I'm just breaking in this new purchase and noticed it seems to shoot left. I held it down on a sandbag and verified the sights are off (front & rear although the front is more off-center) as shipped by S&W.

I realize this isn't a target pistol but shouldn't I be able to practice with it and depend on the sights being more or less accurate? I'm not inclined to invest in a sight pusher, begin beating on a brand new gun or paying a bunch of money to my local GS.

So, I'd appreciate your thoughts...

Am I expecting too much?

Would you send it back?

Thanks!

By the way, the bullseye you may have noticed in the first photo was from after I recognized the problem and shot again from the sandbag while holding to the right.

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I'd put it in a vise and drift them myself. Although disappointing quality control, it's not worth sending back. Besides, you could fix it in 10 minutes, or wait weeks for S&W to get it back to you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's a self defense gun not likely to be deployed further than a few feet. For long distance shots you can use Kentucky windage; S&W will fix it but it's not worth the hassle.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

The rear sight on my BG is off center to the right. I'm not messing with it since at 5-7 yards, I'm easily within a 5" paper plate. Plenty good for a pocket pistol

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John

If I were you I'd drift it myself using one of my brass punches. I'd be careful but wouldn't sweat putting minOR marks on it.

If it were me, I'd spring for XS Big Dot sights. They are not for every application but I really like them on a BG.

Based on my recent experience (and what I've been reading from others), S&W CS is running just over a month on factory repairs. If your willing to do without for that time then you could send it in. That said, if you have a hammer , punch and a way to hold the slide firmly , it's not hard to drift the sight a tad. Just assure you use something to protect the finish on the slide where ever any part of the gun comes in contact with tooling. You don't want to ding anything up in the process!
When you start, mark the sight location with a pencil and go easy. Increase force as you need to JUST enough to get the sight moving. Chances are, it doesn't need to move much.
It's not hard to calculate how far the sight needs to go if you tell target distance and distance off the bullseye.

Sight Movement= (sight radius "x distance of shot from bull") / Distance to the target". (All in inches!)

Example: Say a gun with a 5" sight radios shoots 3" left at 40' (480"),

Sight movement = (5"x3")/480" = .031" Right

This is the formula generally used to move a rear sight but it will get you close with a front sight as well. The front sight would go Left though towards the group in the target as it is.

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Dave

I'd just wait and eventually you'll meet someone at the range who owns every gun tool known to man and is willing to drift the sights for you.

For what it's worth...IMHO a .380 is for a close range save my butt situation and in that mode no one is going to use sights for aiming. This is a point and shoot weapon.

Range it at 10 yards..see where your group is..use a sandbag for accurate repeatable shots..then adjust your sight picture aim point to compensate and repeat the process with new aim point to see if you are landing on or near bullseye.

I agree you can drift your sights yourself and same time and/or money....if that is what is important to you....

Even Hickok45 adjust sight aim point once he determines where the shots are landing....With a .380 at 10 yards or less you should be able to do plenty of damage even with no sights on the weapon.

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Hipcocked45

You don't say how far off, or at what distance? If only a couple inches or less, I would just try drifting them myself with a brass punch. Also, firing from a rest can help tighten groups, but often places those groups in a different spot than firing free hand. Maybe try a few groups free hand. I wouldn't send it back, as there is no guarantee that who ever adjusts the sights for you at the factory will shoot to the same POI as you do. It may be worse. As others have said, its a close range point and shoot self defense gun, and at close range being off an inch or so is not going to make any real difference.

Larry

Push the sight. A gunsmith is not going to charge a "bunch of money" to do that. If you are thinking of doing more shooting and purchasing more handguns , a proper tool would not be a bad investment. Charge your fellow shooters to do theirs.
Another plus, besides doing it right , is you can take it to the range and get your gun sighted in perfectly dead on for the ammo you are using . Change ammo , that might require another sight adjustment.....no problemo ...you got a pusher !
I'm like you , I want the gun sighted in , dead center !
Gary

+1

Especially if you have the laser version

Thanks for your thoughts everybody.

I shoot paper and steel at home so there's not much chance of meeting somebody "at the range" who can help me.

I realize I'm probably overly concerned and that the gun should be more accurate than I can be at close range.

I started noticing all my shots were to the left so I used my sandbag on the shooting table at about 25 feet. I shot 1.25 inches left of center and perfectly at the proper height. Again, I know that this "off of center" wouldn't make any difference at the typical SD distance. But, combining that 1.25 inch with my current lack of proficiency in shooting the BG (much farther left, very low and awful groups) just compounds the chance of missing the target if I ever need to use the gun for its intended purpose.

Also, I don't really know how one can practice on the range without knowing that the sights are properly aligned. What's the use of that?

Again, thank to all for your comments. If I knew the answer to my question, I wouldn't have asked.

Actually, practice, even with the gun grouping slightly left, can make a big difference. The more rounds down range, the more you are practicing your sight alignment and trigger control, and the better shot you will become. Way low left is usually the sign of a right handed shooter anticipating the recoil and jerking the trigger. I would practice until I was confident in my ability to shoot the gun, then worry about whatever fine sight adjustments are needed for perfect POI. Bear in mind these ultra compact .380's and 9mm's are hard to shoot well, even by experienced shooters. Just my opinion anyway.

Larry

One of mine was off in windage.
A 3-minute fix.
Very simple.
Denis

I would take care of it myself. Once I saw it was off I would want to fix it.

I want my guns to shoot straight at ANY distance.
Denis

Even though this is a BG thread, since we are talking about low left Im going to post this pic. This is with my Shield45 and when I got started I thought it was just me. This target is after 500 rounds.

Im going to slide the sight over a bit

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if you bought it at a local gun shop they should have a sight pusher and be willing to work on it at no cost.

Mine tends to do that as well, but not as badly as yours. But chances are you're never gonna aim with it. I put 50 rounds through mine here and there just to make sure its running good and as long as my shots are decent, i dont care.

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Smith all the things

Again, thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts. I bought the gun NIB at a show so there's no way to ask the seller for help.

The advice that makes the most sense to me is that I need to forget about the sight issue for a while and work on controlling the gun. It seems to me I should work on shooting acceptable groups first.

Soon as the neighbors wake up, I'm gonna do just that!

Thanks again.

Some shops will drift the rear for free. I do. Or even charge you $10-20. If more, find another shop. And if you find one that will do it free or cheaply return the favor and buy something......

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CERAKOTE Svcs.
Class 01 FFL

You posted what would you do.
I did the following. Drifted rear sight out and with a punch with black masking tape as a barrier to prevent scaring so I could install my Galloway trigger kit. I said to myself, there has to be a better way to remove and or adjust the rear sight. Bingo, removed material from the sight so it can be moved with minimal effort and drilled and tapped for a set screw. I do a lot of shooting with my 380 and like to completely disassemble it on occasion for a through cleaning.

I have the after market Crimson Trace Laser add on. Love it. Glad I never considered a factory installed laser with a on and off switch.

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Thanks for sharing that. Do you have the "new" Galloway kit or the "old" one? I've heard about some light strikes with the kit and wonder whether the new kit has eliminated that. I'm ready to upgrade the trigger as long as I can be certain of the functionality.

A sight pusher is all you need. Or, a towel, vice, and brass punch. I've had the rear sight off to swap springs in the slide, not hard to drift in and out.

Since you asked, I have the old Galloway trigger kit. It's not offered anymore, but for good reason I think. The new kit addresses the real issue of light strikes and tolerance problems by offering a new hammer. The old kit changed out different parts like the trigger bar to try and remedy the same problem. It works, but the new kit is simpler and easier to install.

With my BG380, I think out of ~500 rounds total I've had 3 light strikes. Simply pulling the trigger again fired the round every time. It shoots all ammo I've tried FMJ & JHP, I consider it very reliable.

You are never going to shoot this gun for its intended purpose using a sandbag, so you should NOT use a sandbag to "sight it in" for its intended purpose. Shoot it the way it's most likely going to be shot when you need it, and evaluate from there.

You will probably find that you have a slightly different POI shooting strong hand, weak hand and 2-hand. It would not be surprising if all of those POIs were different from your sandbag shooting. That's just the way handguns work for most people, and the lighter the gun the greater the differences (usually.)

... I shoot paper and steel at home too, it's much better than going to a darned range, right?

Anyway, I'd take Gary and other's advice and invest in a sight puller or just try the old hammer and punch approach. I have to believe that somewhere on youtube.com there's someone who posted a video on adjusting the sights on one of these compact guns like our Bodyguards. If not, take it back to your dealer or just call them up and see what they recommend, you never know they could have a gunsmith who'd be willing to tap your sights back into shape pretty cheap.

The other thing is that since you shoot at home you can practice all you want for just the cost of ammo. I shoot the heck out of mine, I shoot with it between 3 and 6 times a week, just for fun. I mean I'll put the dogs in their outdoor pen and walk over to my range and pop out a couple of magazines, take the dogs back in, grab a sandwich and head right back out and run through a couple more magazines. The best part for me is that there's almost no recoil with the guns and I have pretty nasty arthritis in my hands from rock and mountain climbing when I was younger and this gun lets me shoot a lot more often than my higher powered handguns just because the recoil is so light.

So, if nothing else gets done you can at least get really comfortable with the Bodyguard, in case you ever really do NEED to use it for self defense. That ability to practice, practice, practice with the gun is invaluable in a serious situation. My fracas with the rabid fox sure made me feel a lot more comfortable with the gun, knowing that I could put 2 shots in its spine in a heartbeat and that was just straight up point and shoot. The gun was flawless in that predicament. Don't think I wasn't a bit scared too, a rabid animal is unpredictable and flat out dangerous, I sure as heck didn't want to go through the whole "rabies protocol" deal with the health department. In a way, I was pretty stupid for just walking out on the porch without bothering to see what was happening out there first, but the little gun had me covered and made everything OK. We or I should say, my wife has 2 little dogs, a chihuahua/pit bull mix and a Min Pin, we have a cat that's getting old and 2 horses here on our 60 acres and anyone of them could have been hurt by the darned fox, not to mention us or our grandkids visiting us, you know but the gun took care of it. In case you haven't caught on I trust this gun a lot and that's saying something for a guy who has been in firefights before. Luckily, I don't do that kind of work any longer, but if I did I would carry this gun as back up to a high capacity, higher caliber handgun, no doubt about it.

So good luck Jeppo, I hope you get this worked out!

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Tertia Optio

I've been following your other posts about the "fox encounter". Thanks for chiming in on my issue. When I read your last post about the difference between shooting it in the head and spine (jeeze, I didn't know that), my first thought was, "In such a situation, would I have the presence of mind and shooting ability to hit the back rather than head, unless I was no more than an arms-length away?".

I agree, there's absolutely nothing like being able to shoot at home. The closest range is only two miles drive from me. As the crow flies, it is so close I can hear them shooting. But, the hassle of packing a range bag and driving over there would surely result in me shooting much less than now.

We're just over the city line in the unincorporated county and on a small plot zoned for farming. Pretty cool to walk back to the house and have my wife say, "You must have been shooting well, I could hear the steel ringing".

... yes, there's really nothing to compare to being to walk out in your backyard and start "ringing steel".

We're surrounded by woodlands, with all the brambles that Virginia can throw at you in our own woods. We have about 60 acres, give or take and about 25 of them are pasture for our horses. There were about 18 horses here at one time but, we're down to a manageable 2 horses now that we're both knocking on the door to 60 years of age rather hard.

My wife enjoys shooting now and again, whereas I enjoy it most of the time, at least when the active sound control of my headphones drowns out the sound of actually shooting, LOL. I have an intractable migraine that has lasted for 7 years coming up in August. After suffering from about 30 or so concussions in my life, this is my just desserts apparently. The Doctors have located a "lesion" on the right side of my brain. "Lesion" being one of the most undefinable terms in medicine, though it's not a brain tumor or anything, they suspect it to be part of the cause of the migraine.

In any case, we do love living the rural life. We have 2 entrances to our place both about 1 mile long and combinations of gravel, dirt and sand, with substantial potholes to discourage the odd random visitor who has lost their way. We enjoy our privacy as our property is hidden from view by large stands of timber, so hidden that few people who have lived here their entire lives have any idea there's a house, barns and pasture back here. We just lock our gates and turn off the lights and listen to the crickets, katydids and frogs that inhabit our pond. Neither of us could even imagine living in a suburban neighborhood or our worst nightmare ... an apartment complex.

I do hope you're able to get something done for your sight situation, I swear that youtube could be a good place to search out an answer for you. I really enjoy shooting my little Bodyguard quite a bit, it's just a fun to shoot piece of firearm and I hope that you'll come to that conclusion as well.

Good luck to you and if I run across anything that might assist you I will pass it along to you post haste. Stay safe, Jeppo!

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Tertia Optio

I just ordered a new set of these: Williams Fire Sight Set S&W Bodyguard 380 Fiber Optic - MPN: 70993

Williams Fire Sights for my Bodyguard and I was thinking, I wonder if putting a set of these on Jeppo's Bodyguard would do anything to assist him?

For one thing, drifting off a pair of sights is not a big deal, a small punch and a hammer is how my factory sights are coming off and exactly how the new sights are going on. I suspect that these will improve your sight picture tremendously and should be easier to adjust than the factory sights too.
Also, the price of $45.00 is the best I have seen around for fiber optic sights that are made for the Bodyguard.

Just a thought buddy, just a thought ...

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Tertia Optio

So kind of you to keep my "issue" in mind. I haven't shot the BG in a couple weeks and I'll explain why.

The downside of shooting at home (at least for me) is the lack of interaction with other shooters. Some here suggested finding somebody "at the range" with a sight pusher. In my case, the only somebodies around the range are my wife and daughter and both claim they don't own a pusher.

Recently, I've had a sense that my shooting results are probably impacted by some bad habits I've developed shooting alone and with nobody else to watch (grip, stance, trigger pull, etc.). So, I asked my CCW (we call 'em CHP here in NC) instructor to take me out to his range and spend a while critiquing my shooting. He found plenty to improve and I've been concentrating on fixing those issues.

I'm mostly shooting my FS M&P .22 because I'm running through a huge amount of ammo. When I see some improvement, I switch to the FS 9mm with the idea I should be able to duplicate the improved results since the platform is identical.

So, the BG is getting a well-deserved summer vacation. Will you let me know your impressions of those sights once you've used them?

Thanks again!!!