.45 ACP sights?
I went shooting this afternoon. For a beginner did ok with my S&W 19-4, shooting .38 Specials and a few .357 Mags. I had a ball killing a couple plastic water filled milk jugs with the Super Redhawk. However could not hit a barn (little lone the barn door) with the Kimber Stainless II. It has fixed black sights and I had a hard time picking the target out with those ugly sights. I like the look of the three dot systems, like the Trulgo sights. My questions are, first what might you experts suggest for adjustable sights and second, is that something I can put on easily myself or do I need to take the pistol to a gunsmith? I only go out and plink a little at the range and do not do any competition shooting. I do not think I want nor need laser sights. I do not use the .45 to carry. I do not want to spend a lot but I want to have my gun shoot well and yes, look good too. Thanks!
0
-
You might try painting the front sight with neon orange acrylic paint, before buying new sights.
It really helps me. Stands out very well from the black rear sight.
A 2oz plastic bottle is a couple of bucks at Walmart. As only a small amount applied with a tooth pick is required, there is 10 years supply in each bottle.0 -
If you take it to a gun smith he should change the sight out to your liking. Whatever sight you choose the front dovetail sight will never be as good as when it was first set at the factory. I'd recommended a small roll pin set into the dovetail base to keep it from shooting loose. Easiest thing you could do is put large dot Nitsiters on the existing sights. It should set you back less than $20 and they'll glow brighter than tritium when fully charged. And you can just stick them on yourself. Nitesiters come with a special adhesive glue that works well on serrated textured sights. The glue provides a platform under the sight dot. It'll look great as long as you're careful with the glue. 0 -
The good thing is it's close to Halloween so you won't look odd looking at nail polish [:D]. With all those "So Called Punk" "Club Kids" and your round about whack-o's they got some bright colors out there.
Now you can pick up those day-glo paints at some art stores and top it with some clear nail polish.
Also there is that http://www.opsgear.com/common/images/products/large/TG-TG985B_01_lg.jpg but this stuff peels off very easy. Top it with some clear coat and it'll help a bit.0 -
To answer the specific question, yes its certainly *possible* to install sights yourself without taking a gun to a gunsmith, but unless you happen to have sight pushers or similar tools, and/or are accustomed to doing this sort of work, you're probably better off just paying a gunsmith $25 or so to do it right the first time without damaging your new sights or gun.
If I were doing this, I'd put in fiber optic sights. . .just because!
But before you go there, I agree with Rufe and the others.
Black on black sights works great *IF* you are shooting in strong light against a light colored background, for example, if you're framing a classic 6'o'clock bullseye sight picture on an NRA-style bullseye target.
Unfortunately for just about every OTHER situation (ie pretty much shooting anything else in the real world), black on black can be tough to make out.
Personally, I paint *ALL* the front sights on all my non-target guns with brightly colored nail polish, and I find it extremely helpful. When I started doing this, I happened to have a small bottle of bright red.. .I've been working off that same bottle for like 7-8 years now!
But you can use orange, green, yellow. . .whatever you like. You can also use fluorescent colored model-type enamel paint if you like (eg "Testors" brand). There are special purpose designed "gun sight" paints that you can use, though I don't know if these really work any better than the cheaper stuff.
Any of these will be cheap, easy, durable, and significantly increase sight visibility.
Ideally you'd put down a white base coat before putting on the nail enamel, but failing that, you will need to use several THIN coats to get the best color and coverage.
If you ever need to take it off, it melts right off with a dab of nail polish remover.
An an interesting additional suggestion, for one of my guns, I've masked out an outline for the rear sight using carefully applied tape, then painted in a "U" shaped white rear sight outline using white enamel paint and removed the masking tape. Its detail work, but the results came close to a true white rear outline sight, and I'm quite pleased with it.0 -
I'll second the motion for the inexpensive dayglo paint available at Walmart. Go to the craft section and you will find a huge variety of colors in small plastic bottles. I apply it with a toothpick or even a tiny twig if I am already at the range. You put on only about a half a drop so even a small bottle will last years. It is water based and dries kind of rubbery in only a minute or two and you can peel it off with a fingernail if you want to return the sights to factory condition or if you want to put on a fresh coat or change colors. Buy two or three different colors so that you can have a contrast with the target or background color. Dirt cheap and VERY effective. Try it before investing in big bucks for a smith to install new sights. [:)] 0 -
Thank you everyone! For $15 I bought a set of Nitesiters. I probably screwed up as I bought the small dot... I will try the others if this does not work! 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
6 comments