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!:coffee:

[45 2.1]

Carbon black from a wooden match or lighter works very well.

[sundog]

I shoot mil bolt quite regularly and find a wood stick match is bestest. sundog

[garandsrus]

1Shirt,

The "cadillac" of smokers is probably the Ray Vin Super Smoker which uses Carbide and water to create the smoke and flame. Here's a link to his web site (http://www.ray-vin.com/)to see the smoker. It works great...

John

[BruceB]

The carbide/acetylene smokers give the "blackest" black I've ever seen on sights. I used it extensively on my target pistols.

However, for the difference in the effort required, I find that Birchwood-Casey's spray-on sight black is far easier to use and store. For one thing, it can be used outdoors in a considerable breeze, which is an iffy exercise with anything needing matches or open flame.

Most well-stocked gun stores should have the spray stuff, and if you can't find it there, an order to Midway will get it. A single can should last for years.

[fourarmed]

A piece of masking tape gives off a very sooty flame that will smoke sights better than the usual what-have-yous, but as Bruce points out, you have to get out of the wind to make it work.

[Phil]

The spray on stuff that I tried wasn't really a deep flat black like you get with carbide. Plus, you had to brush it off with an old toothbrush once in a while as it tended to build up and create problems. I have had a little "Gunsmoke" carbide blackener since the mid sixties that still works well. Nothing like a good carbide black to me. When I started competitive shooting in the mid fifties a lot of the older shooters used miners lamps to blacken their sights. Worked very well, pretty much regardless of wind as I recall.

Cheers,

Phil

Cheers,

Phil

[Uncle R.]

Carbide!
Back in my sillywet days I bought a carbide smoker and I like it better than anything else I've tried. That acetylene soot is "blacker'n the inside of a cow" and it doesn't bunch up on the edges of the sight like the sprays sometimes do. I bought a quart size can of carbide more than twenty years ago and it still ain't half gone...
It might cost a little more up front, but it works great and I hate to think of how many spray cans I'd have paid for by now. Just watch out for sights with plastic inserts!
:roll:

[vp146b4]

Carbide, without a doubt. Ray-Vin's are real slick, But the cheaper Gun Smoke brand has worked fine for me for many years. I don't like the spray stuff, it just doesn't seem as black as carbide, so it's not as sharp and, when it's windy, it goes all over the place, including the guy next to you.

[mooman76]

I use a black majic marker. It's not the best but I always have one with me when I'm shooting and it is better than nothing!

[Stray Round]

I've lately been using a strip of burning masking tape. Works pretty well but if sometimes you've got to allow for wind drift in blacking the sights too.


I have a little carbide sight smoker but have had a hard time finding the carbide. Seems that there are haz mat charges and no one wants to stock any because of the fee involved.

[wills]

I have a little carbide sight smoker but have had a hard time finding the carbide. Seems that there are haz mat charges and no one wants to stock any because of the fee involved.

Does this help?

http://wasg.iinet.net.au/lampfaq.html

[garandsrus]

Stray Round,

Ray Vin also sells carbide... The website is linked in a previous post in this thread.

John

[MikeSSS]

I've been using a butane lighter or match.

Thanks for the tip about burning masking tape.

[trk]

We used (80th DIV MTC Large Bore Rifle team) carbide lamps.

[Stray Round]

Thanks guys!!!

I've asked about carbide in some hardware stores and just got blank looks from some of the younger folk working there and they then go and ask someone what calcium carbide is .

Now I find out that the little carbide miner/coon hunter lamps are somewhat of a collector's item.

[wills]

I should have thought of this earlier:
http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=1659
But they only sell it by the case, six two pound cans.

[trk]

There is a product specifically for blackening sights that uses CC. IIFC it's in one of those high-end precision shooting catalogs - I'll look to see what I can find.

[trk]

OK. http://www.champchoice.com/shop.php?action=search&searchterms=carbide

Champion's Choice (LaVergne, TN) above is a search on CARBIDE.

[Chiefs50]

I use a home made carbide smoker. Nothing more than an old, aluminum, 35mm film container with a pin hole in the center of the cover. Plop in a couple carbide chips and a little water and you are good to go. Learned this from a cheap, old shooter while participating in Army matches. Both items used to be easy to come by but not so much any more. Film now comes in plastic containers and the old hardware store/feed mill is long gone.

[Ken O]

For you "thrifty" guys... I have an old manual put out by the Army Marksmanship Unit, and it says to use a plastic spoon (or probably fork, knife). Light it and smoke your sights with it. I never tried it, I use the Birchwood Casey spray, but its sounds like it would do the job.

[upperb]

I have never used the spray black, but a fellow who I've come to know who was on the Marine Corps team in the 50s (and set some records- seen his pictures in old National Rifleman mags) advises against it, in favor of carbide, as others have said above. Apparently, one of the shortcomings of the spray is that it "grows" in moist air.