Sighting a gun. How?

[BugBeard]

I have a revolver with adjustable sights that need to be dialed in. What is the usual method for this? Since I'm not a master marksman so I don't want to trust my own shooting to do this but I don't have any equipment for setting up some kind of stand to hold the gun in perfect alignment with a target.

What do people usually do for this? Trial and error could work but it would take a lot of ammo and I'm not sure if I should trust that approach.

 

[BugBeard]

I have a revolver with adjustable sights that need to be dialed in. What is the usual method for this? Since I'm not a master marksman so I don't want to trust my own shooting to do this but I don't have any equipment for setting up some kind of stand to hold the gun in perfect alignment with a target.

What do people usually do for this? Trial and error could work but it would take a lot of ammo and I'm not sure if I should trust that approach.

 

[Spotteddog]

Bag sand available at any big box store for a rest. Bags of bulk "shot" if you know the range officer or owner of the range?. These to use as a "rest" on the shooting bench. Bring a folding chair to sit one while bench rest shooting. Pick a distance (30-45 feet usually works well). Pick a target with a 3 inch bullseye (no matter what size target you pick, DO NOT vary it until your done). A pack of those orange stick on dots from an Office Depot or the like, are helpful for indicating the X rings center.
You did NOT specify what model, caliber, or barrel length of revolver your working with?
That information is critically important when your going to be selecting the load to fire out of the gun during zeroing in! A load that most closely duplicates in projectile weight and velocity, what the gun was designed too shoot is extremely important to your success. Get back to us with the model, chambering, barrel length etc. and more info will be possible.

 

[OKFC05]

The trouble with locking a handgun in something like a Ransom rest is that it will not match the POI with holding the gun in your hands.

As stated above, shooting with your hands/arms on sandbags is about as good as it gets.

Practice until you can get good groups at about 10 yds, and then adjust your rear sight in the direction you want the groups to move on the target.

If you can't get groups, practice some more and take a good pistol course. I have some beginners who want to start cranking on the gunsight because they are shooting a foot low and left, but the gun is fine, and they are flinching.

 

[glypnir]

+1 on all the advice above.

Also, though, not being a master marksman myself, I would advise not worrying about it a whole lot. I've got several pistols with adjustable sights, and I haven't found it necessary to dial any of them in yet. They all arrived closer than I am. If I do my part, they group around the bullseye pretty symmetrically.

And even if you do have everything off to one side or the other, it is likely to be caused by a flinch, or pulling the trigger instead of squeezing it, or another problem.

So until you get better, or unless they are demonstrably off, don't sweat it.

 

[BugBeard]

I'll go ahead and take the advice of waiting to sight it in. It came with the sight slightly aligned to favor a point of aim to the left which seemed weird to me, which is why I asked because I was thinking it should have come centered.

I centered everything and will see how it goes.

This is for the S&W 500ES. With the snub it may just not matter given how inherently inaccurate it is to begin with. I wish this gun had fixed sights like my other S&W revolvers because I am used to their sight picture. This one seems 'looser' and harder to align for me for some reason.

 

[Spotteddog]

I read that Jim's posting on the Scary Jerry video's helped you out. He's amazin', ain't he!

 

[kennyb]

bug....many if not all of the 500es you will find shoot WAYYYY low...the front sight is not right....just yesterday i called smith&wesson...they knew exactly what i was talking about and are sending me the appropriate front sight....in fact they are sending me three...one for my sons/brothers/and mine...same holds true on the 460es...i adjusted the sights fully up and got it dialed in fairly close but...its not right....i think you will be more satisfied with the new front sight...and its free
hope this helps!

 

[Dueeast]

secure your gun in a way that minimizes movement as much as possible. (you want to take human error out of the equation). move the rear sight in the direction you want the bullet impact to go.(ex. if your shooting low right you want to move your rear sight up and left. Also, squeeze the trigger slowly and deliberatly. Somewhere there is a chart that shows how jerking the trigger or other problems affect bullet impact. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[Miss Fire]

Here is a link for free printable targets for diagnosing shooting issues.
Scroll about halfway down the page, there is one for left or right hand shooters.
HTH

http://www.reloadbench.com/pdf.html

 

[RLK]

Miss Fire, great link for the targets. Thanks.

rlk