6" high at 10 yards!

[JIMinPHX]

Some of you might have been following my exploits on a few of the other threads here as I try to get started with an 1851 colt navy clone. Having gotten past the caps-don’t-fit thing & having gotten the hammer to drop freely, I finally brought her out to Ben Avery range today & filled her up with powder and shot. To my delight, all chambers fired. Unfortunately, with a conservative charge of 25 grains she shot 6-1/2” high at the modest range of 10 yards. Where I went to school, we were taught that you could fix that by jacking up your front sight or filing down your rear sight. By my math, I figure that with a 10-1/2” sight radius, that comes out to 0.175” (about 3/16") of collective sight movement that would be needed. I really don’t want to put some gigantic bulky thing up on the front of such a pretty little barrel. I really don’t want to file that much meat off the hammer either. So, I’m now wondering if there is some other way to adjust point of impact on these spooky old contraptions. Does anyone have any ideas or past experience with this? I’d love to hear all the information that you could throw at me.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Don]

Don't know if there is a real fix for your problem. Colts were designed to shoot high. I've been lucky, none of my reproductions shoot more than a couple of inches high and one shoots low at 15 yards. Try filing the hammer a little and try shooting at 15,20 and 25 yards. You may just end up having to compensate by aiming a little low. Sorry but those primative sights can only be played with so much.

Don

 

[John Taylor]

Colt and their famous disappearing rear sight. A new trigger that is a bit longer on the sear may put the hammer down a bit more. You may need to take some off the hand to allow the hammer to travel back more. If you go to far back you won't see the front sight. With the cylinder out try pulling the hammer back a little while sighting to see how far you can go.

 

[Leatherbark]

I've had to break out the Dremel tool many times on these here Colt Replicas............Grind the Notch in the hammer down deeper and shape it.......Heck I had a Pietta '51 Navy that I had to file the notch to the left side.....Looked stupid,so I bought another hammer and just put the front sight on top of the left side of the hammer for a sight picture..........Bob

 

[kenneth strickland]

I've shot a few colt replicas that shoot high. I read in Elmer Keith's sixguns book that the colts were designed to shoot high so the ball would drop close to aiming point at 50 yards for the battle lines in the Civil war. I simply aim low.

 

[Zonie]

Out of over 15 C&B Revolvers, I have a total of 3 that shoot to the point of aim.
One is a 1860 Colt .44
One is a Walker .44 and
One is a Rogers & Spencer.

All of the other guns, both Remingtons, Colts, Whitney, Speller & Burr shoot 4 to 6 inches high at 10 yards.

I have heard it said that the users of the original guns were told to aim at the belt buckle, although I have never read any true documentated writings that supported this.

Then again, why would someone in those days take the time to write down what was common place? :hmm:

 

[dodgecity]

If your Colt is shooting down the middle (windage), then the battle is won. If you truly want your Colt to shoot point of aim at 10 yards, then it is a matter of filing down the hammer sight and then deepening the notch to your preference of a "v", "u", or square. It sounds, however, as though your Colt is shooting exactly as it was designed to do. It is not a target revolver, it is a self defense/combat revolver. At those ranges, "centering" your adversary should result in a high or low hit, depending on range, within the torso. At point blank, room size ranges, the pointability of your Colt, with practice, will accomplish the same performance without even employing the sights. This is not to say that you should not determine the range at which your Colt shoots zero, or even file your sights to shoot zero at a pre determined range (I personally prefer a revolver zeroed at 30 yards). At the range at which your revolver shoots point of aim, your Colt will likely produce respectable scores.

 

[CrackStock]

I have read discussions regarding the distance at which the old Colts might be used. IIRC, the belief was about 100 yards.

What advantages come from having the sights set so high? This is not a gun intended for fine target work -- the concept of having a rear sight filed in a moving part is the first clue. It is intended as a combat piece.

But understand that this feature has positve results. In combat, it is helpful to be able to see the enemy's hands and hips. People also shoot low under stress.

I would order another hammer and customize that for target work if you think it necessary.

But then, I have a Tennessee rifle that I purposely set for a 6 o'clock hold. The sights are so set that when I aim at mid rabbit, the shot takes the head. This is so I can watch the rabbit for movement as I set the shot.

CS

 

[Deadeye]

By my figures, you need .222 correction instead of .175 but first I'd try increasing the load. As the load increases your bullet will impact lower
on the target.

 

[jdixon]

Jim-
My experience with a Colt Walker was the same, shot high and I ground down the hammer nose and notch - a bunch! Now shoots point of aim. In fact, I have two hammers for the Walker, one filed and sighted for round balls, the other for conicals. Not to worry, if you screw the hammer up filing it, DGW sells new ones at very reasonable prices, so you can start all over again.

 

[wwfeatherston]

One of my Remmies shoots dead on, the other 6"low at 25 yards.

At least that is an easy fix!

:grin:

 

[K38]

If you are shooting targets use an ISSF (ISU) sub-six hold. I know it sounds odd, but many freepistol shooters aim in the white below the aming black halfway between the bottom of the black and the bottom of the target. It works well for me in Air Pistol and Free Pistol. You tend to have less target panic. One other thing that will really surprize you is how well most people can group on a completely blank white target.

10's and X's

Dwight