I bought some new front sights from Skinner Sights for two of my rifles, they come completely black and I wanted to paint part of them white so I thought this would be a good subject for another article. If you need some new sights for your firearms be sure to check them out Skinner Sights, they are an awesome company and their customer service is the best in the business, their website is skinnersights.com . Since the sights that I purchased have not been installed on my rifle, I just painted them first before I installed them, but you can do it eight way. Although, I would not remove my sights just to paint them, keep them on your handgun or rifle.
A gun is only as good as the sights that they have on that gun. Good sights lead to a good sight picture and therefore helps you hit what you are aiming at. While this article is mainly about painting your gun sights and improving your sight picture, there are also some other options that we will touch on here as well. But let’s get back to our topic and see just how easy it is to upgrade your handgun or rifle sights to give you that GOOD SIGHT PICTURE.
Is Painting Your Sights Your Only Option To Upgrade Them?
Painting your sights is not your only option, but it is a good choice most of the time and it can be done . What are some of your other options for handguns or rifles?: Fiber Optics and Night Sights are two of your main competitors when it comes to improving your sights.
Fiber optic sights
offer advantages in bright to moderate lighting conditions by providing a clear, bright, and easily visible aiming point, potentially aiding in faster target acquisition and shooting. However, they rely on ambient light, making them less effective in total darkness compared to night sights that glow with tritium.
- The core of the fiber optic strand is typically made of glass (often silica) or plastic (like PMMA).
- The core is surrounded by a cladding, a layer that reflects light back into the core, enabling efficient light propagation.
- The fiber optic strand absorbs ambient light and channels it to the front sight post, creating a bright and illuminated aiming point.
- Fiber optic sights are often available in colors like red, green, and yellow.
- While the fiber optic strands themselves are delicate, the sights are designed with durable housings to protect them.
- When light strikes the fiber optic strand at an angle less than the critical angle, it travels down the fiber without leaking out. This process, called total internal reflection, concentrates the light at the end of the fiber, resulting in a bright, illuminated sight.
Night Sights in no way distract
from acquiring the dot. However they also offer no benefit. When it’s dark enough to need the night sights your dot will be way brighter. Then when using any white light to identify a target the night sights will wash out and not be able to be seen. Night sights, designed for low-light visibility, typically utilize tritium, 
a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which emits beta radiation that excites phosphor material, causing it to glow.
- Tritium is a radioactive gas encapsulated in a small, durable glass vial.
- The beta particles emitted by the tritium interact with a phosphor material, causing it to glow.
- The glow provides a self-illuminated sight picture in low-light conditions, allowing shooters to accurately aim their firearms.
- Tritium has a half-life of approximately 12.5 years, meaning that after that time, the sights will emit half as much light as they did when new.
- Tritium is a low-energy beta emitter, and the small amount used in night sights is considered safe and poses no external dose hazard.
- Some sights use fiber optics, which are illuminated by ambient light, rather than tritium, and can be a good option for well-lit environments.
- The color of the emitted light can be manipulated by using different phosphors, allowing for a range of colors, such as green, yellow, orange, or red.While these two options are very good, they are also much more expensive. But I had to mention them so you would understand that there are other options. So let’s get back to painting our sights.
What Supplies Are Needed To Paint Your Sights?
I am going to look at what I normally use to paint my gun sights, but I will give you another option if you would like it. 
The methods are the same but the paint options are different. I use a good quality spray paint to paint my sights but there are other options, model paint or fingernail polish works too. I like the way spray paint flows on your serrations, model paint or fingernail polish is very thick to work with. A very easy option is to use Sight Paint Pens from Birchwood Casey that work great but they are a lot more expensive. If you have quite a few sights to re-paint this might be an option, but for only one or two sights it is a bit high in cost.
Method #1:
- Krylon satin white spray paint, model paint, fingernail polish
- Cup (for spray paint)
- Isopropyl Alcohol or Brake Cleaner
- Q-tips or Cleaning cloth
- Blue masking tape
- Scissors
- Toothpicks or small foam paint brush (not bristle-type)
- XACTO knife-sharp blade (Optional)
Method #2:
- Birchwood Casey Sight Pens (White, Orange & Green)
How Do You Prepare The Areas That You Want To Paint?
Preparation for both methods will be the same:
- Dip your Q-tips in some Isopropyl Alcohol and wipe down the sight that you are going to pain. If there are any serrations that you will be painting, make sure that you get down deep in the serrations so the paint will stick. Then let it dry completely before painting.
- If you decide to use Brake Cleaner, just spray on the area to be painted and wipe down the area with a Q-tip or cloth. The nice thing about this cleaner is is evaporates very quickly so you do not have to wait very long for it to dry. As I said above, if the sight has serrations, clean them very well so the paint will stick.
- Next use the Blue Painters Tape
to mask around the area that you will be painting. I would rather take some extra time up front to mask the area good so the paint will go where I want it to go rather than drip paint on the side of the sight and then
have to scrape the paint off after it is dry. I like to cut the tape in strips and place them around the area to be painted, it is easier that way. (It is very important to make sure the edges of your tape are pressed well.
What Is The Proper Procedure To Paint Gun Sights?
There are two methods that I have used that get you some great results:
Method #1:
- Clean the cup of any
debris and then spray the paint inn the cup so you have a nice amount of paint to use. - Pick up your sight and hold it firmly so it will not slip out of your hands.
- Place the small paint brush in your other hand and touch the brush to the paint until it is well coated. (Some people like to use a toothpick instead of a brush, it depends if you are painting dots or strips).
- Roll the paint brush on the edge of the cup to remove the excess paint from the brush.
- Touch the brush to the area to be painted with little strokes to make sure all surfaces have been painted.
- Once completed,
place the sight as flat as possible so the paint does not run some place that you do not want it to. - Wipe the paint off of the paint brush using an absorbent paper towel so you can re-use the paint brush and not have to get a new one.
- It will take 2-3 coats of white paint to cover a black sight.
- Let the paint dry over night before you do another coat of paint.
- Clean the cup of any
Method #2:
- The only difference is to paint using the pens rather then the toothpick you do not need the cup, spray paint or paint brush to paint the sights..
Does Letting The Paint Dry Matter?
When you are doing a procedure such as this, we become anxious and want to move on to the next step. Juse remember yes, it is very important to let your painted sights dry over night before you touch them. If you try to take the masking tape off of the sight before it is dry. the sight may become streaked or smudged and then you will have to do it again. It is now that you will be very glad that you took the extra time to used the Blue Painters Tape around the area that you were painting. Less mistakes!
Final Comments
This method works for both handguns and rifles and the end result is well worth the effort. It take more time to get the supplies together then I doe to paint your sights but having new bright white or whatever color that you decide to paint them, makes all the difference in the world. So if you have a firearm with blacked-out sights or the paint is fading or falling off, now you know how to fix that problem. It is very easy to do and it beats paying a gunsmith to do it for you. Good luck!
If you have any questions about this post or anything related to Everyday Carry (EDC), feel free to leave a comment below and I will be happy to get back to you.
All the best,
Larry
Founder of EDC Essentials
there that will work great with your handguns. 
will go with any wardrobe that you have. But you need to consider this option very carefully. If you ignore this choice and try a normal belt with your handgun, you will be very disappointed and probably not enjoy your experience.
that has been worn for so long is being challenged. IWB holsters are just not the most comfortable holsters to wear even though they are very comfortable. Many gun holster manufacturers are beginning to look at OWB holsters as potential concealed carry holsters and are making them tighter to your hip and therefore more concealable.
open carry and with a couple minor adjustments to your wardrobe it will turn it into a concealed carry option. All you need to do is wear a firm belt that is designed to hold a handgun and a good cover garment and you are all set for concealed carry. There are many gun belt makers these days, just check the Internet and you will be amazed at how many there are. But it is really important to wear a belt that can stand the weight of a firearm.
the OWB holster from view will work for concealed carry, a coat or jacket, sport coat, vest, untucked shirt, Baggy sweatshirt is all that you need to turn things into concealed carry. Keep in mind that you will need to keep that outer garment on, whether you are inside or outside so it is important to consider your options.
heavier garment off and leave the lighter garments on to cover your handgun. But you must realize that your cover garment must be long enough to cover the barrel of your handgun, even if you are reaching up to grab something high-up. As you reeach up your outer garment is pulled up higher and can expose the bottom of your holster. So you must keep that in mind when you are choosing the clothes that you wear when you are wearing a handgun. 
Aholster Company, in Telford, Tennessee, Alan does an excellent job and I really like his holsters. These holsters are made from Kydex and that is my favorite holster material.
Due to its high degree of toughness and resilience, Kydex can also be stretched at room temperature to twice its original dimension without breaking.
It was also about 20 years ago and prices of ammo were a lot cheaper then they are right now. Then came COVID and ammo prices went through the roof and they really have not come back down to reasonable prices yet! So what do we do now? Pay the high prices or do we think about reloading? Luckily, I still have all my reloading equipment and most of it is useable today. 
It is not a big fancy progressive press, like the blue Dillon press in the upper picture, that will turn out lots of bullets in a short period of time. It is just a single stage press, Rock Chucker made by RCBS, thats in the bottom picture, but it will work for either handgun or rifle ammo and that’s what I need. Lets look a bit closer at this topic and let you make a decision.
bullets it is necessary to get certain equipment:
, any centerfire bullets can be reloaded, but rimfire cartridges cannot. A centerfire cartridge is a type of ammunition that has a primer in the middle
of the base of the cartridge casing. Centerfire cartridges are used in handgun, shotgun and rifles.