Front sight repair - Beretta 85

[15plus1]

Hi folks,

Recently purchased a Beretta 85 police trade in.

While functionally solid, there are some minor cosmetic issues: one of which being that a lot of the front sight paint appears to be missing. Seems like it may have just chipped out over time, mostly the top half of the circle.

Model paint/nail polish and a toothpick seems to be the standard repair trick, but can I just apply that over the existing paint remnants or do I need to remove it?

If I need to remove it, how?

 

[lamarw]

I would check with Beretta Customer Service and see if they have a factory service for refinishing the slide. I have never had to have work like this done on any of my Beretta pistols, but I have with a Sig Sauer slide. Sig will refinish the slide for a reasonable price.

On your pistol it sounds almost like someone attempted to adjust the front sight by bending it with a pair or pliers. Either that or it got dropped and hit the pavement or concrete on its front sight.

If I were to attempt it myself, I would polish the entire area around it prior to attempting to re-blue or refinish it. You want it to be smooth and uniform.

Can you post a picture of the damaged area?

 

[15plus1]

On your pistol it sounds almost like someone attempted to adjust the front sight by bending it with a pair or pliers. Either that or it got dropped and hit the pavement or concrete on its front sight.

All of the metal appears intact and the finish is unmarrred.

Will try to get a pic, but basically the top half of the white dot is just absent

 

[T. O'Heir]

Model paint/nail polish /white out and a small paint brush. Mind you, the wee brush in your nail polish bottle will do as well. Put it right on whatever's there. If it comes off just do it again.
"...Either that or..." Issued to a cop. It could have been, um, bounced on a head. snicker

 

[lamarw]

Sorry, I mis-read your post. With the pictures it occurred to me what you were describing. Not nearly as bad as what I mistakenly read into it.

 

[ShootistPRS]

Most model paint and nearly all nail polish is lacquer and is likely to loosen the paint in the sight. If I was going to do it I would use a cone shaped stone to remove the existing paint and rough the area to hold new paint. Clean it well with lacquer thinner after you remove the paint. Dry it and then put a drop of paint in the hole and work it into place with a tooth pick. Let it dry and do it again. I would then cover the dot with a clear coat of the same kind of paint.

 

[15plus1]

If I was going to do it I would use a cone shaped stone to remove the existing paint and rough the area to hold new paint

Is there another method for accomplishing the task? I neither own a a set of grinding stones nor a dremel type tool.

Would some fine sandpaper on a small dowel do the trick? Or a pick to try to chip it out?

I have no idea how Beretta mills their sights, but that toothless bit in the photo looks and feels like a bit of metal in the middle of where I would be working.

 

[ShootistPRS]

I wouldn't use a Dremel tool on it but you might be able to roll a piece of 250 grit sandpaper into a cone shape and do the same thing. I use the stone by hand. The idea is to control the removal process to the existing indent. You don't want to cut, just clean it so the new paint will bond.

 

[ThomasT]

Don't grind on it. Just take a sharp wire and scrape the rest of the paint out. Then use a toothpick and put a small amount of Testors white model paint(enamel) and then use some day glo orange Testers and put that on top of the white. If you don't use the white first the orange will look dull. If have got to where I prefer Lime Green over orange color. It seems to pop out better.

 

[James K]

You ought to be able to clean out the old paint and dirt with about any kind of tool that will fit in the hole, then use a Q-tip and paint remover to clean out the hole. Bluing or Parkerizing should not be affected. Once clean and dry, use a toothpick to drop in your paint and color of choice. (Testor's is OK and there is a wide variety; nail polish works OK, too.)

Jim