| Kel-tec P3AT Night Sights |
 |  |  |  |  |
April 2008
I started this project because of one of the failing aspects of the Kel-tec P3AT was the crappy sights
on it. I understand that it's a backup gun, pocket pistol, mouse gun whatever you want to call it but
the sight picture is just about useless. I actually love the gun for what it is, almost disappears in
your pocket it's so small and lightweight.
I tried the whole paint thing to the sights but it still didn't catch my eye enough to be useful or even
at night when it was impossible to tell where the sights were. I even contemplated using the glow in
the dark paint but I would have to remember to charge it every time I slipped the gun back in my
pocket. It never see's the light of day, so whats the point of that too much maintenance and i would
most likely forget and then need it and not have any sights.
I checked with some gunsmiths and some recommended to add regular sights to it. Not only was it
costly but made the gun not true to form. Imagine having the smooth P3AT in your pocket with huge
rough sights on it dragging on everything when you try to draw it out. Even if you did pay the $200
to add some really nice sights to it now the sights are worth almost as much as the gun.
So I looked into adding my own Tritium sights to it myself, the hard part was finding a small enough
capsule of Tritium to make it work. After looking for about 3 months I found some and bought 10 of
the capsules, enough to make 5 sets of night sights if I didn't break any of them.
I first started working on the gun just as you should every time you handle a gun by treating it as if it
was loaded... As it was. First I removed the magazine and cleared the chamber. I then pulled the
slide back slightly and using a small screwdriver popped up the slide frame pin. I removed the slide
and then the barrel and recoil spring. I spent about 20 minutes alone just cleaning the slide to make
sure there were no oils or contaminants present.
Click on any of the pictures to enlarge!
I then proceeded to slowly cut out a small section of the front slide using a dremel tool and first a
cutting wheel disc to get started. Then using a 1/16" diamond rotary cutter removed the rest of it. I
kept putting the small Tritium capsule in place to see how much further I had to go.
When I was done with that I degreased the slide again and used a blueing pen to blue the area I just
cut out. After that had dried I cleaned it up again and started to mix the epoxy. I used 2 ton ultra
clear epoxy, the kind you have to mix up prior to using.
I was only using 2 pieces of Tritium one in the front one in the back so i had to be creative with the
rear one. I blacked out the middle of the capsule with black paint to correspond with the notch in
the rear sight. I also black out the front of the capsule for the font sight. I didn't want anyone
knowing where I was or what the glowing thing was at the end of my hand.
After that it was as simple as using a toothpick to add just a small amount of epoxy to the channel i
cut in the front sight and using tweezers dropping in the tritium capsule. I also added a little on top
to cover over it and protect it a little. The back one was pretty much the same just a little more
epoxy and then the tritium capsule was place in there and aligned as best as possible. Then I justed
cleaned up any remaining epoxy that had gotten on the slide, and then waited for it to dry.
The final result was even better then I thought when I first started on the project. I little nerve
racking but in the end well worth it. I thought I might like doing someone else's if their interested in
it, much cheaper and still streamlined to look good and not be obtrusive.
If you would like more info or have any questions be sure to email me.
I started this project because of one of the failing aspects of the Kel-tec P3AT was the crappy sights
on it. I understand that it's a backup gun, pocket pistol, mouse gun whatever you want to call it but
the sight picture is just about useless. I actually love the gun for what it is, almost disappears in
your pocket it's so small and lightweight.
I tried the whole paint thing to the sights but it still didn't catch my eye enough to be useful or even
at night when it was impossible to tell where the sights were. I even contemplated using the glow in
the dark paint but I would have to remember to charge it every time I slipped the gun back in my
pocket. It never see's the light of day, so whats the point of that too much maintenance and i would
most likely forget and then need it and not have any sights.
I checked with some gunsmiths and some recommended to add regular sights to it. Not only was it
costly but made the gun not true to form. Imagine having the smooth P3AT in your pocket with huge
rough sights on it dragging on everything when you try to draw it out. Even if you did pay the $200
to add some really nice sights to it now the sights are worth almost as much as the gun.
So I looked into adding my own Tritium sights to it myself, the hard part was finding a small enough
capsule of Tritium to make it work. After looking for about 3 months I found some and bought 10 of
the capsules, enough to make 5 sets of night sights if I didn't break any of them.
I first started working on the gun just as you should every time you handle a gun by treating it as if it
was loaded... As it was. First I removed the magazine and cleared the chamber. I then pulled the
slide back slightly and using a small screwdriver popped up the slide frame pin. I removed the slide
and then the barrel and recoil spring. I spent about 20 minutes alone just cleaning the slide to make
sure there were no oils or contaminants present.
Click on any of the pictures to enlarge!
I then proceeded to slowly cut out a small section of the front slide using a dremel tool and first a
cutting wheel disc to get started. Then using a 1/16" diamond rotary cutter removed the rest of it. I
kept putting the small Tritium capsule in place to see how much further I had to go.
When I was done with that I degreased the slide again and used a blueing pen to blue the area I just
cut out. After that had dried I cleaned it up again and started to mix the epoxy. I used 2 ton ultra
clear epoxy, the kind you have to mix up prior to using.
I was only using 2 pieces of Tritium one in the front one in the back so i had to be creative with the
rear one. I blacked out the middle of the capsule with black paint to correspond with the notch in
the rear sight. I also black out the front of the capsule for the font sight. I didn't want anyone
knowing where I was or what the glowing thing was at the end of my hand.
After that it was as simple as using a toothpick to add just a small amount of epoxy to the channel i
cut in the front sight and using tweezers dropping in the tritium capsule. I also added a little on top
to cover over it and protect it a little. The back one was pretty much the same just a little more
epoxy and then the tritium capsule was place in there and aligned as best as possible. Then I justed
cleaned up any remaining epoxy that had gotten on the slide, and then waited for it to dry.
The final result was even better then I thought when I first started on the project. I little nerve
racking but in the end well worth it. I thought I might like doing someone else's if their interested in
it, much cheaper and still streamlined to look good and not be obtrusive.
If you would like more info or have any questions be sure to email me.
| I picked up the tritium tubes through a guy on the candle power forum for sale page. Please be sure to check there first for your source of tritium tubes. There are a few guys on that website that sell tritium. If you email me and ask who to contact I will not respond. Thanks and good luck with the install. |
