Which color for best front sight visiability

D

deerslayer303

New member
Hey Guys,

While at the range yesterday I was having some trouble seeing the front sight. I have put a dot of white fingernail polish on there but that didn't help much. I was wonder what colors you guys have experimented with. I went and got an assortment of acrylic paint. I bought a set of fire sights from cabelas for the Hawken Carbine but they won't fit the dove tail on the rifle.
 
Buy a set of Testor paints a try a few colors, a drop on a toothpick on the front sight will do you. I ended up with fluorescent pink rose on most of my sights because they show up best against the back ground I shoot against both summer and winter and it made a huge difference. Your eyes or your shooting background may prefer another color that's why you want the box of 8 colors.

I use them on my fishing lures too so the paint won't go to waste.
 
Oh no, not on a SideLock !!

Just kidding; really!!
Lately, I've gone to chartreuse and yes, it's a yuppie color but it works great for me. In fact, I've taken all my blaze red and orange and turned them into chartreuse. I use a base coat of white and cover with chartreuse, so you are half-way there. All my sight paints, are Jig-Head paints. .... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
deerslayer303 said:
I bought a set of fire sights from cabelas for the Hawken Carbine but they won't fit the dove tail on the rifle.
Click to expand...

Front sight color effectivness depends highly upon each person'e color vision/perception - IOW, different strokes for different folks.
YOU need to experiment, to find out what YOU see best.

As the the FireSights not fitting - FWIW, AFAIK, NO replacement sights are strictly "drop in", i.e. will install w/o a little file work, since just about every one I've ever laid hands on were made a tad oversize so they could be made to fit any rifle with a standard 3/8" dovetail, regardless of production tolerance variations.


.
 
:D I know sacrilege!! but I gotta see the blasted post haha. Good thing id I can take it right off with a scraper before I'm found out by the period correct police! :p
 
Not trying to be a wise guy, but many ranges use low wattage lights to conserve power. That translates for harder to see front sites for those that have less than ideal eye sight. Take a small hikers led head lamp and use it in the shooting booth. Will light up the front sight and make for better viewing if necessary. Some of those booths also have poor ventilation which translates to powder/lead in the lungs. When you blow your nose and you have dark matter in the mucus, that same stuff is in the lungs. Take a dust mask to prevent that if necessary or find a better range. Better to look like a goober at a range than a cancer patient in a bed some where.
 
I painted a shotgun slug barrel front sight with some glow in the dark paint from a hobby shop. That did a real nice job at last light when hunting.
 
As the the FireSights not fitting - FWIW, AFAIK, NO replacement sights are strictly "drop in", i.e. will install w/o a little file work, since just about every one I've ever laid hands on were made a tad oversize so they could be made to fit any rifle with a standard 3/8" dovetail, regardless of production tolerance variations.
Click to expand...

I wish I had to file some to make them fit. The problem is they are too small and fall right through the dove tail.
 
Typically I put fiber optic sights in my pistols; however, many times the bulls eye on my targets is red, and my eyes have difficulty distinguishing the typical red front sight with the red bullseye.

The solution for me was to change the fiber inserts to green in the front, and red in the back. I found a spot (think it was FiberOpticProducts) where I could purchase an assortment of colors and diameters of fiber optic material to try out. I found green in the front was typically brighter than the red, and drew my eye to the front sight more, where it belongs.

Changing fiber optic inserts is dead simple - cut the fiber a bit oversized, thread the material, then use a heat source to seal the ends in place. A couple tips:
  • If you use a cigarette lighter to seal the ends, it can leave a sooty residue on the fiber. Pipe lighters use butane, and will not do this; a soldering iron also will work well.
  • Some fiber is stiff, and can give you trouble bending it as sharp as you need (think Williams Firesights for a Ruger Mark III, where the rear fiber is bent in a "U" shape). You can try a lighter or soldering iron to make it more pliable, but it's easy to use too much heat and part the fiber. I found running hot water over the fiber for a short while worked well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top