Wonder sights

[millrat]

Seems I came across something some where discussing the life of tritium sights. For some reason a life of about ten years seems to be stuck in my mind. Can anyone contribute on this?

[jack404]

yeah they have a half life of 10 years ( 12.32 years to be exact ) meaning each 10-12 years it'll degrade and there'll be half the illumination ( radiation ) than there was when new .. which may not be bright enough for some folks to see correctly by

i say 10-12 while the books say 12.32 years, but they talk pure trintium , most places mix 30% mercury to the mix and a drier and this delays the breakdown of the trintium some for a while but speeds it up later when the mercury starts to oxidize and so shortens the life some to about 10 years

[millrat]

Hmmm. Seems to have a shelf life to consider when buying then.

And Thank you by the way...........

[jack404]

the solutions they store it in is quite effective , i've a 30+ year old bottle here with 3 ml's or so left stiill bright as bright once painted on , just looks oily before then .. it gets brighter as it dries and once set is as bright as it'll get

cheers