Sight Black

[1Shirt]

Who uses what for blackening sights on Milsurps? Am looking for the experiance of oldsters like me with lousy eyes. Thanks in advance to those who respond!
1Shirt!

[RayinNH]

1Shirt, I've just used a felt tip marker, like a "Sharpie". Works well, easy to apply, but does come off with gun cleaning solvents though...Ray

[Explorer1]

Well, not quite an "ole timer" but approaching. Have used my share of carbide smoking sights while shooting handgun silhouette. It is very effective, I have seen some melt the colored inserts out of their sights.
A couple carbide rocks, a few drops of water, and you have soot. The smokers used to be like $10 and last forever with a little routine cleaning.

[Ken O]

I use the Birchwood Casey Sight Black. Its like soot in a can. I think the carbide smoker does a better job, but during a competition its nice to reach into the stool and give the sight a spray if you get a glare.

[Jack Stanley]

I use the Birchwood Casey Sight Black. Its like soot in a can. I think the carbide smoker does a better job, but during a competition its nice to reach into the stool and give the sight a spray if you get a glare.

That's the same stuff I use and I like it for the convienience .

Jack

[carpetman]

Take black cat hair and grind it real fine. Mix it up into minced cat liver to form a glue. Dab it on. The cat doesnt have to be black as long as it has a black spot. Report how it worked for you and if it needs some adjusting we can work on it.

[Phil]

I tried the black cat hair but SWMBO really hit the roof when she saw the bald spot on her favorite kitty. Then I tried the hair from a black squirrel that had been run over in the street. Mixing the viscera from the squirrel with black hair from the squirrel really does work better than using cat hair in my opinion. You really don't want to leave it in your shooting kit for very many weeks though. There are just some odors that Hoppe's #9 won't cover forever.

Cheers,

Phil

[Four Fingers of Death]

Birchwood Casey put out a little spray can and also a sight black which is like a marking pen, touch it up just before you hit the mound. Before this stuff was freely available, I use camphor in a tin, the smoke is very sooty, and a yank at the 88 Police Olympics gave me an acetelyne smoker, which was like a aluminium tube with a wick and a lighter striker. Worked a treat, but we can't get the acetelyne rock here. It is mined in Tasmania, but all goes overseas I am told. MIck.

[versifier]

I raid my teenage daughters' stashes of nail polish, red, orange, white, black, depending on what I need for any particular day or conditions. When they raid my shooting box to get it back, I use a sharpie for the black. Orange Halloween nail polish is on sale in many places right now - ask your wives, daughters, girlfriends to keep an eye out for what you need, they will probably get a good laugh out of it and find it at a reasonable price, too.

[mooman76]

I tried the black cat hair thing too. Got the S#1t scatched out of me!

[BD]

Regular masking tape, (the beige colored stuff), twisted into a taper and lit gives the blackest soot of anything I've found. And the price is right.
BD

[Harry Eales]

For a temporary, wipe off sight black, nothing works better than the flame of a lit candle. Provided you haven't any plastic sight inserts just light the candle, hold the sight in the flame for a couple of seconds and you have a matt black coating of soot that won't shoot off, yet will come off with a dry tissue or rag.

Harry

[Hip's Ax]

I still shoot some service rifle from time to time and for years I used the simple Gunsmoke carbide lamp. A couple of years ago I ordered the Ray-Vin Super Smoker after seeing one at a match. The first time I used the Ray-Vin I gave away my Gunsmoke right then and there. The Ray-Vin works amazingly well, no squirting the water or spitting in the lamp and then trying to hurry to screw the top on before all the gas gets away just to have to do it again because you didn't get enough smoke. Just twist the bottom and hit the spark wheel, if the flame goes low and you still need more just twist the bottom again. The Ray-Vin is expensive compared to the Gunsmoke but worth every penny.

http://www.ray-vin.com/

[doc25]

Camphor from the drug store. Light it on fire and beautiful black soot. You can run it down the outside of your barrel and wipe it all off after.

[Ron]

4fingermick - see private message re carbide.

[Ed Barrett]

I usually use an oily cleaning patch. hold it with a long nosed pliers and light it. Different oils will give different amount of smoke. It's cheap and easy.

[1Shirt]

Good words of wisdom guys. Find the perm felt tip marker the easiest, but left the top off and it dried out. Masking tape works great. Am to cheap to buy a carbide lamp. Last time I used one was on Paris Island in the 50's. Will have to try campher one of these days, preferably when I have a cold. Gave up on the nail polish some time back because it kind of seemed I could never find the front sight in the notch. The spray can works great. Had a couple of skunks come under my deer stand a couple of weeks ago, and thought that I had never seen blacker hair than on those skunks and thought about one of them. However the thought of mincing the liver of skunk, was about like the third curse relating to eye of nute and wing of bat----so I passed on that, and the skunks proceed on.
Anywho, am always learning from this site. Am not sure that every thing I learn is useful, but it is a wasted day when you don't learn something.
1Shirt!

[C1PNR]

Am to cheap to buy a carbide lamp. Last time I used one was on Paris Island in the 50's. 1Shirt!

Hey Top! What happened to your bucket issue lamp? I've still got mine. What a piece of precision equipment, eh?

I do admit, though, to being a "Hollywood Marine" from MCRD San Diego (1961), and I only lasted 4 years, so I guess you get some slack for sticking it out.

I haven't had any carbide in a lot of years, and went to the spray can for handgun work. But I still think the carbide is a VERY GOOD sight blacking agent, and easy to clean off later.

[Alaskantmb]

I have used a Gunsmoker smoker for many years and the threads on mine no longer grip. I have not been able to find a source for a new one. Can anybody tell me where I can get a Gunsmoke Smoker?

[Four Fingers of Death]

Cigarette lighter is ok, quick and easy to use, but rubs off reallllll easy, especially if you have light clothing! Probably a better bet would be to sandblast the sight parts that are shiny then rust blue the area with a DIY kit. Permanent fix that way.