Silly question-Painting revolver sights.

[302w 83]

I realized I am not getting that great of a sight picture on my S&W M64 because the stainless sights kind of blend in together. I found some old testors paint and painted the rear black and the front ramp bright red, but the red doesn't "pop" real well.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions for sight colors? Neon colors may blend in too well with the shoot-n-see targets. I may paint the back red and the front black as well.

[henrym 19]

A white base coat under the neon colors helps

[alec.mc 180]

Is the front sight pinned / changeable ? Maybe time for a fiver optic front sight

[302w 83]

Is the front sight pinned / changeable ? Maybe time for a fiver optic front sight

 

Unfortunately, no. 

[GRIZ 3,369]

Try nailpolish. $1 per color at the dollar store. Don't try to do it in one coat. If you find it a bit too shiny you can matte it by lightly touching it when it's tacky. I've been doing this for years. It's fairly resilient to most cleaning solvents unlike paint.

[Bully 749]

Try nailpolish. $1 per color at the dollar store. Don't try to do it in one coat. If you find it a bit too shiny you can matte it by lightly touching it when it's tacky. I've been doing this for years. It's fairly resilient to most cleaning solvents unlike paint.

Yup. God bless my wife and her obsession with cosmetics.

 

C

[Vlad G 345]

Paint the whole sight black first. See if that works for you. If not, then add a bright colored stripe on the center of the front sight. That's what I would try, but everyone's eyes are different.

[djg0770 481]

I painted a front sight orange, and then proceeded to lose it on an orange target.  I like the nail polish because with a little acetone it comes off without harming the finish on the gun.  I have used white and orange and I prefer white.

[TonyS. 12]

A white base coat under the neon colors helps

 

+1

[alec.mc 180]

if it was me, Rear sight black, if it's not already.

 

front sight neon green.

 

or buy a revolver with real sights.

[maintenanceguy 510]

I've used the bottles of touch-up paint from the automotive store - usually applied with a tiny paintbrush and then cleaned up the overpainted edges with a razor blade after the paint is dry.

 

[Malice4you 627]

How about some glow in the dark paint (good stuff, not the crap you'd find in most local craft stores).  The glow in the dark stuff I have is an off-white color when viewed in daylight, but if you expose it to bright light for a few seconds, it can glow brightly for a few minutes and will still be faintly glowing hours later.

 

 

This is my Glock 23.  I painted over the stock plastic sights.  This picture was taken on my phone about a minute after glowing the sights up with a 600 lumen flashlight for ~5 seconds.  That super brightness will be greatly diminished in about 2-3 minutes, but for a half hour, those will still be easily noticeable in darker areas to eyes adjusted for normally-lit areas.  With eyes adjusted to the dark, you'd still see these glowing in 4-6+ hours.

[TonyS. 12]

Looks good, Malice4you. A cyclops smiley.     FWIW, this is the best glow paint I've used. It comes highly recommended over at Candlepower forums.

[Malice4you 627]

Looks good, Malice4you. A cyclops smiley.     FWIW, this is the best glow paint I've used. It comes highly recommended over at Candlepower forums.

Thanks, that's the stuff I used (unless it was the other solvent based paint).

 

For extra kick, sprinkle some extra powder on the paint as it is drying...

[maintenanceguy 510]

I was just thinking what you could do with a 5 gallon bucket of that glow in the dark paint.   At $1,600 I probably won't end up trying it.

[MedicYeti 96]

Nail polish. Cheap, comes with it's own applicator. Can be easily saved for future touch-ups. I use a bright orange on my Taurus revolver front sight.

[GRIZ 3,369]

if it was me, Rear sight black, if it's not already.

 

front sight neon green.

 

or buy a revolver with real sights.

The durability of fixed sights make a lot of sense for a self defense gun.

[alec.mc 180]

The durability of fixed sights make a lot of sense for a self defense gun.

No doubt, notched low profile sight systems have their places on carry guns, it just sounds like the OP is looking for a little something more then what he had available on that gun.

[GRIZ 3,369]

No doubt, notched low profile sight systems have their places on carry guns, it just sounds like the OP is looking for a little something more then what he had available on that gun.

Stainless on stainless sights are just hard to see. Coloring them gives you that "something more".

[Meissama 1]

Your eye is much better at perceiving greens the best. (this is why night vision is green) As long as your sight is that of the avg human a neon green sight is the best, because even against a greenish background, your eyes should still pick up the sights better. Especially if u are using EZ-See targets that typically have orange backers. 

[Vlad G 345]

The durability of fixed sights make a lot of sense for a self defense gun.

 

Maybe. I've ripped up a few sights, specially front ones, over the years. For ever single case I've done that I'm not sure built in sights wouldn't have take some significant damage. Granted, this was on semi-auto guns, and some revolver sights are a lot beefier. 

[302w 83]

This is my all around gun. I do carry it.

 

Vlad, I forget what the style of these sites are but they're pretty indestructible.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

I went down to the Hobby Shop on Rt. 34 in Aberdeen and got a small bottle of bright red matte finish model paint and a Number zero brush.  Applied paint to the front sight and left the rear sight black.  Works for me and I'm on progressive tri-focals.  I guess I did it good enough--it must have been 10 years since I did it, lol.

 

The trick is to make sure that all cleaners and grease are wiped-off the surface to be painted.  Rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab does great for metals, removing all petroleum products.

 

Dave