K-22 sights VERY high

[pokute]

I have a near mint 1948 K-22 that shoots about 4 inches high at 25 yards with the sight at the lowest click. The site adjustment functions correctly, but it just seems to be way off vertically. I am starting to think this is why the gun is in such good condition. Any ideas?

Follow-up (copied here from page 3):

Well, thanks to JSR III's suggestion, which was to take the rear sight assembly off and see what was hanging it up, I scrubbed a lot of rust out (using Hoppes #9 and a bronze receiver brush) and put it back together. Today at the range the gun's POI is 4 inches lower at the lowest "click" on the sight. It was quite a surprise to see how much rust and debris had settled into the space under the rear sight ramp. I was also surprised to find that the little bump under the rear sight that I thought was a travel-stop was a chunk of dirt!! Cleaning under the rear sight ramp will now be a yearly maintenance item.

 

[arjay]

Have you tried any of the hyper velocity ammo in it yet?

 

[arjay]

Should have asked at what distance first

 

[pokute]

I was using CCI Mini-Mag solid point while sighting it in, because that's what I use in my other 22's, and I feel like I know how it behaves from 25 to 100 yards. Note that my original post said 25 yards.

I don't really have any interest in hyper-velocity ammo. I use the Mini-Mag ammo because it's the cheapest high-quality round I have found.

 

[pokute]

Decades ago my uncle was having trouble with his Model 29. He asked me to shoot it to verify it wasn't him.
I shot it a few times and it seemed odd to me. I slowed down a bit and took notice that the screw holding the rear sight assembly was loose and the rear sight was not properly secured to the frame.
After I secured the screw all was well.

Just saying...

Good luck,

bdGreen

I had read reports in forums of folks with improperly assembled or damaged sights, so the first thing I did was to verify that the sight was not damaged and in proper working order. I just verified again that the attachment screw is tight, and that the sight appears to be as it should.

 

[arjay]

If it's doing it off of a bench with different shooters I'd look for a shorter rear sight blade or just shoot it enough so you know where to hold.

 

[sjmjax]

I'll repeat bdGreen's advice.

I had a used revolver that also seemed to shoot very high with the sight cranked down. Same problem - the rear sight screw was very loose. Tightened it up and groups came down to were they belonged.

May not be your problem but worth checking.

 

[DCWilson]

Is there any evidence that the front sight has been replaced or ground down? Assuming that ammunition choice is not in play, a crude estimate suggests that the front sight is about .04" too low for a rear notch that is bottomed out. That might mean the front sight is .06-.07" too low for a rear blade that is somewhere in the middle of its vertical range.

If others shoot your gun and get the same results, something needs to be adjusted on the gun. If POI is the same as POA for others, there may be some adjustment necessary in the way you grasp the gun while shooting.

I have this issue with a couple of prewar .32 Regulation Police target revolvers. I'm pretty sure the issue is the way I hold the guns, not a funny sight or bent barrel.

 

[pokute]

The front sight looks factory original and perfect. The gun is 95+, and the screws all appear untouched, so I doubt anybody has messed with it:

http://www.slug.org/~phil//revolvers/k22_right-side.jpg

I'll have somebody else try shooting with it. I have four revolvers, three of them are old Smiths, and I've never had any problem like this before. Guess I'll take it to the gunsmith if it shoots high for somebody else.

 

[H Richard]

What is the amount the rear sight "blade" extends above the rear sight assembly? Unfortunately I do not have that vintage to measure to tell you what it should. I am thinking that sometime in the past 60+ years someone has replaced the blade with an incorrect height one. Hopefully someone seeing this will tell you the measurement which you can compare to your gun. I do own a Mod 19 2 1/2" which had an incorrect blade in it from the factory, so it can happen. I did just look on a chart I have that shows a 6" K22 should have a .146" blade. That would be the overall height. Screw your sight all the way out to the left and measure the overall height of the blade. My gut feeling is this is too high.

 

[JSR III]

I would try removing the rear sight completely and check for anything that may be holding it up. The blade may be all the way down in the assembly, however, the assembly may not be seated as low as it can be. May not be the case but something is out of whack.

 

[denden]

Interesting thread. I have a 1947 (late I think) serial K10184, and a 1950 which I have not yet had the chance to shoot (maybe tomorrow). So I am interested in what you find. If I can measure/compare anything let me know. Dennis

 

[pokute]

I measured the sight blade and it's 0.108, so it's probably the 0.106 blade. I decided to remove the entire rear sight assembly and discovered that there is rust under the ramp and around the rear, with one flake of rust falling out that was 0.020!! I'm going to clean everything up and see where that gets me. Terrible to see an otherwise near-mint gun with a mess like that hiding between parts.

Follow-up:

I got it all cleaned out. There was at least 0.050 rust near the rear end of the ramp, and after I cleaned everything up I got one more click out of the adjuster as well (it was running down on rust before). So, I'm expecting good things when I can get to the range... Next weekend, sigh.

 

[Murphy2000]

pokute,

Oddly enough, I'm having the same issue. I'll be breaking the rear sight out of it's channel later this evening and giving everything a good scrubbing.

Hopefully thats all there is to it with mine as well. I won't be able to verify if that's where my problem is until I can get back to the range. But I sure gotta feeling now I'm gonna find what you found, rust.

Murphy2000

 

[pokute]

pokute,

Oddly enough, I'm having the same issue. I'll be breaking the rear sight out of it's channel later this evening and giving everything a good scrubbing.

Hopefully thats all there is to it with mine as well. I won't be able to verify if that's where my problem is until I can get back to the range. But I sure gotta feeling now I'm gonna find what you found, rust.

Murphy2000

I won't know until I get to the range, but at this point I'm betting it was the rust. See the followup to my last message.

 

[pokute]

Interesting thread. I have a 1947 (late I think) serial K10184, and a 1950 which I have not yet had the chance to shoot (maybe tomorrow). So I am interested in what you find. If I can measure/compare anything let me know. Dennis

Gah. I keep saying mine is a 1947, it's a 1948. I have a 1927 HE and I can't keep the dates straight. It would be nice to know what the blade heights are on both your guns.

 

[denden]

I just checked the 1950 - blade height is .126"

 

[denden]

The 1947 (very late or maybe early '48) measures .100". The front sight on the '50 is quite a bit taller.

 

[Murphy2000]

Now for the really interesting part.

I have two K-22's, both 1948's. Serial #'s 709XX and 709XX, seperated by 27 numbers. Wonder if they were made the same day?

I got out in my shop and removed the sight and cleaned everything. The groove in the receiver, the bottom of the sight..etc. Nothing left un-scrubbed.

After getting it back together I took my other K22 out of the vault and took some measurements. Both guns are identical, sight blades, front sight heights & widths.

My K-22 in the vault has a full turn of adjustment 'UP' currently to put it on at 25 yards. Guess I'll find out tomorrow if things are much better now, or much worse.

On a final note, I even took the grips off of the K-22 that shoots fine and placed them on the one that is shooting high.

Murphy2000

 

[denden]

The front sight on the '50 measured about .028 taller than the '47. This is only .002 taller than the difference in heights of the blades. Probably within the margin of error of my measurements. By the way both sights are screwed all the way down.