S&W 686 sight adjustment question

[oldredneck]

I just purchased a NIB S&W 686 with 6" barrel. I fired both 158 gr .38 Spl. ammo and Hornady LeverEvolution .357 Mag. ammo from a sandbag rest at 25 yards. The point of impact with both loads was 4-6 inches low. After moving the elevation adjustment 6 clicks counterclockwise, I notice little change in point of impact. Can anyone tell me how much difference each click should make, 1/8", 1/4" or whatever, at 25 yards? I sent this question to Smith & Wesson by e-mail three days ago and haven't received an answer. Can anyone give me some pointers here?

[LDBennett]

You can figure it out mathmatically, I suppose, if you knew the screw thread but to move the sight back into alignment with bullet impact, the rear sight is going to have to come up at least 0.030 inches from the initial settings based on my rough calculations of the sighting error compared to the target impact. You can probably measure that with some calipers and determine how may clicks moves the sight 5 inches at 25 yds.

The .030 inches is very rough but if I new your sight radius and the exact error on the taget then I could give you a more exact figure.

LDBennett

[user]

Are you sure the rear sight was actually raised when you did that? Sometimes they stick - I always push on it gently with my thumb to make sure it's where it should be when sighting in.

[PPK 32]

Originally Posted by oldredneck

I just purchased a NIB S&W 686 with 6" barrel. I fired both 158 gr .38 Spl. ammo and Hornady LeverEvolution .357 Mag. ammo from a sandbag rest at 25 yards. The point of impact with both loads was 4-6 inches low. After moving the elevation adjustment 6 clicks counterclockwise, I notice little change in point of impact. Can anyone tell me how much difference each click should make, 1/8", 1/4" or whatever, at 25 yards? I sent this question to Smith & Wesson by e-mail three days ago and haven't received an answer. Can anyone give me some pointers here?

Please see the thread titled Shooting too high. It refers to a problem with the 22A S&W. This is why I will not buy another S&W, but it contains contact info so you can speak to a live person. If you are having a problem doing a search just PM me and I will dig it out for you. Hope everything works out for you.

[oldredneck]

I just received an e-mail answer from Smith & Wesson. They say each click should move the point of impact .5 inches at 25 yards. We'll see how accurate that is the next trip to the range. They also said the pistols are not zeroed at the factory. Looks like it would be a good idea for them to zero at 25 yards, doesn't it?

[user]

Originally Posted by oldredneck

... Looks like it would be a good idea for them to zero at 25 yards, doesn't it?

I'd like that, but I don't know of any of them that do it. Kahr seems to produce good semiautomatics that are derned accurate right out of the box, but nothing else I've bought new was. I got a Ruger GP100 in which the bore was angled within the bore, and Ruger replaced it with one on which the barrel was put on cockeyed.

Having trouble adjusting to the sight picture, I called Sig Sauer about my 226, and they told me they test fire three shots to "get groups", but they don't really pay any attention to where the groups go.

Seems like it would be cheaper to verify that the guns actually hit what you're aiming at than to do a lot of customer service. I reckon they figure most folks are so bad at shooting that they won't know the difference and will assume they're just bad at aiming.

[oldredneck]

My original question here was based on my experience shooting the Hornady LeverEvolution round which seems to be a hot load. I just happened to pick up a box of Remington 158 Gr .357s and they shoot great. The Hornadys were spraying everywhere, even from a rest. I mentioned this to a group of guys who shoot air pistol competition with me and several of them said a lot of revolvers don't like hot loaded ammo and perform badly with it. These two men have been shooting handguns competively for a combined 60 or so years so I guess they know what they are talking about and my experience backs up their statements.