[rustbucket]

Hey guys, Ive been reading this site for awile now and have really learned alot. This is my 1st post because I can usually find my answers by browsing the threads.
A short introduction. My name is Tony and I live in Alabama. I have 3 saa's. 1 5 1/2 inch nickle colt (3rd gen).45 lc , a beratta stamphede 357 and a taurus .357 7 1/2 sa model (pos)! lol

Anyhow, heres my delima. I reload .45colt. The 2 powders I use are unique and trail boss,
a 200 gn. lasercast rnfp. My grouping is decent with the 8.2 gns of unique but lowsy with the 6.0 gns of trail boss. I shoot 1-2 inches left and 2 inches high with unique and 2-3 inched low and 2-3 inches left with the trail boss. I can understand the high or low differances but the shooting more left with the trail boss has me puzzled. I know the colt shoots left because with either of my other guns I dont seem to pull left.
My question with the up and down condition is this. At 25 yards with a 200 gn bullet, can The
heigth of my "contact on the targer" be lowered by using more or less powder? I admit I havent experimented enough with the 45lc because I have just recently started reloading this caliber.
Also, What would be the easyest way to tune the front fixed sight (left/right) without boogering up the nickle finish? My colt is nice but I shoot it. I already have nickle flakeing off of the front of the cylinder from shooting it but I dont want to chip the blade sight.

If anyone has any loading suggestions that might help correct my problem, many thanks.
To correct the front sight Im guessing a blount, brass punch or something???

Thanks for any suggestions, and again awesome site, tony

 

[Marshal Kane]

I can understand your concern over your point of impact (POI) with cowboy guns and I can assure you that this is not uncommon with the fixed sights that come with Colts and Colt clones.

On a blued and color casehardened gun, there is always the option of filing or brazing the front sight to adjust for elevation and rotating the barrel to adjust for windage. But rotating leaves you with a front sight that is always tilted and never just looks right.

Suggest you try other powders and charges to see if that helps and you can also try heavier or lighter bullets. Heavier bullets will tend to raise POI whereas lighter will lower.

Since I mainly shoot my Colt clones at the range, I bring along a "Shoot-N-See" sticker placing the sticker at an appropriate spot on the target for an aiming point so that my shots will impact correctly on the target e.g. if the gun shoots low and to the left, I place the sticker high and to the right then using the sticker as my aiming point. You can also use a red dot sticker in lieu of the "Shoot-N-See".

I wouldn't suggest doing anything to a nickled front sight than might tend to mar it. Taking off any plating will only provide moisture a place to collect on bare steel and possibly cause rust.

Best wishes and hope this helps.

 

[rustbucket]

thank you.

 

[BigBob3006]

Tony,

The only sure way to determine what a change of load will do is to change it and shoot it. Hold it a minute. Contrary too what you must be thinking right now, I'm not being a horses rear end, honest. What makes this almost impossible to make a positive statement is a a thing called barrel harmonics. There may be a soothsayer somewhere who will make a wild guess about what change will occur as a result of a .3gr difference will be, but I've yet to meet the gentleman.

The only constructive thing I can say is that in my pair of Rugers, 7.1gr of W-231, CCI m#300 primer and a 255gr cast bullet shot to point of aim at 25 yards. Before you think it, that's like apples and eggs. Yeah, the saying is apples and oranges, but they're both fruit. This isn't even that close. This load meets the requirements of SASS and is very close to factory. The only justification I can offer is that when other shooters asked about my loads and how accurate they seem to be, I gave them this load. All feedback was positive. I hope it does the same for you.

 

[rustbucket]

thanks bob. i will give it a try. i need to get my hands on a ransom rest to take me out of the equation. i hate to use kentucky windage right off the bat untill i can make sure where the gun is shooting.
thanks again.

 

[BigBob3006]

Tony,

I've entered the age group where I'm not sure if the front sight I'm sighting with, is the front sight on my pistol. If I get enough sand bags I can usually get it done. I think you'll like that W-231. Just because it burns so much cleaner.

 

[unclenick]

Tony,

Do you get that same POI shift off sandbags that you do standing? If you are right-handed and the POI shift gets bigger when you stand, a low and left POI is most commonly a symptom of an unconscious flinch in which you contract the muscles in the hand in an attempt to hold the gun in place through recoil. Unfortunately, these flinches begin with the trigger pull, at which time the muscles contract before the hammer has made it to the primer. The result is the muzzle is in that slight low and left direction of motion at the time the bullet exits. The softer the load, the longer the barrel time, so the further low and left the bullets go.

Another cause is a grip that isn't as squarely behind the gun as it needs to be. As a result, recoil can turn the gun in your hand. In that instance it may simply be that the sights on your guns are timed for 250 grain bullets (lighter bullets do impact lower) and the longer barrel time is letting the gun turn in your hand before the bullet clears the muzzle.

Try a couple of things:

First, practice keeping your eyes open and keeping the gun on target after the shot so that after the gun recoils you can see whether the front sight drops back into the rear sight notch or it comes down to the left or the right of it. It'll likely never be perfect, but if it is consistently to one side or the other, you may need to rotate the grip frame in you hand slightly or you may need a different set of grips.

Next, practice some empty chamber roulette (ball and dummy). When you reload the gun, leave one fired case in the chamber. Look up in the air and rotate the cylinder a few times before closing the loading gate, so you don't know where the empty round is? Again, carefully keeping an eye on the sights through the discharge, watch to see what the sights do when the hammer falls on the empty chamber. It should hold dead still. If it dives down, you know you've got the flinch. If you do, reverse the process and only load one chamber. Tell yourself that every chamber is the empty one and keep operating the trigger so the sights aren't disturbed when the hammer falls. A group fired this way, with the discharge always a surprise (unless it is the last of six tries, in which case, after five no-fires, open the loading gate and rotate the cylinder again to lose track of it) you should get a group that better tells you where you sight alignment is.

 

[rustbucket]

wow. good info. im using the black colt grips and wrapping my little finger under the lower corner of the grip. the gun get slippery with the nickle back strap and sweaty hands. I do practice squeezing the trigger very gently to let the round surprize me and to keep from jerking. I have been leaning over my p/u truck to hold steady. i havent tried sand bags but i will. I also havent tried lying down yet. I am a new colt owner and havent loaded a few at a time. I have some snap caps so I will try that with 2 or 3 caps and the rest live ammo. thanks for the replys. i will try that tommorro.