# Sight paint recommendation



## dhonda02

Need input about sight paint, please. Hi Vis, glow in the dark or both. Thanks.


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## berettabone

Thinking about usuns the product myself..............glow in the dark, I don't know, you'd be blinded by muzzle flash anyway?


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## dhonda02

Have seen several products online, just wondering if anyone has used and/or prefer one over the others. Muzzle flash wouldn't matter after the sights were set on target and bang!


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## Steve M1911A1

Glow-in-the-dark paint doesn't work. You have to energize it with your flashlight, which is a pain in the...well...
Instead of making your sights glow, why not just use your flashlight to illuminate the scene? It makes target identification easier and quicker, and will keep you from killing your child as he sneaks in past curfew. Can glow sights do that?

High-visibility paint, however, is very useful. In the proper light conditions, it can make your front sight "pop" into clear focus instantaneously. In all other cases, it's just an ordinary black sight.
Use high-visibility paint only on your front sight. Otherwise you will only confuse your already-busy brain.

If you'd like to investigate high-visibility paint, just go down to the local drugstore and buy a bottle of _bright white_ nail enamel ("polish") and another of _the brightest red_ that you can find.
Paint your pistol's front sight with two coats of white. Paint _only_ the sight surface that you see when you look through the rear sight. Let it dry thoroughly.
Paint the same surface with the red. Give that two coats too. Let it get really, really dry (at least overnight).

If you haven't painted the sides or top of the sight blade, your holster will not affect the paint at all.
See if you like the effect.


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## dhonda02

Steve, I didn't really don't care for the glow in the dark either. Too much of a hassle. Does remind me of the days of the velvet texture, glow in the dark posters! Nail polish sounds like a great idea, my better half has plenty. Was just wondering, and you answered it, if there was any hi vis paint made especially for gun sights. Probably more expensive than nail polish tho. I will certainly try your suggestion. Thanks.


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## Steve M1911A1

There are kits which permit you to add a high-visibility inlay of acrylic plastic to your front sight. Brownells sells them.
There are two kinds: One that uses semi-liquid plastic that hardens after a couple of hours, and one that makes you inlay a stick of already-hard acrylic. I have come to prefer the semi-liquid kind: it's much easier to do, and the result is the same.
But both are a lot of work. Nail enamel will give you the effect without the labor, and it's easily removed, no harm done, if you don't like it. Just use paint thinner, nail-polish remover, or paint remover.

If later you want to do a really professional looking job, you can do the plastic inlay work.
(I put inlays into two of my 1911s, and a third one has nail polish. My pocket-carry EDC has nail polish, as do both of Jean's.)


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## dhonda02

I greatly appreciate your advice.


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## matt_the_millerman

hey Steve, does the nail polish hold up with a usual gun cleaning or do you just reapply?


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## ronmail65

I have 2 guns with black front and rear sights. I paint the rear facing side of the front blade with white Testors band model paint. It gives a great contrast, holds up well, and costs about $1.


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## Steve M1911A1

matt_the_millerman said:


> hey Steve, does the nail polish hold up with a usual gun cleaning or do you just reapply?


Normal gun-cleaning materials do not affect the nail polish on my guns.

BTW: I forgot to mention that you should first clean the sight with a grease-removing solvent, before doing any painting.



ronmail65 said:


> ...I paint the rear facing side of the front blade with white Testors band model paint. It gives a great contrast, holds up well, and costs about $1.


I have never tried model paint, mostly because I didn't believe that paint that wouldn't dissolve a plastic model would adhere to roughened metal.
However, if you found that it works, then I will add that information to my "bag of tricks."

Do you do any metal preparation, before painting?


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## DWARREN123

I have tried paint and stick on sight enhancements and found, that for me, night sights work best. I like Trijicon or Mepro.


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## Steve M1911A1

As I've often written in other threads here, I find glow-sights ("night sights") a distraction rather than an aid.

(Instead of re-discussing the subject here, the Search function should help you find these ongoing discussions.)


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