Removing Front Sight paint?

[rWt]

Question for everyone.

If you paint the front sight with paint or nail polish, how do you remove the paint or nail polish if you decide you want to go back to the original sight without damaging the sight or bluing?

I suppose nail polish remover should work with nail polish.

What about enamel paint like tester's?

Should you prime with a product that is removable and then paint the color you want on top of the primer?

I want to see how color works on the front sight of a Colt Series 80 45 acp. But, if I don't like it, I want to be able to return to the original sight without any damage. And, I may want to try different colors to see what works best for me-if any.

Thanks!

 

[Certaindeaf]

If it's blue, real blue, most all paint solvents shouldn't hurt it at all.. let the solvent do most of the work instead of rubbing it like crazy. You can use like a toothpick/popsickle stick to rub it a bit and finish with like a Q-Tip. Burnishing it will, well, burnish it.
Go up the "hotness" gradient.. start with paint thinner and if needed, move up to acetone and or lacquer thinner. It'll remove it.
Re-lube after stripping but re-strip/degrease before painting.

 

[TonyT]

With nail polish any nail polish remover or just plain acetone will reve the nail polish. I use the acrylic model paint on my front sight. When it requires replacement i use a sharprazor blade for shaving the paint off of the fromnt sight - remeber it's just like shaving your facial hair, the angle of incidence is critical to not breaking the skin or injuring the front sight.

 

[BCRider]

Acetone from the hardware store will remove all the common paints with very little rubbing. It's also hell on most plastics so don't use a common toothbrush with it for removing the paint. You'll want one of the wooden handled brushes instead.

 

[BCCL]

I've used 100% acetone, even on a vintage 1950's Smith & Wessom revovler that someone had put awful yellow paint on the sight, didn't hurt the blue at all.

 

[gearhead]

With nail polish any nail polish remover or just plain acetone will reve the nail polish. I use the acrylic model paint on my front sight. When it requires replacement i use a sharprazor blade for shaving the paint off of the fromnt sight - remeber it's just like shaving your facial hair, the angle of incidence is critical to not breaking the skin or injuring the front sight.

Ammonia will remove acrylic paint.