An Idiotic Question

[MikeNice]

I was reading the manual for my P-07. In the manual it says the rear sights are drift adjustable. What does that mean? I've heard of fixed, adjustable for windage, and adjustable for elevation. All of those usually involve turning a screw.

I have never heard of drift adjustable and I see no obvious screw. Somebody help a poor idiot understand.

(It sort of looks like a screw in the top of the sights. If that is a screw it has the most shallow space for a screw driver ever.)

 

[Geckgo]

I'm half guessing here, but I assume it means that you can drift the rearsight with a punch or a pusher. I would suggest springing for the pusher, punches can have messy results.

It doesn't say anything else in the manual about the adjustment?

 

[RevDerb]

From the manual:

Sight Adjustment
The pistol sights were sighted in at the manufacturing plant at a distance of 25 m so
that the mean point of impact approximately conforms to the point of aim.
Windage correction can be carried out by the drifting of the rear sight in the dovetail
and then secured in its position by an indentation.
Elevation correction is carried out by exchanging the front sight for higher or lower
sizes.

Hmmmm ... Not real helpful is it?

 

[jmr40]

You use a brass punch and place it on the side of the sight. Tap it lightly with a hammer to move the sight slightly in the dovetail. A little harder to adjust, but once set it is also harder to knock out of alignment. They should be centered at the factory, but sometimes they are not. Plus sometimes the way folks hold the gun may be different.

You need to loosen the screw at the top of the sights. It locks the sight in place. After re-adjusting, tighten it back up to assure the sights don't move during recoil. Some sights are a very tight fit and you may need a gunsmith to do this. If it has a set screw then they are likely not that tight and may well be able to be moved by hand once the set screw is loose.

 

[MrCleanOK]

If reading the instructions in the manual don't give you a clear picture of what you need to do, you probably need to have someone more qualified perform the work if the sights do need adjusted. To someone with the proper tools an skillset, those instructions are fairly straightforward.

 

[MikeNice]

I'm not going to actually touch the sights. I just wanted to know what in the world I was reading. I don't claim to be a gun smith or a pistolero. I'm just a guy that likes to understand what I own. Besides, the gun is more accurate than I am.

My wife shoots the thing pretty well. She hit a 2.5" 3 shot group at 12 yards the other day. Not bad for a person that has shot less than 100 rounds in their life.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Windage correction can be carried out by the drifting of the rear sight in the dovetail
and then secured in its position by an indentation.

As stated by others,the rear sight is "drifted" (moved sideways)in the dovetail using a flat faced drift punch(usually brass)or sight pushing tool. Once adjusted it is "staked" in position(the indentation) with the point of a center punch.

 

[Remllez]

How's it hit for you? If it shoots to either side of the bullseye get yourself a 4 inch piece of hardwood dowel 1/4-5/16 and use it instead of a punch, tap the dowel with a screwdriver handle the direction you want the POI to move. Most time you don't need to stake it (dimple) to get it to stay, the sight is usually pretty snug in the base.

I use a dowel rod instead of a punch because every so often I slip off the sight and scratch my gun! Hope this helps

 

[MikeNice]

I've been off with everything I shoot lately. It isn't the gun. Trust me if it was the gun it would be gone and something else would be coming home.

I was shooting 3.5" spreads with a .22mag Heritage Rough Rider at nine yards. I keep tightening my grip as I pull the trigger and pushing my shoulders forward. I don't know how or why I developed such habits.

At 8 or 10 yards my spread is about 4" with the CZ. I know it isn't the gun's fault. As the stages disappeared in the DA trigger pull I stopped jerking the trigger. So the bad shooting drifted from one side of the target to the other.

 

[JTQ]

In the manual it says the rear sights are drift adjustable. What does that mean? I've heard of fixed, adjustable for windage, and adjustable for elevation.

Drift adjustable and windage adjustable are the same, just using different terms.

 

[Effigy]

The sights aren't really "adjustable" in the way you can adjust windage or elevation on a rifle, based on changing environmental factors. Basically with dovetail pistol sights, you can push the rear sight to one side or another if you find your shots are always off center due to mechanical factors, your shooting style, or eyesight quirks.

 

[BCRider]

The explanation in the manual is fine. But it does assume that the owner knows the terms used and by knowing that is likely capable of doing any adjustments in a manner which won't damage the gun.

The suggestion by the user to take it to a smith if the terms don't make sense is not a bad option. If you've never run across those terms it's most likely because you've never adjusted anything using a brass punch and a hammer.

Sights were the manual calls for drifting them will generally not have a set screw. A set screw implies that the sight is easily hand adjusted or at worst requires a light tap from a block of wood.