Sight adjustment - .32 Crockett

[Centurion]

Good evening All,

I just got access to abt 10 acres of heavy timber inhabited by what i’m told is an excessively high squirrel population. I dug out my new to me squirrel rifle and loaded with 25 g of FFFg. Shoots very well at 25 yds for a breezy day, but abt 5” high. What range does one commonly sight these at? Is it time to lower the rear sight? With my eyes, 25 yds is gonna probly be abt a comfortable max range on a squirrel or bunny head. What sayest y’all?

Thanks, as always,

don

 

[Centurion]

The evidence...

 

[Winchester97]

Yep, 25yd is where I sight my .32,.36 rifles, then just shoot at 50 yd so you know where it prints. Might be time for a taller front sight, could also play with powder charge to see if that changes your impact.

 

[deermanok]

Cut your charges to about 15 grains and see where they hit.

 

[Centurion]

Update: Winchester97’s post reminded me that the rifle came with a replacement sight. After some digging around in my gear a little i found the original sight - looks to be maybe a 16th inch taller. It’s now installed and i’ll take it back out tomorrow. Anybody have a guess on how much that additional height will affect point of impact?

More photos tomorrow...

don

 

[Winchester97]

Update: Winchester97’s post reminded me that the rifle came with a replacement sight. After some digging around in my gear a little i found the original sight - looks to be maybe a 16th inch taller. It’s now installed and i’ll take it back out tomorrow. Anybody have a guess on how much that additional height will affect point of impact?

More photos tomorrow...

don

Bet that takes care of it right there! Good luck.

 

[.36Rooster]

Just start filing a little at a time off the top of that rear sight, and shooting as you go. Use a course or medium file, and go slow. You can't put metal back after its taken off! At the point just when the filing has brought the holes down to slightly above the bull, switch to a fine file and begin touching it up and taking the remainder off as you go..if your gun has a metal sight, finish up the process by adding a touch of bluing to the exposed metal once you've brought it finally down to the bull.

A 25 yd zero is perfect for squirrel hunting. If you are taking shots farther than that, then you're doing it all wrong. A good squirrel hunter with a pistol and an afternoon to kill, can get a limit of them with all shots under 15 yards.

Just got to keep a couple of rocks in your pocket, and get creative with the sitters when you can spot them, tree the runners, wait out the hiders, walk up to the barkers, and stalk the cutters. Don't use the wrong technique on the wrong squirrel. You'll never tree a hider, and you'll never wait out a runner, a cutter could be a hider, a barker, or a runner, and its best to approach them undetected...a barker usually can be approached outright, although hiders, runners, and sitters do bark...better to just get there and get them spotted and figure out how they are going to behave at that point:

You are about to have a lot of fun. More fun and action than deer hunting.

 

[Rich44]

To get a good idea how much is needed use this link to enter you amount off(5), Distance(900 inch), and how far apart are your sights. And will give a answer on how much correction would be needed, by either front sight or back sight or combination of both.

http://www.sdmfabricating.com/sightcalc.html

 

[Centurion]

Ahh, geometry! Thanks!

don

 

[Centurion]

In a related note, when you’re loading up your next round, pay maybe a little extra attention instead of deciding which patch thickness to use. The last round fired hard and i was afraid the much thicker patch i’d tried was the cause. As i’m lubing up the next patch my wife calls so like a good husband i put her on speaker and listened too closely, resulting in reaching for another ball and starting it before i rudely and loudly interrupted my wife with an “Oh, bleep! I just started a dryball!” Looking around for my ramrod i realized why the previous shot was a little stout... it’s sorta’ amazing how a .310 ball can launch a ramrod into orbit like that!

Almost like kind of a science project deal, y’know? But no geometry was involved, just astrophysics.

Lesson: don’t answer the phone, even if it’s your wife’s ringtone, or put everything down and walk away to talk to her first.

don

 

[hanshi]

A .32 and a .36 get sighted in at 25 yards since virtually all my shots fall within that range.

 

[Centurion]

By the way, the taller original front sight dropped the poi to an inch or so above poa. So there’s that.

don

 

[Centurion]

Okay, update: took the rifle back out and decided to reduce the load a little in order to start working it up in increments. On a 20 gr measure, a little rounded, i’m guessing i’m throwing around 21 grains +/-. With a thin (.010?) patch and the taller sight, i turned in the bottom group at 25 yds.

I switched over to a stiffer pre-lube .32 patch and it started pulling to the right again (top photo). Theory: higher pressures, whether from more powder OR a tighter patch, cause the gun to shoot to the right. Any thoughts?

Plus, the front sight was a little shiny, so i put a little dap of black sharpie on it. The case wore a little of this off so my sight picture wasn’t quite as sharp as it could be. I’ll clean it off and put a little perma-blue on it.

I’ve got a couple dozen pre-lubed .32 patches that i won’t use, so i’ll pass them on to the first “i’ll take them”.

I’ve got a pkg of .015 un-lubed patches coming from TOTW so the research continues. Any thoughts on my pressue theory?

don

 

[pdugas]

I’ll take the patches if you still have them .

 

[Centurion]

Okey-dokie... sed me a pm with your name & address.

don

 

[Timber Wolf]

I’m using .010 prelude patches on .315 balls (.310 pretty goof too) over 20 grains of 3f black and my Crockett is dead on at 25 yards. I just need some woods over run with squirrel to make it pay off.