Dull Tritium Sights

[Ben]

For those of you who have had a gun with Tritium sights long enough for half-life effect to take hold, what have you done with your sights? The sights on my TRP are fairly done at this point. I'm actually not sure how much use I've ever gotten out them, since conditions where I would not have enough daylight but wouldn't go to a light seem rather narrow. At this point I'm thinking of just putting white, or possibly some rear/front color combo paint where the Tritium dots are.

I might have been more inclined to get new Tritium inserts if someone within reasonable driving distant did that. The sights are Novaks and I can't for the life of me see how I could make this a do-it-yourself job without busting the Tritium vials.

Just wondering what others have done.

[Azrael256]

Neutron capture should work to brighten them up.

[41magsnub]

Both of my M&P's have Trijicon's on them.  I haven't had them long enough for the half life to run out but supposedly trijicon will replace the vials for a nominal fee.  Nominal has not been defined to me.

[birdman]

Neutron capture should work to brighten them up.

Original point deleted as it was incorrect (thanks azrael).  Though if you hit the gun hard enough, you could get some pretty good Cherenkov light off the sights themselves. (and kill oneself)

[Azrael256]

 

Helium-3 readily reacts to neutron bombardment by expelling a proton after neutron capture... Yielding tritium.

And sufficient neutron activation of the metals in the gun will make Ben glow in the dark, too, which will probably preclude the need for a firearm... And probably children, too.

[birdman]

Helium-3 readily reacts to neutron bombardment by expelling a proton after neutron capture... Yielding tritium.

And sufficient neutron activation of the metals in the gun will make Ben glow in the dark, too, which will probably preclude the need for a firearm... And probably children, too.

Ah, I had forgotten about the anomalously high 3He(n,p)3H cross section! Damn, how did I forget about  that!  Well, point to you, I am ashamed, and will go tear up my nuke degrees in penance.  See this is what happens, you spend a few years on transuranics and your low atomic mass knowledge just slips away.

[Ben]

And sufficient neutron activation of the metals in the gun will make Ben glow in the dark, too, which will probably preclude the need for a firearm... And probably children, too.

But I'd be a big hit every Halloween.  

[Azrael256]

See this is what happens, you spend a few years on transuranics and your low atomic mass knowledge just slips away.

Seriously, we're all disappointed.  Zis kind of failure vill not be tolerated!

[AJ Dual]

Pfft. Go old school. Radium/phosphor paint.

Just remember to lick the teeny brush to get a nice fine point on it occasionally. 

[birdman]

Pfft. Go old school. Radium/phosphor paint.

Just remember to lick the teeny brush to get a nice fine point on it occasionally. 

Wasn't that place in Illinois?

[Azrael256]

Ok, Buddy Who Had This Done(tm) says $20 per vial a year or so ago.

[230RN]

Post deleted because it's too dangerous a suggestion.

[birdman]

Ok, Buddy Who Had This Done(tm) says $20 per vial a year or so ago.

Not bad.  Do you know what kind of pressure it's under?  What kind of fluence?

[seeker_two]

Post deleted because it's too dangerous a suggestion.

...and that stopped you why?...... 

[Ben]

Ok, Buddy Who Had This Done(tm) says $20 per vial a year or so ago.

That's not bad at all. If done on a semi-auto, do you know if he just sent the slide in (assuming it wasn't done locally)?

[birdman]

Hmm...assuming atmospheric pressure inside the little glass tube (atom density ~2.7e19 /cm3) and the ~5300 barn (5.3e-25 cm2) cross section, thats a interaction factor of ~1.4e-5 per cm.  For a 1mm square vial, to convert the helium to tritium, you would need a fluence of 1.9e24/cm2 (to convert 100% of the 2.7e17 atoms in each 1x1x10mm vial)...that a bit high (and by "a bit" I mean 60 years in HIFR).  Unless the capsules only need a few % of the helium-3 converted back to tritium, I don't see any way you could recharge them in a reasonable timeframe with neutron irradiation with any sort of conventional source.  Are my figures just way off?  Even mounting them end-on to the flux, and a need for only 1% to be back converted, you would still need a flux of ~2e21...which is nearly a month in a high flux system like HIFR, and a year or more in a conventional system.   Since He3 doesn't bond to anything, I cant see anyway of making this work other than aggregating the He3 from tons of them, liquifying it, and irradiating that (and separating out the tritium produced).

Am I missing something?  I dont' see how this would work.

[AJ Dual]

AFAIK, the tritium is actually not gaseous in those capsules. I think it's often bound up into a hydrogenated (Tritiumated?) grease or oil.

I recall this because of reading up on the "Atomic Boy Scout". He wanted Tritium for one of his reactions, and was able to capture or retain it when he broke the sights open. He even got a beta-burn on one hand where some stayed on his skin. If it was pure gas, it would have just dissipated.

[Harold Tuttle]

handsome lad

[Azrael256]

Both of his sights were dovetailed, so he knocked them out and sent them in.

[AJ Dual]

http://premium1.uploadit.org/docZox//nukescout.jpg

handsome lad

I'm willing to guess David Hahn's appearance in his last booking photos has more to do with crystal meth than it does radiation.

Just a hunch.

[Stetson]

Could you run the sights through the TSA scanners and recharge them? 

[AZRedhawk44]

This is why my defense guns run fiber optics rather than tritium sights.

If I had to do this every six years, for half a dozen or more guns, it would drive me nuts.

[230RN]

Because it involved smoke detectors and EXIT signs, seeker_two.  It was a facetious post, but I thought someone out there in the www might take me seriously.

[seeker_two]

Because it involved smoke detectors and EXIT signs, seeker_two.  It was a facetious post, but I thought someone out there in the www might take me seriously.

Only if Step One involved someone holding your beer...... 

[230RN]

....