Thanks!
My wife picked up a bottle each of Testors model paint in white and orange on one of her numerous trips to Hobby Lobby.
Now I have to find it in her art studio....
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A Detective Special purchased new in 1995 was my first concealed carry gun. I liked everything about it except that front sight. A gunsmith cut out a dovetail taking up almost the entire top half of the ramp on the sight, and filled it with orange epoxy. The result improved visibility somewhat but is still suboptimal. The gun also shoots about a foot above the point of aim at 25 yards with most of the standard pressure remanufactured 3-D brand ammo I used for practice at the time. The 158 gr. LHP +P I used for carry shot a little higher.
My only other complaint was the sharpness of the corners of the hammer spur, which I rounded with a Dremel.
I have considered replacing the front sight with one that has a vertical back surface and which is about 0.05 inch taller than the factory sight. If I were to do so, a gold bead or tritium would likely be included. Having moved on to carrying other guns, it has not been worth the cost. Having learned about how much bullet weight affects point of impact with a revolver, I would also want to try different loads before making a change. Perhaps something else will be closer with the factory sight.
Once while shooting with a friend, the friend placed 4 bowling pins about 10-15 yards away, and proceed to miss with 15 shots from his Ruger P-89. He invited me to try. Aiming slightly above the bottom of the pins, shooting double action, I knocked down 3 pins with 3 shots. These guns are capable of good shooting in light conditions that make the front sight visible.
Before subcompact 9mm semiautos became common, these guns had much in their favor as concealed carry guns. The steel frame and Colt branded Pachmayr grips made them comfortable to shoot and able to handle +P comfortably. Elsewhere on this forum multiple incidents in which 5 was not enough have been discussed, so having 6 was a small improvement. The longer ejector as compared to a comparable S&W was helpful. Unfortunately not much else that size came with decent sights at that time.
My first carry revolvers were a J frame and Ruger SP101. When I bought a DS, that sixth round seemed magical! After buying 7 and 8 round revolvers, 6 rounds seemed lacking, but I’m happy with the six rounds in my M19. Having a J frame in my jacket pocket is nice, but mostly for driving.
The old "red ramp" front sights on S&W revolvers were also an improvement, though only to a certain degree. When I started trying orange nail polish, it took a couple tries to find a truly bright orange. I ended up painting over the red ramp sights, as the Traffic Cone orange was significantly brighter in poor light than the factory red ramp insert as well as any other orange nail polish I tried or the red fiber optic front sight on one of dads pistols. After seeing the difference, and seeing many guns with the colored dovetail insert missing I prefer sights without the insert and just paint them. I also painted the factory night sight on the g19, at least all the parts that werent the actual glow vial. It bridges the in between time when the unpainted sights arent enough but the night sights hasnt quite come into best effect.
My evening skunk patrol walks around the place really makes the orange sights pop in dusk light, to the point I can see them when standard blued irons are invisible in the poor light. The 73 carbine has an orange front sight now also.
Attachment 116742
I did a fifty round practice session with the DS this morning at three, five, seven, and ten yards DA.
Results weren’t terrible considering the front sight was nearly invisible the entire time and speed and accuracy suffered as a result.
The grips are proud on the left side which rubbed a blister on the base of my thumb after thirty-ish rounds which forced me to finish support hand only and assisted support hand. A set of Sile boot grips was located on EBay and ordered.
Need to set up the revolver sight paint spa up this weekend and do at least this one and my pocket J.