Wow, First time I watched the first Dirty Harry movie since I started shooting in spring...Although I have seen the movie umpteen times before, this is the very first time I noticed he has a redish front sight post on his 44 magnum handgun...Amazing what you can observe when your conciousness is trained...Well, evidently Harry was ahead of his time, and partially why he was able to blow away so many Bad Guys! For those of you who "paint" the back of your front sight, we are on right track with our nail-polish ;-)...It has made a difference in the consistancy of my shooting on my Sig-1911. With Harry's insperation I think I am going to nail-polish my PX4 and Kimber Team Match also as well as my M1A....Here's to Harry and Nail Polish for "making my day"!

I never used nail polish, but a lil' trick they give you in boot camp is White-Out on the fsp of your M-16.

I think Harry has S&W to thank for the red ramp insert front sight on his M29.

 

DIY -

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiO2-ekNnaU

Yes, I cold tell it wasn't nail polish...Nail polish is much easier anyway it seems (nice video though)...

You could also put Fiber optic front sights on instead of using nail polish.

Red ramp front sights on S&Ws were an option in the 50s AFAIK. Painting sights with nail polish or paint was done in the 60s that I have have personal knowledge of and I'm sure was done for years before.

The original S&W from 1956 was cataloged as "The 44 Magnum" in 1957 S&W created the model distintion 29 for the 44 mag.Harry Calihan used a 29-2 with a 6 1/2" barrel in all his movies with a revolver. S&W 44 mag's even the ones from the 1950's came from the factory with the red ramp white outline rear. Thats not nail polish.

^{Toung-'n-cheek my Frineds - of course Harry dodn't wear nail polish ;-).}

My Model 29 and Model 19 both have Red Ramp and White Outline Rear Sights.......

Front sight configurations offered for all K & N frame revolvers as they came from the factory were:

• 1/8" Patridge Blade on Ramp Base (or blade only)
  
• 1/8" Baughman Quick Draw on Ramp Base (or blade only)
  
• 1/8" S&W Red Ramp Blade
  
• 1/8" S&W Red Post Blade
  
• 1/8" McGivern Gold Bead on Partridge blade
  
• 1/8" Call Gold Bead on Patridge Blade
  

A bit of thought and personalization was given to the front sight.

fiber optics ftw