P.S. That's not my beer can. Drinking was not to blame for the POI issue.

 

Just a question, and I am no wizzard nor claim to be an expert on ANYTHING - but with that pistol shooting a little left, is it possible that 1.) the front sight post is bent a little to the right, or .2) the barrel may have very slightly backed off (loosened just ever so slightly) so the front sight post is a little more to the right? I can see the milling on the frame is a little off, but these other factors could be in play.

The reason I ask this is that I had an M44 Mosin Nagant carbine that the front sight assembly was off slightly to the right (after an arsenal rebuild) and the rifle shot groups to the left.

You could have a gunsmith install an adjustable rear sight - sort of like the one on the Ruger New Model Army. Just a thought....

 

I've got a Pietta Remington copy that I had to tweak the front sight just a hair too. Probably needed about 1/64" of "adjustment".
The blade on the front post is actually slightly crooked now, but it's pretty close to POA. I did square off the top of the post a bit since I was also correcting the elevation a bit at the same time...the crooked post isn't all that noticable with that v-rear notch.
I don't remember how far it was off when I made that adjustment.

If you do resort to filing the rear notch, be sure to take your time and check frequently.

It won't take much...if I'm doing my math right, 6" @ 50' is only something like 0.075-0.08" on the sights to correct it.
Your 50' range is 600" and your error is 6" so...
6"/600" = 0.01"
Take your sight radius and multiply it by 0.01" to get the correction value you need for that 6" of error.

 

I would take it to a good gunsmith and let him bend the front
sight to bring it in. That way if he screws up you can blame
him. If you mess it up you will be kicking yourself for the next
40 years or so.

Zeke

 

I have a 1858 Rem that was shooting to the left. Turned out the barrel was not screwed in with the sight at top dead center. It was leaning slightly to the right. I removed barrel and dressed the front of frame with a file until the barrel flat was centered. While I had the barrel off I used the Brownell forcing cone reamer to polish the forcing cone. Shoots great now.
( I bought this revolver from the Bargain Cave at Cabela's in NE. Guess someone had returned it. Got it at a good price)

 

You could remove the front sight pin, then have a dovetail cut into the barrel. Then you can get a front sight blade set in the dovetail, and move it wherever you want.

Kinda like this guy did, but he also had an adjustable rear mounted, and engraved and gold-filled the gun.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=344506

 

Well, I can see that the v-notch is wrong, and with the tools available to me, I figure the barrel and front sight blade is square. Since I'm not going to pay anyone to do it, I'll take the easy route and file it so it is centered.

Be assured, I'll be checking my progress often.

Thanks for all the advise!

 

Yea, with your rear sight off to the left when it aligns with the front sight (assuming it's centered) your POI will definitely be left of center. I'd file the right side of the notch too.

 

Filed and tested 3 different times over 3 days, I think I have it as centered as I am going to get it.

Off a Rest, Black Powder Pistol

I'll see how it shoots over time, hopefully that is all the filing it will need.

 

Yep
You got it fixed ! Those smokepoles are fun to shoot. Suprising how powerful they are also.

 

Those smokepoles are fun to shoot.

I know, I want to get a rifle now!

 

That looks pretty close. Better than I remember doing with my Pietta '58! I really need to dig it out and burn some charcoal again...it's been a couple years since I've shot it.

What load are you using? Diameter ball and how much of what powder?

Reading your notes on the YouTube page, I noticed you mentioned having a consistent couple of fliers every cylinder full. Did you ever trace them back to a specific couple of chambers or not?

 

What load are you using? Diameter ball and how much of what powder?

I use a .451 inch ball 30 grains of powder and this time I used Remington #10 caps.

Reading your notes on the YouTube page, I noticed you mentioned having a consistent couple of fliers every cylinder full. Did you ever trace them back to a specific couple of chambers or not?

I am thinking I was not used to shooting it yet, because the last 4 or so loadings, all the chambers hit about in the same place. There is a lot of creep in that pistol and I think I finally got used to it.