Oh No!! My Guns Shoot Low!!

[k4swb]

It was a beautiful Carolina day here today so I decided to load up a couple of guns and go shooting. I’ve been reading about a lot of people that have handguns that are shooting low and some left. I’ve never had this problem so I needed to figure this out.

I usually shoot at 50-75 feet and some at 50 yards. I decided to practice at a closer distance today to simulate real world SD shooting. First I put the targets at 21’ but this seemed too close so I moved them to 22’. Just felt better to me.

I’ve been practicing with my new .45ACP OSS a lot lately and after 3000 or so rounds through it I am comfortable with it. It has been spot on since my first range trip with it to adjust the sights. Mine came out of the box shooting slightly to the right with good elevation POI. Go figure.

First 5 shots at 22’ were hitting about 1” low off hand with a nice small group. Next 5 about the same. After a few 5 shot groups I decided something may be wrong with the OSS so I swapped it for my tried and true Ruger KP90. Same results. About an inch low.

Broke out the HySkore rest and tried both guns. I thought I might be jerking the trigger or something but they were spot on for windage and no left of center at all and both were still shooting about an inch low. I tried all the recommended sight holds I could come up with and each just made things worse.
I didn’t have Taurus’ or Ruger’s phone number with me or I would have called and raised heck.

Smoked a couple of cigarettes, had some Mt Dew and pondered the situation. It was so nice that I didn’t want to just quit for the day so I moved the targets out to 50 feet and tried shooting. Doggone!!! My sights were dead on again!!! Since this is how I normally shoot I think I’ll just leave the sights alone and at 22 feet I’ll raise the front sight dot just slightly so if I have to shoot a bad guy between the eyes I won’t hit him on the bridge of his nose.

Now for anyone that actually read this far I’m just funning. I fully expected the guns to shoot slightly low at 22 feet and would have been totally surprised if they hadn’t. With the sights being on a higher plane than the bore most guns will shoot low at close distances. If they shoot spot on at 20-25 feet, they will most likely shoot WAY high at any reasonable further distance.

Having said that I think some people do actually have sight problems but most of the sight problems seem to disappear with more shooting and familiarization with the gun. I did say most, not all.

[GAMECOCK]

Thanks for the post, informative. Glad you figured out your issue!

[smokincowboy]

I knew it was the link between the trigger and the ground. Just kidding, very informative thanks.

[MilProGuy]

Aim higher!

[k4swb]

Aim higher!

Maybe I can get the bad guys to back up.

[MilProGuy]

Now you're talkin'!

I'm going to be serious now...and thank you for a very informative and interesting post.

[tarpon4me]

There are a lot of carolina people on here, more than I thought......Anyhow, glad you figured it out. My Glock shoots high and slightly left. I kind of like it like that. If someone were to get the gun from me, and take a crack shot, they'd probably miss at a longer distance. Me, on the other hand, knowing my gun, they wouldn't be so lucky.

[dbeardslee]

First I put the targets at 21’ but this seemed too close so I moved them to 22’. Just felt better to me.

LOL .

Now for anyone that actually read this far I’m just funning. I fully expected the guns to shoot slightly low at 22 feet and would have been totally surprised if they hadn’t. With the sights being on a higher plane than the bore most guns will shoot low at close distances. If they shoot spot on at 20-25 feet, they will most likely shoot WAY high at any reasonable further distance.

I like my POA to meet POI at about 25 yards with my PT145. With the midrange tragectory being about 1.5" that pretty much has me right on target out to the 25 yard line - a little high at some ranges, a little low at others (and when I say a little I mean an inch or less of elevation). After that those big slow heavy bullets start to drop rapidly - about 8" in the second 25 yards. When I first got it it was shooting about 6" low at 25 yards, and I had to install a front sight that was .030" shorter to bring the poi up with a proper sight picture. There are those who think 25 yards is too far for SD purposes, but this isn't a belly gun and it's got the accuracy to shoot that far, so that's the range I set it up for. It's on target for the shorter distances, and gives me better accuracy at longer ranges.

Group size and sight adjustment go hand in hand. If you're groups are spread out all over the target you need to practice more. Once you've got the group sizes close to the accuracy of the weapon, but the hole is being created in the wrong place on the paper, then it's time to adjust your sights.

[k4swb]

I'm going to be serious now...and thank you for a very informative and interesting post.

Thanks MPG.
Every fixed sighted handgun I ever purchased shot somewhat high for me at the distances I shoot. I tend to let firearms recoil more freely than most. This drives my wife nuts. Most anything she shoots is low becuse she gets a death grip and tries to stop things from happening. She knows what she is doing but can't seem to relax even with a .22lr.

I don't own a .38 but I'm going to borrow one and let her do some really slow fire one handed shooting to see if this helps. Bring the gun up slowly, shoot and then back down to rest. Repeat. Sometimes this helps but not always.

I taught my 9 year old son to shoot a .44 magnum this way. He needed both hands even with light loads but eventually he worked up to full power and with each shot rocking his world the grin got bigger.

[redwin89]

May good karma be with you if you can tell the difference between 21' and 22' from 21' away.