[joesnipes7]

just got a new to me 1911al,shot about 50 to 75 rounds thru it and at 20 yards seems to be about 10 to 12 inches low,could be me as this is my first 1911 but i reall don't think so.paperwork shows to have a hinine front sight,doesn't mention type of rear,but they are 3 dot type.should i be using something other than a line the 3 dots up sight picture or consider sending back to taurus if after tomorrows range trip if it's still the same ? thanks

 

[ccviper]

Welcome from Kentucky to the best gun forum on the net! Don't have a 1911 (yet) but someone will be along to help shortly

 

[MOONDAWG]

Welcome aboard from Florida the "GunShine" state.

 

[Harrychl]

Welcome from Fort Worth, Texas and Happy New Year!!!

 

[Lmstncwby]

Welcome North Texas! Have you tried a regular sight alignment and ignore the dots? If it is still shooting low, focus on the front sight and squeeze the trigger. Also, recruite a friend to load a magazine with duds and watch your shooting technique to see if there are hidden issues.

 

[bubblehead]

Take a look at these printable targets
View attachment TargetLeftHanded.pdf

View attachment TargetRightHanded.pdf

 

[whodog]

Welcome from N Carolina!!!

 

[gbusmech]

just got a new to me 1911al,shot about 50 to 75 rounds thru it and at 20 yards seems to be about 10 to 12 inches low,could be me as this is my first 1911 but i reall don't think so.paperwork shows to have a hinine front sight,doesn't mention type of rear,but they are 3 dot type.should i be using something other than a line the 3 dots up sight picture or consider sending back to taurus if after tomorrows range trip if it's still the same ? thanks

What is your trigger pull like? If your gun has a real heavy pull this could cause your shooting low.

 

[MilProGuy]

Welcome to the forum!

Hope you get your shooting issues sorted out without having to return the pistol to Taurus.

I would shoot it some more before contacting Taurus. It may be that you just need to get accustomed to the 1911 platform. (It took me a while to get used to it.)

 

[joesnipes7]

thanks for the reply's everybody,going to the range today to try some more,the trigger pull is very light,have to guess at 3.5 to 4 lbs,alot lighter than my glocks,but being sa it's also a lot different,might just need more practice with the 1911 style,looked at the right handed target suggested and i'm hitting in the jerking/slapping area so i hope thats all it is.. thanks again and happy new year

 

[Montkun]

Welcome to TA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I'd say get some snap caps and balance a dime behind the front sight. Dry fire over and over again until you can balance that dime perfectly every time. It should eliminate any jerking or slapping that you may be doing. When you can keep a small stack of 5 dimes pretty much in line on top, you should have no problems at the range. As far as the sight goes, no need to align the rears at all under 25 yards, just put the front dot on top of whaever you want to hit. If you try levelling the gun by levelling the sights, i know first hand you'll be shooting low all day long.

 

[hss.strat]

Ignore the dots. The dots are a lie. Use tops of your steel sights. It sounds like you've got aftermarket sights if it's an a1 clone. In which case they could just be very off. Are the rear sights adjustable?

It's shooting 10" low at what distance?
Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

 

[Showme_2nd]

Welcome to TA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I'd say get some snap caps and balance a dime behind the front sight. Dry fire over and over again until you can balance that dime perfectly every time. It should eliminate any jerking or slapping that you may be doing. When you can keep a small stack of 5 dimes pretty much in line on top, you should have no problems at the range. As far as the sight goes, no need to align the rears at all under 25 yards, just put the front dot on top of whaever you want to hit. If you try levelling the gun by levelling the sights, i know first hand you'll be shooting low all day long.

Agree 100% - Dry firing with snap caps fixed my jerking and slapping problems to the point where I could concentrate on the sight picture. BTW, all my paperwork said Heinie sights, but my pistol came with the 3 dot Novaks.

 

[Flash60601]

Welcome to the forum, from Pure Apalachia.

Remember this is a S/A trigger. Just take a grip, put the middle of the pad of your forefinger on the trigger, and then, little-by-little, just increase the pressure on the trigger until it fires. Don't forget to maintain correct follow-through.

Thy this first from a firm rest, and I'm sure sight picture will become eminently clear to you after five or ten rounds.

Flash

 

[olfarhors]

just got a new to me 1911al,shot about 50 to 75 rounds thru it and at 20 yards seems to be about 10 to 12 inches low,could be me as this is my first 1911 but i reall don't think so.paperwork shows to have a hinine front sight,doesn't mention type of rear,but they are 3 dot type.should i be using something other than a line the 3 dots up sight picture or consider sending back to taurus if after tomorrows range trip if it's still the same ? thanks

First welcome to the forum!
Hienies come in sets as the rear sight must be the appropriate height for the single dot and match up with the front sight that has a single dot.
this of course doesn't matter as you have Novak 3 dot sights it sounds like.
you might want to go to the Taurus website and use the "Find my model" and see when your gun was manufatcured cause they haven't listed or used the hienie sights in some time now, likely yours was made during the change over to Novaks!
anyway all three dots sights pretty much work the same as to sight picture , and really 20 yards shooting with a new pistol is bit of a stretch in my opinion.
typically a right handed shooter will pull shots low and left, this is normally trigger control and flinching.
heres a picture of some 175 rounds at distances out to 15 yards on the very first range trip with my 1911AL, after a slight windage adjustmnent and getting use to the psitol it groups better for me now.
this is jsut a comparison for you!

 

[egumpher]

Hello and welcome....

Remember that white dot sights are considered "combat" sights where the point of impact of the bullet is in the center of the front sight white dot. Many shooters don't know this and expect the bullet to impact on the top of the front sight and shoot low as a result......this isn't how white dot sights work......the POI is the center of the front white dot...

You can buy a laser bore sighter for about $45 that will show you where the POI is.......it is money well spent and a good training tool too...

Rgsd
Eric

 

[stallard]

Lots of good advice,

Like most are saying, put it on a bench and start shooting. Once you get consistent groups you can see were your gun is shooting.

My PT1911 duo-tone was a good 6" low at 25 yards. I first solved the problem by filing the rear site dovetail to allow the sight to move up, thus raising the POA. It uses a set screw to hold it. It worked pretty good and got me to only 1" or so low at 25 yards.

These pictures will help show what I mean, notice the gap between the sight and slide.

I bought my 1911 as a project 1911, I have done many things to it and plan on installing a match barrel this winter. So to practice fitting a barrel I went to work on the factory barrel. It was horribly fitted and lacked a good 1/32" of going up into the slide all the way, bushing was very loose and only one foot was hitting the slide stop. After re-fitting the barrel and a cheap GI bushing, my groups were now 6"-7" high. I traded for some stock sights and now the gun shoot pretty dead on. If I had not planned a total rebuild I would have sent it back to Taurus.
One of the most amazing parts was how well the gun grouped with such a poorly fitted barrel. I remember shooting some sub 2" 25 yard groups!

 

[joesnipes7]

2nd range trip

my son and i made a trip to the range yesterday,turns out the problem was me,i'm so glad,i knew when he pulled it out of the bag and started hitting close to the x right off that i was the problem as he's fairly new to shooting,about a year now.
i need some more practice but its doing pretty good.
thanks for all the great tips,my serial number shows mfg year of 09,it's 3 dot and not straight 8 so believe they are probably novack sights..
tried a chip mccormack power mag and had a couple of problems with feeding last round but that could be i was using jhp rounds and gun was pretty dirty by then,going to give it a good cleaning and try the winchester white box next trip and see how it does,overall i'm pretty happy with it at this point and my son absolutely loves it..

 

[Flash60601]

Persistence pays., I knew you would work it out.

Flash

 

[bubblehead]

glad it worked out ok