Improving Crummy Factory Sights For Pennies

The factory sights that come on most pistols (especially little guns) are pretty difficult to see. They’re usually small and black and acquiring the front sight during the presentation can be difficult. You also might be vetting a new pistol purchase, and before dropping $70-$150 on a set of new sights you can cheaply get easier to see sights.

$6 gets you fluorescent hobby paint and tiny brushes at a hobby store. I also purchased some white Nail polish at the dollar store.



This can also be accomplished with florescent tape with clear coat nail polish on the edges to keep it from peeling.

Reapply as needed.

$6 for enough supplies to paint all of your guns, all your friend’s guns, and your future grandchildren’s guns..
Put down a few layers of white nail polish.
Dab some hobby paint on the front sight. It took two or three coats.
The Beretta PX4’s sight pictures is much improved.
J-frame. Paint the whole ramp white, then only paint the portion you see looking through the sights the preferred color.

The LCP (gen1) also has terrible sights.
It doesn’t look like a big difference, but trust me it’s way better.

9 thoughts on “Improving Crummy Factory Sights For Pennies”

  1. Agreed on the LCP, I borrowed some of my daughter’s brightest fuschia and it holds up OK. Going to hit my Mark II soon because I’m not so good with the stock black whereI’ve been shooting- indoor range.

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  2. Reblogged this on The Obsession Engine and commented:
    Again, its not just for firearms. If you’re looking into the whole “parlor shooting” thing like I am, you’ll want good sights to work with.

    As an aside, numerous folks have wondered if a lot of the reason point shooting was so well-received was because of the really bad sights found on older semiautomatic pistols. They were “low profile” and the front sight frequently occludes the entire rear notch when you try to aim. I’m not saying that some kind of “point shooting” technique isn’t of potential value at extremely close ranges, just that, with the sights on those pistols, you frequently wouldn’t have had another option!

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  3. I remember my dad doing this to his service revolver back in the 70’s. It worked then and it still works.

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  4. Pingback: Pistol Sighting Options: If I Only had $200 to spend | Growing Up Guns

    1. That’s a good place to start. Then the shooter needs to practice with the chosen color. I’ve had chartreuse paint wash out on paper targets, but it does pretty good against darker colors. So it’s really ultimately a trial and error type deal.

      Thanks for sharing this. I had forgotten about it.

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  6. Something that helped me was wrapping the barrel end sight tightly with Teflon plumbing tape. Then use a razor or xacto blade to poke a hole and press the front sight through. This helped prevent paint getting everywhere else.
    This worked great for brightening up my brass bead on my shotgun.

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