Help! I need Pietta 1851 navy sight adjustment advice!

[BammaYankee]

I finally got to shoot my new .36 Pietta 1851 Navy today (fun!) and it consistantly hit 3" high and 2" to the left. How do I adjust the point of impact on this pistol???

FYI: I was using 18 grains Pyrodex , felt wads, and CCI # 10 primers. The round balls came with the starter kit from Cabelas so I don't know the make or exact diameter.

 

[pohill]

I shoot consistantly low to the left, no matter what gun I use. This helped a little. If it is the gun shooting high to the left, I have no idea how to adjust it to shoot straight.

 

[BammaYankee]

Excellent graphic! Thanks! I guess I need to focus on finding a grip/ technique that will bring it more to center.

 

[Voodoochile]

Most all Colt replicas "like the orriginals" shoot a little high at 25 yards & that part is easy to fix but a few things need to be done first.

When you can, get a decent supply of .375 or .380 ball, caps, powder, cleaning gear, small fine triangle file & paitience.

When you go the range try to use a bench rest that you can place both of your hands around your weapon for as steady of a shot as you can, & place a 2'X2' target board "since you were able to hit close to POA you will not need a 4'X4' board.
When at the shooting range, try to be as consistent as possible in your shots because what you want is the best group that you can achieve at 25 yards that you can make.
Once you have made that group & am sattisfied that it is the best that you can make "from the bench" then you need to look at the windage, if it is only 1-3 inches to the left then hold off on this adjustment & go for the elevation by filing the V grove that is on the nose of the hammer a few strokes at a time & then a few strokes across the top of the hammer nose.

In effect what you want is to bring the V grove slightly deeper into the hammer tip & then using the file to bring the top of the V grove down just a bit to bring the high shots down to the correct POA that you want, but don't file too much!
Just a few strokes at a time will make a difference.

Once you have the pistol shooting a group where you want it to hit "elevation wise" & if it is still shooting slightly left, & since this is an open top pistol the only option is to have your front sight be more to the right of the V grove than center.
First try to shoot it using the sight as it is but have the front sight closer to the right than center.
If this brings it closer to the POA that you want but is still slightly left there is 2 options.
(1) aim slightly right of the target when you are shooting.
(2) file just a little at a time the right side of the V grove to make the front sight more to the right than center.

With one of my 58' Remmies I had to adjust my front sight for elevation & widen the V grove just a little to get her to shoot POA at 25 yards.

I hope this helps.

 

[Pancho]

This might be well known to most but not to me, contact the trigger with the pad of your last joint of your trigger finger. Do not use the crook between the first and second bone. Try different parts of that last pad for minute changes in windage problems.