Using nail polish for a front sight

[LockedBreech]

I bought a Bersa Thunder 380 for a while back just for kicks because it was cheap and I liked it. I haven't even shot it yet and the white of the front sight fell out. Mild bummer but since I never intended to carry this seriously I'm not that out of sorts about it.

I want to use orange nail polish for the front sight. Is it just as simple as buying some, applying it gently, and waiting for it to dry, or is there some sort of layering process I need to do to make sure it sticks?

Thanks.

-LB

[Robinson]

Just clean/de-grease the sight with solvent and let it dry before applying the color. At least that's what I've done in the past and it worked fine.

[Mark D]

Some folks like to use a white base layer, followed by the color or their choice.

After initially experimenting with nail polish, I now prefer colored model paint. I buy it from the hardware store.
And I'm a little clumsy, so I use masking tape to keep the paint off the slide.

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

I bought a Bersa Thunder 380 for a while back just for kicks because it was cheap and I liked it. I haven't even shot it yet and the white of the front sight fell out. Mild bummer but since I never intended to carry this seriously I'm not that out of sorts about it.

I want to use orange nail polish for the front sight. Is it just as simple as buying some, applying it gently, and waiting for it to dry, or is there some sort of layering process I need to do to make sure it sticks?

Thanks.

-LB

Ruger actually uses model paint at the factory for their pistols. Cleaning and then prepping with rubbing alcohol is the most effective. Applying it with the point of a toothpick after masking taping is helpful.

[SecondsCount]

I use an orange acrylic paint pen from a craft store. Clean the sight off with some rubbing alcohol before applying.

I get about 6 months out of mine before needing to reapply. Nail polish would probably last longer.

[JBP55]

Some folks like to use a white base layer, followed by the color or their choice.

After initially experimenting with nail polish, I now prefer colored model paint. I buy it from the hardware store.
And I'm a little clumsy, so I use masking tape to keep the paint off the slide.

This.

[Joe Mac]

https://www.amazon.com/Birchwood-Casey-Brand-0-33oz-Bright/dp/B07C961CJ8/

[APS-PF]

Yeah, couple of layers of white model paint for the base layer and then a couple of whatever color I want.

[farscott]

I use Testors enamel model paint. My process is simple:

1) De-grease the surface to be painted with isopropyl alcohol.

2) Apply painter's tape below area to be painted.

3) Apply white paint as a base. Let dry overnight. If the base coat is thick, drying can take two days. Excess can be removed with the isopropyl alcohol before it dries.

5) Paint with desired color (I like 1173 fluorescent orange). Let dry overnight.

6) Gently remove painter's tape.

[vcdgrips]

I am a simple man, I de grease and use some 'Hot tamale" fingernail polish from walmart. I apply slowing, using the supplied brush. I let dry over night and can trim of any excess/overrun with a razor blade, exacto knife etc.
Bottom line IMHO, any red/orange fingernail polish will work just fine, even the ones with glitter if you already happen to have it lying around.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sally-Hansen-Hard-as-Nails-Xtreme-Wear-Nail-Color-Hot-Tamale/35282101

[SAWBONES]

Agree with assiduous cleaning of front sight (lacquer thinner or isopropyl alcohol), followed by two layers of flat white Testor model paint to cover the length of the front sight.

When that's really dry, use whatever Testor paint or hot nail polish which your vision picks up best (bright orange for me), and paint only that part of the front sight which is visible with a correct sight picture, that is, with the tops of front and rear sights aligned.

That way, if you inadvertently bring the front sight too high, you'll see white, and know your sights aren't correctly aligned vertically.

(Credit to Claude Werner, "the Tactical Professor")

[Tom Duffy]

I use "essie 942" nail polish courtesy of a daughter. It's a copper/gold metallic. it's like a giant gold bead sight.

[TOTS]

I use Testors enamel model paint. My process is simple:

1) De-grease the surface to be painted with isopropyl alcohol.

2) Apply painter's tape below area to be painted.

3) Apply white paint as a base. Let dry overnight. If the base coat is thick, drying can take two days. Excess can be removed with the isopropyl alcohol before it dries.

5) Paint with desired color (I like 1173 fluorescent orange). Let dry overnight.

6) Gently remove painter's tape.

This. I used a punch to make a perfect circle in the painters tape and a fine paint brush to paint a poor man’s HD or Bold dot. Used a sharpie to clean it up and sharpen the edges. 31253. Just make sure you don’t get ANY of it on your wife’s white marble counter tops.

[LockedBreech]

Very helpful y'all, thank you.

[serialsolver]

I use nail polish remover, it’s acetone, to clean the sight. Apply a white base coat, then color of choice (I use neon pop orange), then clear coat. All obtained at wal mart. Nail polish drys fast, all the coats can be done in 30 minutes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Clobbersaurus]

Paint is a personal choice, I bought the brightest orange I could find from a craft store. One thing I did find helpful though was to use a drill bit on the OEM front sight and hog out the existing OEM dot. Just find a bit that matches the size of the dot, and rotate it back and forth by hand in the center of the dot until you have made a nice, even, concave surface over the dot. I then use a finishing nail and dip it into the paint, then dab drops of paint into the indent I have created to fill it up with the paint colour of my choice. If you slop some over the sides of the indentation just gently wipe across the face of the sight with a tissue and you should be left with a round day-glow coloured dot. When it dries it will be more durable than just paining over top of the sight, and a quick wipe with a damp cloth will bring it back to new.

[Canyonrat]

I use nail polish remover, it’s acetone, to clean the sight. Apply a white base coat, then color of choice (I use neon pop orange), then clear coat. All obtained at wal mart. Nail polish drys fast, all the coats can be done in 30 minutes.

That may work well for cleaning, but I recently had rubbing alcohol begin to take the finish right off the side of a sight using a q-tip. Acetone may strip your sight, YMMV and all that. But it will be really, really clean. :rolleyes:

[Jared]

I degrease the sight first. I'm in the camp that likes to start with a white base layer or two. I've done the testors orange, orange fingernail polish both. Both worked well. Recently I picked up some fluorescent yellow testors paint at a craft store. Initial returns are good and I may switch my orange sights over to this.

Overall, I think it works great. I've got a couple guns that I've done the paint job on that I prefer those sights to some of the well known aftermarket options.

[Malamute]

I also use acetone and fingernail polish, with a white undercoat. I used a different color orange before, but saw Traffic Cone orange by Salon Perfect at walmart. Its very noticeably brighter in poor light than the stuff I used before. I pit it on all my normal sights, including winchester carbine sights. Excellent stuff. Makes the sight easily visible in conditions plain blued steel or a sourdough type (angled brass face) isnt visible.

I havent had any problems with acetone, but my stuff is blued steel. It does easily remove nail polish if you want to re-do it or remove it.

FWIW, geeky as it may seem, white nail polish in the markings on A2 sights makes it vastly easier to see to adjust sights for range or whatever in anything less than perfect light. The target shooters do it, I tried it and like it a lot. I do all the numbers and index marks.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRqEeFrEKx61LN0PZeQ3a-TgfdYlQcWxRhsjF2_Tl8_9OL_1pySnA

[Cheap Shot]

Am I the only one that changes front sight nail polish color to match whatever color was used on my last mani/pedi:confused:

Awkward.......

[Clobbersaurus]

Okay, I whe back and found the pics form the last time I painted a front sight, here’s the stuff I used:

http://i.imgur.com/pJmaM4w.jpg

Result:

http://i.imgur.com/sbXtyOy.jpg

Result next to a fiber optic....i quite like painted front sights for everything other than bright sunlight.

http://i.imgur.com/x9TmZaV.jpg

[beenalongtime]

First I tried some cheap nail polish, but it wasn't bright enough orange for me. (It wasn't Halloween time however, so it is easier to find brighter orange now)
I went to hobby lobby and picked up some testers orange for less money (matches the factory orange/under $2) and I believe they were called microsponges. Think a cotton ball the size of the smallest belly lint, on the end of a toothpick.

I didn't go to as much prep work as others have, because I was repainting an old sight I was given, that I am using on a practice gun, rather then a carry gun, where I have new ones. (used it to see if I liked them better then other sights)

[10mmfanboy]

I have used glow in the dark paint and orange nail polish and it stays on pretty well. Like others have said prep the surface well with rubbing alcohol. I usually apply clear nail polish over it after it dries. Don't tell my gf though.

[Malamute]

Result next to a fiber optic....i quite like painted front sights for everything other than bright sunlight.

http://i.imgur.com/x9TmZaV.jpg

^^^ This has been the result of my limited comparisons with fiber optic sights in low light.

George mentioned he had used the same color, Traffic Cone, and went to some other sight type or visibility method, but it seems pretty darned good in my use of it. Very noticeably brighter than the last brightest neon orange nail polish I could find at the time, which was still much improved over FO.

[fpnunes]

Okay, I whe back and found the pics form the last time I painted a front sight, here’s the stuff I used:

Result next to a fiber optic....i quite like painted front sights for everything other than bright sunlight.


Thanks for the pics. You just inspired me to do this with one of my USP compacts!

[beenalongtime]

Does anyone have a picture of orange on stainless? I am wondering if it would be brighter then the factory red.

[Malamute]

Does anyone have a picture of orange on stainless? I am wondering if it would be brighter then the factory red.

Very much better than factory S&W red sight inserts. They are a color, something less effective than the FO in the pic above, the neon orange seems to glow in low light.

[beenalongtime]

Very much better than factory S&W red sight inserts. They are a color, something less effective than the FO in the pic above, the neon orange seems to glow in low light.

May be less effective, but I would rather not try to drill a factory 92 FS stainless slide, if a color change improves viewing. (really would like to find the vertec stainless slides back in stock and keep this slide stock)

[SW CQB 45]

this is a model 10 HB 3"

flat white base and testors orange

https://i.imgur.com/6Da78GL.jpg


Neon green nail polish on MCOP

https://i.imgur.com/JroA6Nj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/o9ABAni.jpg

[Clobbersaurus]

May be less effective, but I would rather not try to drill a factory 92 FS stainless slide, if a color change improves viewing. (really would like to find the vertec stainless slides back in stock and keep this slide stock)

I drilled out a stainless Girasan clone and then painted the front sight black. I should have just painted it black and did the orange paint on the dot. It looks good but was expensive and would have ruined the slide if they messed it up.
http://i.imgur.com/9VfBy3v.jpg

[Malamute]

May be less effective, but I would rather not try to drill a factory 92 FS stainless slide, if a color change improves viewing. (really would like to find the vertec stainless slides back in stock and keep this slide stock)

Drill? Does it not have any sort of dot on the front sight?

Can just painting the blade work?

[Poconnor]

I have had good luck using orange paint pens. I simply fill in the factory white dot front sight with orange

[beenalongtime]

I drilled out a stainless Girasan clone and then painted the front sight black. I should have just painted it black and did the orange paint on the dot. It looks good but was expensive and would have ruined the slide if they messed it up.
http://i.imgur.com/9VfBy3v.jpg
Facepalm. I didn't even think of painting the surrounding area.


Drill? Does it not have any sort of dot on the front sight?

Can just painting the blade work?

On 92's, there are quite a few people who send them out to one of a couple guys, to convert the front to fiberoptic. My 92 inox is considered one of the wanted type, because it is before all the warnings on the slide. (parts swapping for use is ok, but long term mods, should be avoided)

[Jared]

May be less effective, but I would rather not try to drill a factory 92 FS stainless slide, if a color change improves viewing. (really would like to find the vertec stainless slides back in stock and keep this slide stock)

I'm gonna get rocks thrown at me for this......

I don't really mind the fixed front sight on the 92's since I learned how to paint them and found colors that work for me. I've got some awesome 92's with dovetailed sights and Dawson fiber optics and Ameriglo Spartans and that stuff. Love those guns. But I can take one of the fixed front sighted guns that I've painted and get results that are just as good.

[mmc45414]

Another thing I do is clamp the gun in a padded vice at such an angle that the surface being painted is horizontal. As paint is added it tends to flow where it needs to be and stop at the edge, and as it dries it levels out nicely.

[Malamute]

I'm gonna get rocks thrown at me for this......

I don't really mind the fixed front sight on the 92's since I learned how to paint them and found colors that work for me. I've got some awesome 92's with dovetailed sights and Dawson fiber optics and Ameriglo Spartans and that stuff. Love those guns. But I can take one of the fixed front sighted guns that I've painted and get results that are just as good.

Night sights are a different matter, and would require work to adapt to the gun in some cases, but the only gun Ive had in recent years that had an FO front sight, I removed it and put the plain sight back on and painted it, its much more visible than the FO, and doesnt suffer from the chance of being broken. I must confess to being baffled by how popular FO front sights are if all around visibility is the objective. They arent very visible in lower light levels compared to good paint choices, or maybe the ones Ive seen werent up to par.



Another thing I do is clamp the gun in a padded vice at such an angle that the surface being painted is horizontal. As paint is added it tends to flow where it needs to be and stop at the edge, and as it dries it levels out nicely.

When painting them with nail polish, being level helps, so does getting most of the paint out of the bristles before application, and touching the paint on rather than wiping motions or brush stroking type application. Just dabbing it on, it doesnt blob or run. Magnifying geezer glasses helps.

[John Hearne]

Two quick comments:

I've done it both ways and vastly prefer the final appearance when you put a white base layer under the paint.

I've tried both ways and vastly prefer to paint the whole blade. The dot may be slightly faster up close but I like the quick ability to work the four corners when the whole front sight is colored.