Author Topic: Sight Hole Rejuvenation  (Read 5432 times)

JoeInCT

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Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« on: November 02, 2011, 04:53:34 PM »
My 75-BD (mfgd in 98, bot in 2003) sight holes had accumulated a lot of dirt and the fill had been so dulled by cleaning solvents that the sights became useless.
 
At first I tried using a white Beechwood felt tip paint marker, but the felt tip is huge and more paint gets all over rather than in the holes, requiring a lot of work to remove the excess paint on the surfaces around the sights. Finally, I just gave up and cleaned out the fill with a safety pin.
 
Is there any such product as a sight hole filler, or are there any "gunsmith secrets" to bring my sights back to "functional"? Thanx in advance.

Offline GhostWarrior

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2011, 09:02:04 PM »
        I THINK I know what you are talking about, but I'm personally never heard the term "Sight Holes" before. Possibly it's a regional thing, like coke, pop, soda etc. Anyway the point is if it what I think you mean then try (and I am not kidding, I saw it down to another members pistol for a different reason and the words just literally popped out at you) try a white crayon, I do not think the brand actually matters but from my stand point "Once a Caryola man, Allways a Crayola man"  :cool: just rub it into the groves (or dot which ever is the case with your pistol) of the front sight and into the dot holes on the rear sight. The excess is easily wiped away and you should be able to see your sights easier. I think Crayola has eve come out with some florescent or neon colors but I don't know for sure let alone know they would even work as well as the plain white one.

           Your second choice is some sight paint, I am adding the URL that I went with to look up sight paint:
http://www.Bing.com/search?q=sight paint for pistols&form=MSNH14&qs=n&sk=&x=0&y=0
It's an MSN sight with links to various how to and companies. I am NOT promoting one over the other. You can look over all of them and make an informed descision. Best wishes. I am looking forward to hearing how things worked out.
 
          And also Welcome to the Forum! We are glad you joined and asked a really good question right of the bat. Good for you. I think you will find so good advice here and some even nicer people.
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JoeInCT

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2011, 10:57:42 PM »
Thanx, GW, appreciate the reponse. Didn't know what else to call them .... the holes in the front and rear sights that, when done up with some contrasting color fill, you use for "gun control" (that is, hitting your target). My head is wacked out from some pain meds I'm taking .... back operation ... sometimes I forget my name.
 
I have always liked the KISS theory, so I will try your suggestion re: the white crayon. Now that I think about it, maybe I will try yellow. Reason is, when I was helping my son put together a kalashnikov, we bent the front sight post while trying to clean out the goop that the Yugoslavs used to preserve the gun. When we bought one of those 5-color replacement front sight post packages, we found that yellow worked best .... turned dark in daylight, and turned yellow in low light.
 
Again, thanx./jfk
 

Offline GhostWarrior

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2011, 07:10:37 AM »
       Man o man do I feel for ya, Not from having a back operation, mine was from rebuilding my heel after I crushed it. But and I know more than one person that's had a back operation. The aftermath is nothing I would wish on very many folks. And then the pills, more or less work but you end up so tired all the time.

       As for the sights, I like the idea of the yellow, and the paint kit you wrote about sounds like a plan also. I figured you were either talking about the groves in the steeped front blade or the dimple in the front sight and the 2 dimples on either side of the rear blade. Just checking to make sure.

       When it's finished maybe you could let us see if possible?
 
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JoeInCT

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2011, 08:26:51 AM »
GW, as for the crayons, I will ask my sister to pick up a small box for me; I am not driving as long as I am taking narcotics and "controlled substances". I am the oldest of 5, so I went from "Dad" to "Grandpa", and my spouse left me after 30 years (she found a guy with a good back), so I do not have a ready supply of crayons used by my kids on hand .... now I have to buy them , or steal them from my grandkids, nieces and nephews!  :grin:
 
But I am also intrigued by the sight paint products. This CZ-75-BD has been my heavy range use pistol since I got my CCW license back in 2002; I probably have over 15K rounds thru her, if not more, so this is the first pistol to give me this issue.
 
I will post my final decision and success (or lack thereof) (and a pic if I can figure out how to do it!!)

Offline DeeDubya

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2011, 09:04:18 AM »
I've always used plain ole "White Out". It comes in white and green. Either is a good choice. The holes are pretty small on the 75 so you might have to daub it in with a toothpick to keep from overfilling. I have to redo the font sight on my G24C every time I shoot because the barrel comp blows fire right onto the front sight. After a few magazines, the dot is gone.
 
Came back to say that GW's suggestion for real sight paint is probably a better fix in your case. With my Glock it doesn't matter, the muzzle blast is going to remove it anyway.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2011, 01:59:09 PM by DeeDubya »
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JoeInCT

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2011, 03:13:34 PM »
DD, right you are on the tiny size of the rear dots; even using the crayon is going to be a bit of work --- 2 minutes trying to get the crayon tip in the dots, especially the rear, and 15 minutes to get the excess off!
 
Relative to nothing, my brother has been doing some serious family tree history work. Turns out my paternal great grandfather brought his family to the USA in 1884 from Blatna, Czech Republic, which happens to be about 120 miles, as the crow flies, from Brno, where our CZ's are made. Small world.
 
Now for those crayons .........

Offline ZG47

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2011, 10:57:28 PM »
There is a guy on RFC who has used bright yellow modelling paint on a CZ rifle front sight bead and claims to be happy with it. NB Yellow used to be the standard (hi-viz) colour for aircrew lifejackets until the post WWII arctic/antarctic explorations changed priorities.
A good shot at close range beats a 'hit' at a longer range.

JoeInCT

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2011, 11:29:02 PM »
Thanx for the advice and slice of history, ZG47. So maybe using yellow is not a dumb idea after all. I recall my son and I being surprised at how the yellow front post suddenly appeared when we pointed the gun into the exterior sunlight at like 10:00 am just before packing up to try his AK out at the range. We had tried about 3 of the 5 colored posts in the kit and were not impressed, even with white and red. But when we screwed in the yellow post, it was like it grew out of the rifle! We had no problems getting the sights zeroed in, and we had a great time shooting it after that effort was accomplished.

Offline GhostWarrior

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2011, 09:58:21 PM »
         I only just remember this and I wish I had mentioned it earlier, and I suppose most everyone here that has worked on pistols or the years or on metal in general, may allready know this. But before you even try to color the front sight rear sight or anything else take a stiff bristle something, (tooth brush in the case works best) dipped in Acetate or some sort of degrease, metal cleaner, wipe as dry/clean as possible (Acetate drys very fast, but sometimes I think it leaves a film if you use to much by accident, but I have never really been sure, but it seemed to look like it did) possibly with a lint free cloth (the small cloth wipes they make for glasses are really cheap so it won't cost much of anything to buy a single pack) dipped or dampened with distilled water.
 
        After that's dried, then try appling what ever it is you want to try out, It should stick much better and for longer then if you just put the color on without preparing the area first. And no offense but prepping steel or metal is very different from prepping almost anything else before you color it. You could save some time if you go with the crayon if you melted it just enough to get it to run down the length of a toothpick to the spot where you want it. Since it's hot and melted it will fill the holes/dimples much more fully, and because you are running the melted wax done the toothpick you only end up getting it where you want it and not all over trying to rub or work it in.
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JoeInCT

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2011, 10:40:28 PM »
Roger, understand, GW. You mean that, since the metal is not porous, there will / may be all kinds of stuff already on the metal, often unseen, which will keep the crayon wax from grabbing on to the metal, so the acetate (acetone ?) is applied first to make the metal "bare clean" for the wax to melt onto.
 
Have I got the concept? If so, it just hit me that maybe I should visit my local Home Depot. The guys & gals should know what I'm getting at and hopefully will have both the knowledge and the cleaning fluids and such in small quantities so I don't end up buying a gallon of the fluids when I only need a couple of ounces. Hopefully I can get my kid sister to take me there this weekend; I promised to help her set up a new laptop she will use at the local municipal Library in her work as a marketing researcher in the medical field. They have a wireless network and a lot of high volume research materials on their servers, so I'm going to teach her how to use WIFI to attach and search. We can hit HD on the way back to my place from the Library.
 
Thanx again. /Joe
 

Offline GhostWarrior

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Re: Sight Hole Rejuvenation
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2011, 11:07:33 PM »
         Great! That's very nice thing to do. I spent about 20-25 years working on or building computers and servers, I could even set up net works, make cables, set up switches, ridges, etc, And sometimes I could even fixed most SW issues, but I have gotten out of the field, Bored I suppose. Now that I would just be building things for my self. And I don't want folks calling me at 2 in the morning to come fix their machines. But I never got the hang of WiFi ( I can use it, I just can't set it up) possibly because I never really trusted it not to be hacked or intercepted and I never really had that much intrest in researching WEP and the other newer Security protocols. And now I run this and that it is in allmost every way as much fun if not more than building computers.
 
         Anyway that was way off topic. And the answer is yes to your queston regarding my suggestion. I think you may be correct about the Acetone as apposed the acetate which is one of the Acidic Acid groups and used to be used as a metal cleaner, but may no longer be available. A hobby shop might be more what you need to go to but HD may well have small amounts available. Just remember before you do break down and get a container with more than you may use in your lifetime, that either of these chemicals are classified as a HAZMAT substance and you need to be really carefull how you dispose of any you do not use. Oh and it's very flammable, Heavy on the Very part.  :grin: so use in well ventilated area and no way close to excessive heat. I'm guessing you allready know this as will many of our members but I think I had to throw in the Legalease just to be on the safe side. I do not want someone getting hurt in any way.
 
     And try the trick with melting the crayon and letting it drip down a toothpick, needle pin, anything thin. It's a trick I learned a long time ago in a place far far away and in a different life time. And I have used the idea for a lot of different things because it was easy (more than less) clean and there was little of no clean up required. Not to mention pin point location ( pun was intended)  :laugh:
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Welcome Home every Veteran and active Service personnel and Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sacrifice