentially glosy and are not flourescent as the yellow, green and orange are. A vial of cleaner/thinner is provided in the kit for spills or mishaps or to "revitalize" the vial you forgot to close.

I've used white-out, model paints, nail polish; none adheres as well as the Bright Sights if the surface it is applied to is clean before application. It works exceptionally on sights if they are serrated (to reduce glare) for obvious reasons.

WESHOOT2 and I do the same thing. A toothpick or wooden dowel has worked best for me.

They have a website (do not have it handy) and I obtained mine from them.

Incidentally, they charged me less for it direct than any dealer in my locale. The kit with five the colors mentioned and the vial with the "glow in the dark" junk delivered was under $20, if I recall correctly.
 
I use a brand called apple barrel that I get at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents a bottle. The orange and green glow in the dark (which doesn't by the way) stands out like a sore thumb in any condition as long as you have a little light. Comes in 2oz bottles, so I've still got 1.999oz in the bottles I bought 5 years ago.
 
Back
Top