2nd round with my 1860 Army

[jgh4445]

Went out yesterday and shot her some more. Groups 1 1/2 inch to 2 inches at 25 yds from a bench good rest. Six shot groups. Can certainly live with this for my purposes. Tried 25 and 30 gr charges of Swiss 2 and 3F. Powder, lubed wonder wad and then 454 RB. Big difference in 25 and 30 gr. With 25 grains, the group was 3 to 4 inches. With 30 gr it tightened up to 2 inches and sometimes a bit less. Windage is perfect. Problem is, after I filed the notch in the hammer a tad wider and a bit deeper, it still shoots really high at 25 yds. Its almost 11 inches high with the front sight level with the top of the rear sight ( course bead as my Granddad would say). When I pulled the front sight down into the bottom of the notch( fine bead as he'd say), it was still about 8 inches high. Today gonna try some Goex but I don't think the powder brand will make 8 - 11 inches of difference. By the way, going from 25 to 30 grain charges had minimal effect, if any, on the POI being high, it just tightened up the groups.

 

[Hammerdown77]

When you filed the notch deeper, did you take some metal off the top of the hammer too? If you don't do that, you haven't changed anything, unless you hold the bead deeper in the lowered notch, like you said.

That's about how high mine hits at that range. Same charge, 30 grains FFFg, 454 round ball.

Seems par for the course with these guns.

When I get around to it, I will probably stick on a taller front sight.

You might try 35 grains of FFFg and see if that brings the POI down any.

 

[DoubleDeuce 1]

The Colt revolvers were supposedly sighted in for approximately 75 yards originally. If you can, try moving your target out to maybe 50 yards and see where it hits. Use the same sight picture and maybe a 25 gr FFFG if you have that, for a couple of cylinders. I would shoot from a sand bag rest to see what the revolver is doing. Then I might slightly change the powder charge up or down 5 gr at a time, keeping everything else the same. If that sorts things out for you, move the target to 75 yards and see what your revolver is doing for you.

The main thing is to be consistent. I wouldn't fiddle with the sights until I knew what the revolver likes as far as load goes. Heavier loads doesn't always mean better accuracy. You could be just wasting powder. Have you thought of using a filler like corn meal, or wad on top of your loads?

 

[jgh4445]

Still trying a lot of stuff. Gonna try Goex today...then move up to 35 grains etc. I want POA and POI the same at 25 yds...don't know why exacly, just seems like the right range for most of my shooting. I'm more into hunting than just paper punching although target shooting is fun too. Hmmm might try this Elephant powder too. Yep....gonna find out what the gun likes before I make drastic changes with a file. At 15 yds, it hits where you point with just the front site..gonna try that at longer distances today too. Maybe its better to point than aim..who knows?

 

[Hellgate]

Before you take some off the top of the hammer to lower the rear sight make sure you have clearance over the top of the barrel. Some hammers rest higher than others and there is plenty of room to lower the rear sight by grinding down the hammer but I've had Colts and seen others that were "right on the deck" and no room to work with, thus requiring a taller front sight as the only option.

 

[jgh4445]

Thanks Hellgate. I'll be sure to check and make sure. Applying the "formula", I need to lower the rear sight by 0.146 inches to hit POA at 25 yards. That gets done after I make sure of the load I want to shoot as well as the load the revolver likes to shoot. So far, its .454 RB over 30 gr of 3F. Might change a whole lot after I try a .454, 240 gr conical hunting bullet.

Formula I used is sight radius (12 inches) times height of error ( about 11 inches, divided by the numer of inches to the target ( 900)