I need a good signaling mirror without a sighting hole to check my eyes and back etc. Basically an unbreakable mirror. The stainless steel cheapos are out of the question. Any recommondations?
I'm going to take a guess at what you want, but if I'm wrong, please clarify.
I'm guessing the reason you don't want a "stainless steel cheapo" because they are either not flat enough to start with to give a good image, or they bend too easily to stay that way.
The mirrors that I regard as "good" stainless steel mirrors are those that are flat enough to give an undistorted image, and either thick enough, or elastic enough, to stay that way. This is important for medical self-check purposes so you can tell what you are looking at, and for signaling, so that the sun reflection is a concentrated, brilliant beam.
There are several stainless steel mirrors that meet that criterion (the US Coast Guard approved 4"x5" Datrex and "Mayday Mirror" mirrors, the Soviet 2"x3"issue signal mirrors, and the
www.survival-spanish.com 2"x3" metal mirror) but they all have central sighting holes, because you can aim the flash from mirrors with a sighting hole much more accurately than from those without. All four types of signal mirror described in the the US Coast Guard specification for signal mirrors have aiming holes, as do all US, British, Canadian, French, Italian, German, Russian, and Chinese issue signal mirrors I'm aware of since late 1943.
I presume you don't want a sighting hole because the aiming hole (or, rarely, cross) is usually in the middle of the image for self-check.
One way to have a mirror that does not have a central image artifact, but can be aimed accurately, is to get a mirror with the sighting hole off-center. The 4"x4" British WWII issue signal mirror had the aiming hole in the corner. The 1950s US Military Mark IV signal mirror had the aimer on one end, as did the 1990s Japaneses scuba signal mirror.
When I make large signal mirrors (for 50+ mile signaling events) I put the aiming hole in at the corner or edge - works fine.
With that in mind, a mirror in the format of the Coghlan's
"Stainless Steel Mirror" might suit, if the quality is good enough.
Such "double-faced" mirrors can be aimed by the "rearsight" method, per the instructions from the USAF Survival Manual here:
http://www.richard-fowell.fotopic.net/p64430781.html(older versions here, for historical interest:
http://www.richard-fowell.fotopic.net/p62917650.htmlhttp://www.richard-fowell.fotopic.net/p62917653.html )
Or, if a plastic mirror is acceptable
(scratches are an issue with both plastic and metal),
you could look at camping mirrors with hanging holes in
a corner or edge. They are unlikely to be double-faced,
but can be aimed by the "foresight" method of catching the "shadow spot" created by the hole on a finger, and lining up the hole, target, and shadow spot to flash the target.
Neither the rearsight nor foresight method will aim as rapidly and accurately as the sort of retroreflective aimer mirror that the US military has used since the 1940s, though. Both British and US military comparative testing came to that conclusion.