Colts shoot high... Remmies low...

[Afy]

So how do you sight them in to shoot accurately at 25 or 50 meters?

Where do you aim on the target to hit 9's or 10's?

I can pretty much plug away all day long hitting the 9 circle using a .22/8mm.44Mag/ 357 Mag etc at 25 meters-50 Meters... but am lucky to hit the target with either a Colt or Remmie type C&B.

 

[bonza]

With a blade or post front sight I like to hold at 6 o'clock on the black. With my .36 Remington C&B repro. it shot very low, which means the front sight was too high, so I gradually filed it down until I got the shots hitting center. Of course, this was done once I was happy that the load was accurate.
If the gun is shootin high, then the front sight is too low & the only thing you can do is either build it up with brazing material, in the case of a brass sight, or, with a steel sight, I use JB Weld & file to final shape.....has worked well for me.

 

[Cincinnati Slim]

Remmie Sight on Colts

Howdy There,

Check my previous post re. cutting a dovetail and installing a Uberti Remington style dovetail mounted blade front sight. Just installed one on a Pietta 1851 "Old Silver" Colt. At 15 yards with .45 Colt "Cowboy" loads in a conversion cylinder it shot dead-on p.o.a. at the range yesterday.

Once it warms up I'll try it w/cap&ball loads at 25 yards at Friendship.

I'll bet It ends up about 3-4 inches low. A few strokes of a file and I'll be dead on !

It's fairly "period correct"; I've seen several pictures of old Colts with dovetail mounted front sights in various books and websites. Usually happened during the process of conversion to shoot metallic cartridges...

Happy Trails,

Cincy Slim

 

[LubeckTech]

I would suggest before you make any alterations to the sights use a rest and work on your load until you get the best groups possible. Usually you can find a spot on the target to put your sites for consistant shot placement for example at 25 yards my 1851 navy needs to be held about 1 sight width off of the 7 o'clock position to hit the center of a paper plate after I found the bullet size (.454) powder brand, charge volume, lube pill thichness/bullet depth that a particular gun likes. Also consistant pressure when you load males a difference in how consistantly the gun shoots - basically work on your load and loading techntque, as there are more variables with cap and ball shooting than preloaded cartridges, until you produce the most consistant possible groups then either work on the altering sites or learn plain old kentucky windage for various distances and have fun! If you use a rest to develop a load don't use it to alter the sites - shoot off hand for that.

 

[rifle]

Lubecktech has the right idea fer sure. Thing is...shooting high is shooting high. A person can get a sight raised and then sight er in. Move the sight in the dovetail. It's easier to sight in ifin ya got a good sight and keep the barrel clean with them Lube Pills and better yet have the chambers reamed to swag the ball to the barrels groove diameter or .001-.003 over. That way when ya sight in you don't get all them dang fliers. hee hee I've found with the gun set up well there are standard powder charges that seem to work in most all cap&ballers(with blackpowder). Like 20-22gr. fer the 36's and 26-27gr. fer the 44's. The rifling twist is the same in most all the cap&ballers unless ya got the money fer one of those Pedersoli's or the Pietta "Shooters" Remington with the progressive rifling or a Ruger. Most all of them are 1-32 twist. Making sure the chambers are aligned to the bore the best the gun can be aligned sure helps too. Thing is....it's not a bad idea to shoot the gun as it comes from the box to make sure it ain't dead on to begin with. hee hee

 

[Afy]

What is Kentucky Windages?

I am shooting all the guns... and am trying to get familliar with them. Am using 22 grains in the Remington, and 1860 and 44 in the Walker.
I only have a 22 grain spout. Also am using cous cous for a filler, crisco over the ball.

I am trying to get my hands on beeswax to make pills.

 

[LubeckTech]

Kentucky Windage is an old term for changing your point of aim to change your point of impact when using fixed sights. Long ago they did not or could not adjust the sights. One thing you can do to fixed sight pistol is like Cincinnati Slim suggested is to cut a dovetail where the front sight is and install a different sight - taller to shoot higher and shorter to shoot lower plus with a dovetailed front sight you can move the point of impact left to right by "drifting" the sight the appropriate direction and you could change sight height if you change bullet weight or distance. You can install a dovetail front sight your self (midwayusa will sell you the tools and sight) but I would recommend letting a gunsmith do it unless you are experienced with cutting metal or very adventureous.

 

[Afy]

Got to master Kentucky Windage...

I can barely work a screwdriver, not handy with tools unfortunately. Grew up in a different world where we didnt learn real life skills.

I am a completely clueless newbie to blackpowder so I do aplogize for my inane questions. However I am very grateful for all the cool stuff I am learning.

 

[Afy]

Another experiment I want to try this weekend... is move the traget back to 50 meters. Should be hittable with 22gr of Black Powder or am I dreaming?

 

[LubeckTech]

I just started shooting cap and ball myself and can reliably hit 8" steel targets at 35 yards with 35 grains of 777 fff black powder substitute in a Ruger old army and pietta 1851 navy 44. I have heard of people shooting walkers and dragoons out to 100 yards so it should be possible with your Walker but you will probably need a larger charge. Sounds like the next thing you may want to invest in is a black powder measure that measures by volume unlike a scale that measures by weight. Loading directly from a flask or can with a spout is not a good idea as it is possible but unlikley that there may be a burning ember left in the chamber which could ignite the container.

 

[pohill]

The English have me all messed up. We based our system of measuring on the English system - feet, yards, pounds, etc, then you guys go and switch to the metric system. I'm still not sure what a meter is...
At 100 yards, with my Walker, and 45 - 50 gr of BP, I can hit, or ALMOST hit, a milkjug. That is an impressive weapon.

 

[LubeckTech]

A meter is a little longer than a yard 39.37 inches so 25 meters is 82ft 50 meters 164ft and 100 meters 328 ft.

 

[hildo]

Metric system brilliance

The brilliance in the metric sytem is that volume, weights and distance are combined... using the most universal thing we have all access to on earth.
Water!
The whole system is based on 1 liter (volume) which is 1 kilogram (weight) which is 1000cc (cubic centimeters which is distance)

For instance.
1 liter of water is exactly 1 kilogram
1 kilogram is 1000gram
1 liter is 1000 cc (cubic centimeters)
10mm is 1 centimeter
100cm is 1 meter
1000 meter is 1 kilometer (1.609km is 1 mile)

A huge advantage of the metric system is calculating with a simple hand calculator. Because of my work I see it done in the USA more, especially in more technical environments like calculating the capacity of cylinder heads, how much a cylinder has to be shortened to get a certain compression ratio and such.

I believe the original distance '1 meter' is kept somewhere in France.
The easiest way to measure a distance in meters to a target, or anything else, is taking a little larger than usual steps. Each step will be about a meter... depending a bit on how long your legs are.
Measuring in foots will take you a lot longer and you'll look like someone who is taking a alcohol test for a police officer

The English, or American system, is still used in Holland as well for certain measurements.
The wheel diameters of cars, motorcycles and bicycles are still in inches.
Tire width is 95% in centimeters
Computer monitors are measured in inches (but, odd enough, TV screens in centimeters!)
An adjustable wrench is still in inches too.
My father, who was a carpenter and born in 1916, talked about 'duim' (thumb) which was an inch. The 'duim' as a distance is however no longer used by carpenters in Holland as far as I know.

For those inch lovin' guys... don't kick the metric system too quickly... it's not too bad