[Bull617]

Hey all...got a question for 'ya, but first some background.
I recently purchased a very lightly used 617 (stainless). I purchased the gun hoping it would be something both my wife and I would enjoy shooting. My hope was that the relatively heavy weight of this snubnose combined with light for caliber standard .38's would result in a very comfortable shooting experience. So far it has met those expectations.
However, I did some accuracy testing today and have some concerns. Hopefully you all can give me some insight...
I was shooting 130 grain standard .38's (Rem. UMC) at about 7 yards. The groups were excellent and exceeded my expectations. But, it took me a while to get dialed in as everything was hitting extremely low. Like 6-8 inches low. In order to put rounds where I wanted them I had to hold aim high enough to completely obscure what I actually wanted to hit. It worked, but wasn't a very intuitive experience...to say the least.
Is this to be expected considering this is a fixed sight model that is chambered for the .357 magnum cartridge? I really want to stick with standard .38's for maximum shootability, but I'm not sure I can tolerate having to aim like that regularly or, if it ever came to it, defensively. Should I try other standard .38 ammo (not that I have much opportunity to acquire any right now) or will I likely be better served getting something chambered for .38 specifically. Thanks!

 

[badge851]

Taurus® fixed sight 357 Magnum and 38 Special revolvers are regulated to shoot POA with 158gr ammo. Switch to shooting those & you'l be a lot more accurate.

 

[Bull617]

Went out with some 158 gr ammo, but conditions were bad and I shot very little. Looks like it was hitting darn near the same as the 130's, but I really didn't put enough through to say for sure. So, would you expect a Taurus 357 shooting 158 gr standard 38's to shoot point of aim at 7 yards?

 

[MOONDAWG]

:r_c:Before faulting the revolver or it's sights it's best to have a couple of "experienced" (read accurate) shooters test drive it.

If it shoots low for them then you can may need to address the sights as the problem.

 

[Bull617]

I realize that something about my form and/or mechanics could be contributing to the low shooting. However, I've been shooting revolvers for 25+ years and consider myself both experienced and accurate. The problem here is not accuracy, the groups were quite nice, but rather point of impact. I'm really just trying to get a general idea of what to expect from standard 38's fired from a snubnose firearm with fixed sights chambered for 357 magnum. I would assume point of impact has to be different considering the ballistic discrepancy between these calibers. I just would like to know if I should 'expect' the 38's to be shooting this low or not.