Front sight color preference

[checkmyswag]

Considering painting my current 3-dot white sights.

Looking to paint rear sights black and front sight a bright color.

I picked up some fluorescent orange/red paint at a hobby store as it was the brightest I could find. Didn't see any fluorescent or bright bright green.

Have seen some go with green as opposed to orange/red.

What do you prefer and why?

 

[WardenWolf]

I find red tends to wash out in bright light more readily than green. Red is more effective than green in the dark, but green is more effective in the dark than red is in daylight, so I'm going to say go green.

By the way, hobby paint won't stick to metal well. What you're going to want is proper sight paint, like is available from SiteGlo.com (and NOT the brightsights.com garbage). Once that stuff is on there and properly cured, it's NEVER coming off.

 

[checkmyswag]

I've read about the proper sight paint, paint markers, auto paint, hobby paint, finger nail polish...

they all seemed to have some drawback. I'll be painting over the existing white paint.

I tried a mock up with some colored duct tape.

I had both green and red, I found the red quicker to pickup. Could be the shades involved or individual physiological factors driving preference?

I'm not as concerned about replicated proper night sights (I'd love to have the trijicon HD's but too much $ for me) as I am with getting a good/fast front sight post acquisition.

 

[chicharrones]

In my own small quest with front sight colors, I like a black front sight with a white dot or white line on it. In my usage, black and white offer greater contrast with a variety of backgrounds or targets than reds, oranges, and greens.

That's not including fiber optic sights, of which I tend to like red the best.

 

[chicharrones]

Looking to paint rear sights black and front sight a bright color.

Speaking of defensive handguns, I do like a black rear sight with no dots or "U" shapes. When possible, I like a tritium front sight on that type of gun.

 

[NWcityguy2]

I prefer white because where I shoot the brown targets are shoot while the white ones are no-shoot.

 

[checkmyswag]

I like a black front sight with a white dot or white line on it.

Could start with that.

 

[TheMerryMortician]

Low, green glow is good enough for me.

I've got Trijicons on my S&W 3913 and Truglo on my H&K. I can't really complain. The white dots on my 3913 look about the same as the original Novak's I had during the day, but the green glow is a major upgrade at night. The Truglo's are just AWESOME, no matter the lighting.

 

[CraigC]

All black.

 

[el Godfather]

Voted other for Amber.

 

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

When it comes to a painted sight (not night-sights) I prefer blaze orange, though traditional black is my runner up. I tried a bright yellowish-green on my 629 for a few weeks and found that it was hard to see where the top of the front-sight ended when aiming at lighter-colored targets. My gp-100 came with a bright orange front-sight and it just works great. My SW1911 (my edc) came with three dot whites, and I ended up painting the front dot orange a while ago and no complaints. Switched my 629 to orange too and sight picture is now great on all targets thus far. Different strokes for different folks, but that's what works for me.

 

[mdThanatos]

For me I can see red much better than I can see green and that comes from me using a red front green rear FO setup on my main pistol shooting in the daytime in the southwest desert so there is plenty of light for the FOs to collect.

 

[easyg]

A black front with a white dot works fine for me.

 

[Skylerbone]

It really depends on what the particular role of that firearm is. It's my belief that anything I own should be reliable enough for defense but it is impractical to equip them all for that singular purpose.

All black for target, narrow or no gap.
For less formal plinking, black rear, red FO with narrow or moderate gap.
Defense wise a gold bead or, where appropriate, tritium front black rear.

I'm one who doesn't care much for narrow front/wide rear but I absolutely see the merit in it for quicker acquisition.

 

[berettaprofessor]

White

 

[wally]

Don't much matter to me as long as I can see it. OTOH plain black only for the rear.

 

[sidheshooter]

Am I the only one besides skylerbone who likes a gold bead? That's my current favorite: gold bead front; rear black as 2-day old Turkish coffee.

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // Factory plastic I like orange.

Front sights that I paint get nail polish.
I had my mother, sister and nieces pick out colors they thought might show up under all lighting conditions. I thought it might help interest them in guns a bit more or at least make them more comfortable.

I'm glad I did because my Mother picked --Ruby Desire(more bright pink then red) in a polish called "Wet Shine with Diamonds".
So now all my front sights that were black are now Shiney Pink with Sparkles.

Other than the 24/7 Tritium on my S&W 327ng the Wet Shine with Diamonds catches twice the light of any (color?) I've tried.

I paint two white dots on fixed rear sights.
Horizontal across the top and around the sighting groove/box outlining the top edge, like S&W does the 586, on adjustable rear.

For this I use a water resistant ,white, Super Metal marking pen.

Nice to be looking for the same sight on multiple guns most of the time.

 

[beatledog7]

Color depends on the target space--generally you're going to pick up the front sight better when it has high contrast with the target.

Nail polish comes in a billion colors, is cheap, and lasts a long time. But it can be easily removed.

 

[checkmyswag]

Just paint the dot or paint the whole front sigh post?

Watch your lane.

 

[45crittergitter]

Fluorescent yellow or pink.