Cheap and easy night sights

[Papabois]

Hey gang.

I felt creative today.

I came across some coloured flourescent plastic rod, and decided to make myself some budget night sights. If any of ya's feel like doing the same, PM me for my left-overs. I have more than enough for gun collection (to be).

First I removed the sights on my H&K USP.45.

Then I popped out the white plastic pieces and enlarged the holes to the size of the new plastic.

Next, I used a dremel / diamond wheel, to grind a slot to expose the tunnel, where the plastic pieces go. This was only to give a path for me,
to hand file the groove to the propper shape. This was done with a small round file (get'em at any hobby store).

I then applied some black paint, to cover the silver grooves that were just filed.

Last step was to insert the new plastic pieces,
and I secured them with a wee-drop of blackend-epoxy resin.

Easy & cheap!

No Trijicons, but good enough.

Sorry for the shite pics. My camera blows!

[Mitchell12]

Neat!

[juicy]

Yup, definitely something I've added to my mental list of "things to do". Trijicons cost too much, plus modifying them for a proper fit on an airsoft GBB would likely be a royal pain in the butt. I really like your idea!

[L473ncy]

Sweet stuff, although something that I might criticize on if I may. You should really file down the rods so that they're flush against the sight. It would make it look "cleaner". It's all in the small details and you seem to have captured that quite nicely (although I guess you kind of need that eye for little details in your line of work).

[juicy]

Hmm, good call latency. However, papabois, I'm wondering if that was done intentionally? Like would the extended rod catch more light than if sanded flush?

No, it doesn't look tacticool (yet), and it likely will snag on holsters as is, but if it works... meh.

[Papabois]

Originally Posted by juicy

I'm wondering if that was done intentionally? Like would the extended rod catch more light than if sanded flush?

Exactly. The more of the cheap stuff, the more light gathering capabilities.

Ya'll are right though. The difference it would make to light-gathering ability, would not be noticible with them trimmed flush. Will do it in the morning, when glue has dried.

[SHÖCK]

These would help gather light but in true night conditions, is there phosphorescence? Or are they just fluorescent?

I'm still trying to figure out a cheap way to use luminous paint or something.

I have a gun with fixed sights, they are molded into the slide so it's harder to do something like this but still possible.

[Papabois]

They're just flourescent.

[juicy]

Oh. Any input on how the fluorescence does in low-light situations? Like they won't glow like luminescent paint would, but do they actually pick up whatever ambient light is around and help you to line up your sights more effectively in darker places (note, I'm not saying "perfect dark", I'm just saying in lighting conditions similar to sunset or something like that - haha, Perfect Dark was a good game)?

[Papabois]

The lower the light they get...

Just had it out in the bedroom, with 20watt lamp. Barely visable, but more so than the originals. Ya just see the square sight silohuette.

[Thenooblord]

honestly, I bought the expensive fibre optic sights for my hicapa... biggest waste of money in a long time, they are LESS visible in low light, because instead of a bright white dot, its a dark red dot, so I really dont know the purpose of them

[juicy]

Originally Posted by Thenooblord

honestly, I bought the expensive fibre optic sights for my hicapa... biggest waste of money in a long time, they are LESS visible in low light, because instead of a bright white dot, its a dark red dot, so I really dont know the purpose of them

Thanks for that. I'm guessing fibre optics work better in day light situations, in which there doesn't have to be a light source that falls directly on the dots? I've found the dots to be a problem if I'm standing facing the sun or whatever, as the shadows cast by the sight posts tend to nullify whatever effect the white dots had in speeding up my aiming. I'd think that any available light from the sun would be "funneled" through the fibre optic rods and thus the proper sight picture would be easier to acquire in broad daylight.

But I digress. Papabois, where did you get the rods? I'm thinking I should pick up green ones for myself and test them out.

[Kingsix]

I thought one time about using very very small LEDS for night sights, but where to hide the power source?

[Styrak]

Yeah, not really night sights...

Just fiber optic sights.

[ackbar]

I just went with GITD powder + epoxy. works like a charm