Tricks to stop front sight wash out

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White then blaze orange Testors for me as well, applied with a toothpick to get it just right.

Stainless or blued, fixed or adjustable, revolver or auto, target or defense; this treatment has vastly improved my ability to see the front sight on many of my handguns indoors or out. I even painted the front sight on my issued-duty mini 14 and the result was very good as well.

Stay safe.
 
This might be another alternative for you..... Mag na Port.

It makes your gun "self smoking", even if you dont want it. :cool:

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My taurus 669 has factory ports, they blew the red plastic insert right out of the blade.
Of course the front sight and ramp are integral.
JB weld did the job.

Thats 50 rounds of 44SPL LSWC's, and actually, its more like 10 rounds, as I had to keep wiping it off every other cylinder or so. If you look close, youll see there's an orange insert in the ramp. Did I mention, Mag na Port sucks!? :p
 
Made up a set of mock sights with back to back layers of guerilla tape. I left the middle on the long side So i can't tip it it back on an angle to mimic the front sight ramp to see which color will do the best and not wash out. Figured this would be a good way to directly compare the sights without repainting them multiple times.

Paints still wet in the pic.
Colors are : Amber metallic, flat brass, florescent orange, and flat red.

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Well after reading another members post in another thread on how they prefer nail polish over testors for durability, I did a test. Turns out they were right and hopes takes off testors. It didn't bother the metallic colors much, but it did start to take the florescent orange off. Even 91% rubbing alcohol started to soften it and remove some paint.

So back to nail polish i went. Had some white and chartreuse sitting around the house from when I painted my 1911's sights. I took my time with the tooth pic and let each coat cure for atleast 8 hours. 1 coat of white, 2 coats of chartreuse, than sanded it with some 2000 grit to knock down the glare. Painted the Blackhawk, single six, taurus 66 and model 60. Like the idea of them all having a similar sight picture. Inside the color is relatively bright. But out doors in another story , it literally glows. I had to take the outdoor pic against a white door so it wouldn't flare in the camera, I'm very impressed. It is also a bit more green than the pics show. Should be excellent for hunting.
Still need to clean up the edges with a acetone soaked toothpick.

Outdoor
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Indoor
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I did a little test today. Pic was taken at 430 pm, sunset time Was "4:23". Shows how bright this paint is compared to my Dawson's fiber optic sight on the gp100. Excuse the poor quality pics.
 

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Ive had a couple of guns with FO sights, and Ive never really been impressed with them. They never seem to be the "same" in brightness and are either overly bright in bright light, or go very dim pretty much instantly, as the light fades. They need a constant light source, like a red dot.

On guns where I cant have night sights, Ive always had good luck with the nail polish. The most difficult part about it is, finding a color thats quick to pick up and works against the majority of backgrounds. For me, thats a bright fluorescent orange.

I used to get all anal about doing them at first, and it drove me nuts trying to get things just right. After you do a few, its like the difference between your first, second, and third kids. It gets a lot easier, and you get a lot less picky. :D

I just float a nice coat of gloss white on, and then a half-hour or so later, and coat of orange. I just use the brush in the bottle too. If you screw up, decide you dont like the color, or just want to touch up, a bottle of nail polish remover makes for a quick fix.

Stuff lasts forever too. Im still using the bottle of white I bought back in the 90's, and its still half full too.
 
Ive had a couple of guns with FO sights, and Ive never really been impressed with them. They never seem to be the "same" in brightness and are either overly bright in bright light, or go very dim pretty much instantly, as the light fades. They need a constant light source, like a red dot.

On guns where I cant have night sights, Ive always had good luck with the nail polish. The most difficult part about it is, finding a color thats quick to pick up and works against the majority of backgrounds. For me, thats a bright fluorescent orange.

I used to get all anal about doing them at first, and it drove me nuts trying to get things just right. After you do a few, its like the difference between your first, second, and third kids. It gets a lot easier, and you get a lot less picky. :D

I just float a nice coat of gloss white on, and then a half-hour or so later, and coat of orange. I just use the brush in the bottle too. If you screw up, decide you dont like the color, or just want to touch up, a bottle of nail polish remover makes for a quick fix.

Stuff lasts forever too. Im still using the bottle of white I bought back in the 90's, and its still half full too.
The only thing I like more about the fiber optic sights is they tend to be more of a patridge style sight and present a nice clean edge (especially the Dawson's) so it gives you a great sight picture, while still being pretty good in low light.
 
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