Painting Sights

[pabovine]

So i have just decided I am going to paint my sights. Went to walmart and could not find "testors" paint. They had some other kind of paint in the craft section. It is an acrylic paint. Is this the same type of paint? So i get home to find out, and Testors sight has a couple of different kinds. As I was searching I found BrightSights paint. This stuff looks promising. Has anyone had any experience with this, it seems like the way I may go.

[Hammerdown]

Testors is usually in either the automotive section, or the toy/model car section at Wal-Mart. If you have a Michael's or Hobby Lobby nearby, it's in the toy/model section.

I have tried Testor's and a couple of other model paints. Most of the recommendations are for one of the flourescents, green/yellow/orange. I thought flourescent green would be good, as I shot a Ruger 22/45 with a Hi-Viz fiber front green sight that was great, but it looks like Testor's doesn't sell f. green unless you get it in the flourescent combo kit, which is $12 and contains a lot of paint you won't use. I got "signal green" from a buddy (it's a discontinued color), and it looked pretty much identical to the flourescent to me, but when I put it on the front sight of my Springfield, it just wasn't bright enough. Not enough contrast with the top of the blued slide and the blued front sight. It was great in daylight, but in the late afternoon, or on an indoor range, not very good.

I ended up going with regular gloss white, covered with clear nail polish. White on blue/black is about the best contrast you are going to get.

Another option to consider is finding a Gander Mtn, or other fishing store, and buying some of that crazy bright paint for fishing lures. Comes in small bottles and costs about $3 or $4. If I hadn't already finished painting my sights when I found that stuff, I would have bought a bottle or two. It's got to be bright enough to attract fish in murky water, so it probably shows up pretty good on a front sight, too.

[Canadian Colt Fan]

Now don't laugh to hard, but when I needed to highlight the front sight on my 1911A1 I used a touch of my wife's fingernail polish. She has dozens of colors to choose from and remover to change color if I didn't like it. There may be a ready supply of paint at your home know, check out the missus's vanity cabinet.

[pabovine]

Unfortunately my wife doesn't use bright nail polish. The paint at Walmart is a water based acrylic, is this what the testor paint is that you use? If not I could look in a hobby store. I think that the "Bright Sights" paint looks promising the more I investigate. Here is their site.
http://www.brightsights.com/products.shtml
Their prices aren't too bad and I like the ease of cleanup that they claim. Not only that but they have flourescent colors also. Let me know what you think, escpecially if you have had experience with their stuff.

[tnhawk]

I've been considering using the bright sights paint also. The local store I've previously seen it at, didn't have any this weekend.

[Hersh]

Testors is usually in either the automotive section, or the toy/model car section at Wal-Mart.

Yeah I found it in the model section in the toy department. If the OP's Walmart doesn't have it I'd be surprised. Testors has held up better than some of the other paints I've tried.

Of course, ymmv.

[Hammerdown]

The white Testors I used was enamel. The green I used was acrylic.

Either way, you need to put a single coat of clear nail polish over it or else it will dissolve the first time you get a solvent (Hoppe's) on it. The enamel will hold up better, but that nail polish is impervious.

You might do a search for Bright Sights here. I seem to remember several posts where guys said it didn't last very long.

Incidentally, the factory "white dot" sights use a paint mixed with an epoxy. I read a post where a guy had added white paint to some epoxy and it looked just like the factory sights when he was through.

If you have some White-Out (the liquid paper stuff) around, put a little bit on the sight and give that a try to see if you like it. If that works, you can go for a more permanent solution.

[daveohno]

For my front sight, I just hit it with White Out. It comes off when I clean the pistol and I hit it again. It is bright, cheap and easy to apply to the front sight and comes in several different shades. I don't think the chemicals in it hurt bluing or whatever the front sight has on it to make it black. I have used the sight paints and white out is brighter and easier to apply.

[TEREX]

Try a model railroad store. Those guys use more colors than you can count. From what I've heard, some are lacquers, some are water base, some are enamel. Railroading friend says "reefer white" is about as white as you can get. He mentions Railbox Yellow, Caboose Red. He has all small bottles, no sets.

Guess you can look at railroad car colors next time you're stuck at a crossing on the way to the range and find a railroad that uses a color you like. :D

[cmp944]

I use and very much like the brightsights products. Just dont waste your money on their glow in the dark paints, the colors are dull in the day and they dont glow much at night even after a charge.

[Cap]

same as Hammerdown, I use white enamel for the rear and acrylic flo green for the front post.




Flo-orange and white is easiest/fastest for me see, but as soon as I stapled a target that had a red bullseye or red field, the draw back of that color choice became obvious.
So white on flo-green has become the best choice for me

The jig head/lure paint HammerD mentioned would likely be a great option too.

I tried several varieties of flo-nail polish and was disappointed.
Even after building up several coats on the sights, it wouldn't make the sights bright

..L.T.A.

[holy roller]

hey cap try marine enamel that stuff sticks to galvnized metal. That is what my painter is using on my purlings that were sent with the wrong finish, Approved by the strctural engineers

[GT27]

Paint the sight white first then go over it with whatever color you want the white basecoat will make your top coat brighter...

[sourdough1938]

Many years ago when I was really poor I tried some adhesive tape on my front sight. It worked for quite a while. I think you can get tape in several different colors now and you could take several rolls with you to the range and try them out under the same conditions and get a idea of what you like. Just a thought. Labeling tape might work.

[Draken]

Paint the sight white first then go over it with whatever color you want the white basecoat will make your top coat brighter...

Good tip!

I found in daughter's crafts box a couple of Sharpie oil-based paint markers. They work nice (for me) and the paint can be removed with alcohol swaps.

http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Product/Sharpie_Oil-Based_Paint_Marker_Fine.html

They wild do until I decide which night sights I'll get.

[CDogg]

I painted all 3 dots on my milspec orange for competition purposes. It worked well for me yesterday. i was able to see it faster even if I were wearing sunglassses. The paint was actually a sight paint from a gunstore and all I need to apply is a toothpick