Sight darkener

[Guest]

Can one of those sight darkeners that come in the form of a lighter be safely applied to the rear sight of a modern pistol without fearing the soot to damage the internals of the adjustable rear sight?

[Rifle shooter]

Hmmm, the "internals" are just screw threads. So maybe putting a tiny drop of oil on those threads, before "smoking them" would be enough to protect them.

[Steve Swartz as Guest]

Hmmm . . . never heard of any damage as a result of using any of the sight black products.

What are the corrosive properties of calcium carbide soot?

I think corrosion would be the main concern . . .

[Ted]

Just my 2 cents worth. I tried the sight black stuff for a while and didn't like the mess associated with it (though it is not too much). I found a flat black permanet marker to be really good at darkening sights and less to fool with. Ever try this?

[Spencer]

Forty years of blackening the sights with soot (i.e. carbon) on one of my pistols has not caused any problems so far - who knows; in the long term (!) it might cause problems...

Spencer

[Ed Hall]

A more real problem is the use of plastics for some sights. Make sure your sight is metal before letting any flame near it. I can't see why any respectabe manufacturer would use plastic, but from experience, I'm now cautious.

One of my Teammates tried to blacken another's revolver sights in the preparation time a couple years ago, to find the front sight lit on fire. It distorted a bit before they could put it out. I don't recall how well he shot, but I bet he really looked at that "newly formed" front sight through the match.

I would hope the use of plastic isn't a direction that many manufacturers are going to take, but just thought I'd toss out this note, just in case.

Take Care,
Ed Hall
Air Force Shooting Homepage
Bullseye (and International) Competition Things

[Guest]

All your advice is certainly appreciated. Thank you!

The pistol I'm thinking about is a Feinwerkbau AW93 which I figure uses all steel parts except for a piece of polymer next to the rear sight--not the rear sight itself.

[guest2]

All your advice is certainly appreciated. Thank you!

The pistol I'm thinking about is a Feinwerkbau AW93 which I figure uses all steel parts except for a piece of polymer next to the rear sight--not the rear sight itself.

try using black on the front sight only
putting it on the rear will only make you look at the rear instead of concentrating on the front

[Guest]

All your advice is certainly appreciated. Thank you!

The pistol I'm thinking about is a Feinwerkbau AW93 which I figure uses all steel parts except for a piece of polymer next to the rear sight--not the rear sight itself.

try using black on the front sight only
putting it on the rear will only make you look at the rear instead of concentrating on the front[/quote

any hair dressing supplier should have black temp colour in spray cans for a couple of dollars per can works well

[Spencer]

...putting it on the rear will only make you look at the rear instead of concentrating on the front

????????

an interesting theory, but...

Spencer

[guest 2]

...putting it on the rear will only make you look at the rear instead of concentrating on the front

????????

an interesting theory, but...

Spencer

As Hans Standl wrote "the aiming eye does not focus on the target but on the sighting mechanism only particularly the foresight"
i only use sight black on the front sight and concentrate on the frontsight totally when aiming
i tend to only see the gap in the rear sight rather than whole sight

Or as Hans wrote " a shooter must seek to concentrate their full attention on nothing but the technically perfect execution of aiming and firing without necessarily wanting to hit the 10"

i guess that in the end shooting being the subjective thing it shouldn't be it dont matter where they put their sight black as long as they dont melt anything or clog anything up