Looking for high-viz, but old school front sight options

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NoirFan

NoirFan

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So I am a traditionalist when it comes to revolvers; all of mine are blued with wood grips. I'm just wondering what high-visibility front sight options are out there, which don't necessarily have a modern tactical look. Stuff like gold beads for example.

The guns I'm looking to do a sight upgrade on are: S&W 36, S&W 19-2, Ruger Security Six.

Thanks!
 
At one time Millett made a blaze orange and white colored front sights for the Six but have not offered front sights in years. Sometimes they can be found on some websites for sale. I had a gunsmith fashion a gold bead McGivern style sight for my Speed Six that I had. Some of the better gunsmiths offer this service. Another
approach would be to have a gunsmith fashion a bright colored sight insert on your guns. Some of the K frames and the Security Sixes offered this out of the factory.
At one time Ruger offered an orange insert front sight for the Sec. Six like what the PA State police used.
 
I believe that there's a kit out there with a dovetail jig and epoxy mix to add an insert like what Smith and Wesson currently offers on most new front sights.

Nail paint works well and is cheap, easily removed if disliked.

A gold bead is my favorite though. Probably the most expensive option though.
 
Nail polish is the cheap and easy route. Most of my handguns that dont have night sights get that done to them.

Gloss white as a base coat, followed usually by a coat of fluorescent orange.

With the older guns, you dont lose anything looks wise, and it wont mess with the value.

Comes right off with nail polish remover, and isnt usually affected with gun cleaning solvents.

Not the best pics, but youll get the idea...

enhance.jpg
enhance.jpg
 
I'd have to believe most posting about using paint, in all sorts of combinations, have never looked down a barrel and looked at a fiber optic front sight :what:.
Painting is the "old school" method of brightening up a front sight, been there did that.
Adding a fiber optic REAR sight, along with the front, is icing on the cake for old eyes.
:D
 
NoirFan said:
......don't necessarily have a modern tactical look
Click to expand...

I think this criteria precludes fiber optic. Bright nail polish is low tech but it works , and as others have stated , can be tried without any lasting commitment.
A gold bead , while much harder to implement , is very classy.
 
Tilos said:
I'd have to believe most posting about using paint, in all sorts of combinations, have never looked down a barrel and looked at a fiber optic front sight :what:.
Painting is the "old school" method of brightening up a front sight, been there did that.
Click to expand...

I have used fiber optic sights, OP however asked specifically for "Old school front sight options".
 
What we have here is a classic "eye of the beholder" situation.
My 67 year old eyes are very challenged by a simple blued front sight. Carefully placed bright paint is a significant help in that regard. I did put a hi-viz fiber optic on a 9mm a short time back ; it was actually too bright for me in full daylight , causing a visual distortion and distraction. Bright enhancement is on a standard sight is definitely not " useless for shooting with "old eyes" " .

I'm with Noir Fan - I would not want a modern tactical high tech sight on a traditional firearm. There are plenty of current revolvers and semi's for that application. Plus , tinkering with different colors - and pilfering from wife and daughters - is fun.
 
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Tilos said:
"Old school front sight options" are OK for the "old school look", but are useless for shooting with "old eyes"
OK, paint away...
:D
Click to expand...
Ive got "old eyes", and they are really starting to go quick now.

Fiber optic is nice, but unless they have come up with a way to make them more resistant to breakage, they are just too fragile for my needs. Ive also noticed the overbearing "too bright" issue Waveski mentioned.

They also require altering the gun to have them installed. Something I don't want to do to most of the guns I paint. Otherwise, they'd have something better on them.

The nail polish/paint works great on guns I dont want to alter.
 
AK103K said:
Fiber optic is nice, but unless they have come up with a way to make them more resistant to breakage, they are just too fragile for my needs.
Click to expand...

With most front fiber sights, if the fiber breaks, you've just got a black front blade with a hole (same diameter of the fiber) letting a small amount of light through. You're really just back to a plain black sight in effect.
 
I'm not a fan of fiber optic sights.

A friend has a white bead front on his Pattern 14 and it works very well out to 600 yards.

I just finished the Collector Grade book on the S&W .357 magnums and apparently ivory and gold beads were popular on the Registered Magnums.

Personally, I'd go with the white bead.
 
AK103K said:
Ive got "old eyes", and they are really starting to go quick now.

Fiber optic is nice, but unless they have come up with a way to make them more resistant to breakage, they are just too fragile for my needs. Ive also noticed the overbearing "too bright" issue Waveski mentioned.

They also require altering the gun to have them installed. Something I don't want to do to most of the guns I paint. Otherwise, they'd have something better on them.

The nail polish/paint works great on guns I dont want to alter.
Click to expand...

OK paint it is then...
I'm not a fan of ramp sights and usually file the ramp square before painting them, kind of like a mini partridge sight.
I prop up the gun so the sight surface I'm painting is horizontal, and use a pin to transfer small amounts of paint to the sight.
With the sight surface horizontal, the paint will "capillary" to the edges of the sight forming a crisp edge.
I start with white paint and once it's dried, add orange on top of it.
ProfileS.jpg
PartridgeS.jpg
NPolishS.jpg
This sight needs re-painting, but I've replaced it with a fiber-optic :uhoh:
:D
 
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I like nail polish too. I use some Hi-Viz sights, but the nail polish is pretty effective. And at least to my eye, stands out better in low light situations where the FO fades. I also found on the Ruger ramped front sights, that if I do not paint the 2-3 horizontal etches closest to the top of the sights, I'm left with a sliver of black which better helps aligning the top of front and rear sights. I sand the nail polish lightly once it's dried, to avoid glare.
 
I took the fiber optic sight off both of my x frames and my 329. I despise them. I've had 4 front sights and 2 rear on my 329 and haven't found anything I care for yet. I got used to to the red inlet sights on the ruger redhawk I hunted with first and still prefer its width/ height/ outline for precision work. Maybe I just used it so long I'll not like anything else. Idk. I'm curious to see what others recommend
 
Those pink draftsman's triangles make good front sight blades. Simply cut to desired shape and drill a couple of holes for the pins. The big 30-60 or 45* triangles are about 1/8" thick. And dozens of blades can be cut from one.

Never cared for colored front sights myself. But a cousin of mine made his own from these instruments.

Bob Wright
 
Depends on the need. For most target shooting, even middling action shooting without low light, increasing contrast helps a lot. Get some very, very, very black paint () and paint it on the sighting areas of the front and rear.

Testors Model Master is good stuff.
TESTORS-PAINT-MODEL-MASTER-FLAT-BLACK-ENAMEL-1-2oz-_1.jpg

You won't be changing the look of the gun, as you aren't even going to paint the whole sight, so from the side it's invisible. And, same principle as carbide smoking etc. just with modern tech so you don't have to do it again every few months.

Even for my modern tritium, fiber, etc. sights, I often do this for the black areas, and will first blacken the metal as well. Everyone needs bottles of cold "blue" for steel and aluminum. Really cleans up a lot of wear and scratches as well, but is a miracle for sights.

lckdnldd said:
I skimmed through the other posts and did not see a reference to this sight (see link below). In case you are still looking I have seen some gold dot front sights there. Worth a look anyway.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/
Click to expand...

Link is just to the home page, not any specific product.
 
Oh... kay. Thought you were providing a link to a specific product—especially as there are many gold beads for specific guns, etc and maybe you found a good one—and the url had been munged at some point, so was pointing it out.
 
shoobe01 said:
Oh... kay. Thought you were providing a link to a specific product—especially as there are many gold beads for specific guns, etc and maybe you found a good one—and the url had been munged at some point, so was pointing it out.
Click to expand...
I ran across a few of the gold dot sights looking for V notch sight blades for a Ruger Redhawk. The website does not make it easy to look up a specific part for a specific firearm. There are lots of goodies there though.
 
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