Originally Posted by
RJ
I tried various colors but seem to pick up red/orange slightly better than green.
For painting an iron sight, I clean it first, then put on one coat of white, then a couple coats of color (typically something named similar to "traffic cone orange"). A paint pen can also work well. It doesn't have to be high tech. Obviously it helps to avoid drips if you do this with the sight off the gun. If you can't remove the front sight, you can prep the slide by using blue painters tape, then put the sight paint on carefully.
Rear sights are generally black, or dark at least. If I have a gun with a white rear, I apply a black sharpie to damp it down. This can be removed with rubbing alcohol to restore the factory white if desired.
What is "good enough accuracy" for SD is an interesting question. I picked up a gun for the first time in 2014, but am a retired engineer, so interested in metrics. For a beginner, I'd suggest starting with "Under ideal conditions, at 7 yards, put 8 of 10 rounds inside an 8" circle with no time constraint." If someone was experienced, I'd up that to "Under ideal conditions, put 9 of 10 rounds inside a 5.54" circle, with no time constraint, at 7 yards." For an expert, I would say "Under ideal conditions, put 10 of 10 rounds inside a 5.54" circle, within 10 seconds, at 10 yards."
As to optics, I started to have issues seeing the front sight in 2020. Arms too short. I switched to optics and don't plan to go back to irons. I feel very comfortable carrying with a dot, every day, I feel like it gives me an edge with my vision limitations, has objectively improved my shooting results and helped to identify and correct issues with my technique.
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