Sight Refinishing After Fitting

[IVC]

Short Version: What do you use to refinish black coating on a Dawson rear sight after fitting made some surfaces nice and shiny exposed carbon steel?

Long Version:

I'm having one of my 1911s done by a gunsmith (member here, Cifaldi Precision) to make it into a single stack competition gun. One of the upgrades was the sights and I had purchased a fixed Dawson rear, Novak cut, but decided to have my slide machined for the BoMar instead. This left me with the extra rear sight.

As I was putting away the extra sight, it occurred to me that I have a bunch of 1911s with 3-dot sights and that this would be a good time to upgrade one of them. So I picked one (S&W PC) and had to do quite a bit of fitting (possibly it's slightly different version than what the sight is for). It all looks nice and good, but there are sides that are now exposed steel.

Since Dawson uses carbon steel and suggests to keep sights well oiled to prevent rust, I would like to put on at least some coat of paint to mitigate any issues (it's not a big deal since I'm not by the ocean, but still). So, what paint should I use and what's the process for this?

[john323]

The short version cold blue.

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[Mayor McRifle]

Cold blue, followed by some gun oil.

[IVC]

Great - thanks. Found it at Midway and will order some...

[jandmtv]

Pick up some aluminum black while you are at it. Great for touching up nicks or scratches in aluminum.

[IVC]

Funny you should say that - as I was looking at various refinishing and touch up options I added aluminum black paint marker to my wishlist since it looked like a good idea for minor scratches.

[jimmykan]

Post pics of the before and after!

[jandmtv]

Brownells is offering free shipping. No minimum. Use code M6K

[jandmtv]

Funny you should say that - as I was looking at various refinishing and touch up options I added aluminum black paint marker to my wishlist since it looked like a good idea for minor scratches.

I'd get the liquid, not the pen.

[pklin1297]

Be sure to clean the sight really well. I usually dunk the whole sight in Acetone, heat gun to dry, then apply bluing liquid. Reapply as necessary.

[IVC]

I'd get the liquid, not the pen.

Thanks - I ordered liquid, just because pens tend to be a bit more awkward if you don't use them quite frequently.

[IVC]

Be sure to clean the sight really well. I usually dunk the whole sight in Acetone, heat gun to dry, then apply bluing liquid. Reapply as necessary.

Will do. Just ordered it, so it should be some time next week...

[IVC]

Post pics of the before and after!

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Here are a few photos. Crappy phone camera, but good enough to see the details. Hard to tell the shiny parts in some...

The other sight is the original. I'll post a photo when I refinish the new one (and clean the lint). The front one is also on the way from Dawson.

[Erichp]

Most blues will do a pretty decent job and for that small part the birchwood should do you fine.

If you do ever take advantage of Brownell's shipping offer in the future, they have their own label blue called Oxpho-Blue. I have found it to be darker and more resistant to wearing and it does not tend to get flash rust or the white powder oxidation the others may cause.

Rough surface work better, so scotch bright or light sand to know any shiny parts down. Heat helps the chemical reaction.

Good luck with your project

[zoner]

with a little Brownells rust blue, a piece of 0000 steel wool, a little acetone, and some boiling distilled water you could rust blue that sight and it will hold up better than any cold blue