Front Blade Sight Color

[MetalDoc]

I noticed with my 1911 that at indoor ranges, the front sight is difficult to see. I have seen some mentions of painting with a high visibility paint, which makes sense. Bt always wanting to complicate thing unnecessarily, I am thinking about the possibility of nickel plating the blade.

The process of actually nickel plating the sight is academic... I just wondering what your thoughts would be as to whether this would make it sufficiently visible, or if i will end up using day glow paint anyways.

As to why... I am thinking this would be more durable than paint.

Thoughts?

[ElvenSoul]

I think you could get some serious glare. Back in the day when I did PI & Bodyguard Work. I prefered a 1911 Officer SS with a blued slide to cut the glare.

[ragenmoan]

The nickel plating may just mirror the surroundings making it difficult to see the from sight. A cheap solution is salmon color fingernail polish! I use it on several of my handguns and makes picking up the front sight real easy.

[Chunky_lover]

I used regular testers model paint
of course the stock sights had a white dot already, and its in good light







Ended up going back to white

You could get fiber optic front for the 1911, or tritium for really dark ranges
Most times I get distracted by colors, all my rifle sights are black but for one rifle it has a brass ball

ever think of laser grips for indoors or low light
not really for precision shooting but for quick shots

[ElvenSoul]

Seen people use this before

http://glowinc.com/

[Chunky_lover]

I use that glow paint on my glock
right over the white dots, you cant even tell it has the glow paint over them
and it was the water based stuff, still never reapplied it even after multiple cleanings and wipe downs

10 sec with a light and it glows all night
not super bright and about half as bright as tritium but its alot cheaper and if your eyes adjusted to the darkness you can see them all night

of course the longer you leave a light on them, they will be brighter all night


The same paint directly on a blued sight on my yugo, no white under them as they are flip up night sights
10 sec with a light in a lighted room

[Lead Waster]

I used a dab of liquid paper whiteout! Cost = .000000000000001 cents.

It will probably wear off, but it sure makes it easier to see the front site!

[ns3v3n]

Small dot night sights are useless in indoor range, my target night sights on my springfield 1911 are super hard to pick up in indoor range. My Buddy had truglo TFO installed on his and it was night and day. Too bad they dont make my model. Might just have to paint the front sight blade to a different color so it's easier to pick up.

[davek8s]

I used a dab of liquid paper whiteout! Cost = .000000000000001 cents.

It will probably wear off, but it sure makes it easier to see the front site!

+1 to this. I keep a white out pen in my range bag

[MetalDoc]

Thanks all,
Good points regarding the glare. White out or nail polish it is!

[Snapping Twig]

FWIW, I've been shooting S&W revolvers for a long time and my favorite color for the front ramp insert is lime green. The red blends into the background and the lime green is unnatural and stands out, also tested to be the easiest to see by the human eye.

I tried brass beads and solid serrated black, but my eye does not process them well.

White is a close second to the green for me.

[RippSpeed]

I personnally like to black out the rear blade and put fiber optic front sight... Also have plenty of light bars on the side of the front sight thru the rears are great for faster target acquisition...

[jonzer77]

I personnally like to black out the rear blade and put fiber optic front sight... Also have plenty of light bars on the side of the front sight thru the rears are great for faster target acquisition...

I like a plain black rear sight as well because you don't even look at the rear sight that way. I took a sharpie to the white dots on my rear sight.

[Bullwinkle]

I own a stainless Beretta 96. The front sight is integral with the slide (i.e. it's stainless too). I then made the mistake of installing Trijicon night sights on it... the original red dot had to be drilled out for the tritium vial, and then the white ring border around the vial. The front sight is now, literally, invisible in daylight. [Disclaimer, my eyes are bad to begin with.] I imagine nickel-plating your front sight would be much like the stainless front sight on my Beretta, making it more invisible rather than the desired effect. Not to mention the glare aspect that others have already brought to light.

The purpose of sights is to interrupt your line of sight (i.e. to get you to notice them!). If you can't see the front sight, the sights are useless. I personally have never understood why anyone would want all black sights; I don't want my sights blending in with a target (e.g. a bad guy dressed in black in a dark corner of a dimly lit room, or a black bullseye on a paper target). The best front sight color that I have found, at least for me, is fluorescent lime green. It is super easy to see, and I can all but guarantee you that there is no target--live or inanimate--that is going to be lime green (unless you're shooting limes, I suppose), so the front sight will always be discernable. Take a look at TJ's DayGlo Highlighting, for example, which is what I have on my "business" weapons. Disclaimer: Everything in this paragraph is moot when you're using a tactical flashlight... i.e. all you see are the black outlines of your sights when you use a flashlight, regardless of what color they actually are.

[Lead Waster]

I personnally like to black out the rear blade and put fiber optic front sight... Also have plenty of light bars on the side of the front sight thru the rears are great for faster target acquisition...

My RIA Tactical has that problem, the front sight blade fills the rear notch. Without the dot of whiteout, it was really hard to aim. I would file the front thinner, but I'm afraid I will screw it up and file it uneven, which would push the point of aim off to one side.

I believe Dawson makes a FO for the RIA tactical's weird Novak-ish (but not Novak) cut front sight.

Edit: Actually come to think of it, I guess I could file the sight and then get the Dawson IF I screw it up.