Need new front sight for Super Blackhawk...

[chilly460]

Hello All -

I took my new Ruger Super Blackhawk .44mag to the indoor range today to try it out. I quickly found it was shooting 3-4" high at 10yds. After adjusting the rear sight, the best I could do was 1-1.5" high at 10yds...not too bad but quite a bit off what I'd like for the 20-25yd range where it was still 3" high.

I've searched the 'net and cannot find anyone that makes a sight for this gun. Any ideas on a taller sight, or a new sight system that I could install? I've seen reference to new sights direct from Ruger, but they only show for the Redhawk/GP100.

 

[BlkHawk73]

That much at such a short distance? Hmmm, I'd let another sesoned shooter try it just to be sure since high shots can typically mean the shooter is anticipating the recoil, which with a .44 mag is easily done.

 

[GRIZ22]

Agree with 73. However anticipating recoil also can make you push the gun down.

 

[Jim March]

That's odd.

Are your group sizes OK? If you're doing something to hose your elevation you're also probably throwing groups like a dinner plate or worse. If NOT, if you're shooting OK, it might be the gun or it might be the ammo.

Were you by any chance shooting abnormally heavy slugs? 275gr or above? Heavier slugs stay in the barrel longer, pushing it up more, sometimes to the point of needing a taller front sight. Bowen and others sell over-height front sights for such situations.

Have you done "the revolver checkout" on this gun? I would be tempted to do the routine whereby you unload it, check that twice, throw a bright light at the back of the cylinder and then look down the barrel. I'm wondering if it's possible to see any mis-alignment between barrel and cylinder bores (basically a "tweaked frame").

Speaking of which...look at your rear sight. Is it cranked over significantly from center to correct windage? That would be another clue that the gun is...well, "fundamentally a lemon". If it's not, and it throws tight groups but they're just HIGH, well, that can be fixed with front sights such as:

http://www.clementscustomguns.com/handguns/options.htm

Go to the "parts for sale" listing at the bottom, #8. The top area is gunsmithing services.

 

[chilly460]

I appreciate the input. I thought about this, and I shot 50rds with the gun, it was very consistently 1-1.5" high once I got it adjusted. I was only shooting 240gr/900fps rounds, so the recoil was very mild. The groups got better the more I shot (and adjusted elevation on the site), which would indicate it wasn't recoil induced.

I then switched to my .357mag and was right on the bull. Also, once I got the elevation down to a minimum, it was very consistent, which I don't think would be the case if I was anticipating recoil.

I understand the thinking here, but I tried to take steps to insure it wasn't me. I'm by no means a great shooter, but I do have a feel for when I have the "yips". I should have mentioned, that I had the gun out previously with some cowboy action loads and it did the same thing...at the time I attributed it to the extremely slow rounds being slow enough to be effected by muzzle rise with the long barrel.

 

[chilly460]

I was actually typing that while the other post was being written.

My groups would fit inside a playing card at 15yds...not great, but I think that's acceptable? I'm shooting offhand. A few of the better groups formed a cloverleaf.

 

[Jim March]

Chilly: inside a card at 15yds ain't bad, and will get you through most defensive situations. You should strive for better of course but if you're shooting about the same with both guns then...if that SBH is "fundamentally tweaked" it's not by much.

You might try shooting it carefully from a sandbag rest to see what the gun can do in terms of group size and shot placement versus what you can do. I find it's very useful to know what the gun is basically capable of so that I "know" what standard of shooting is possible. It helps me mentally get closer to that point, though I seldom hit it .

As to your original issue: mild 240gr loads shouldn't be high in that gun. And it sounds like the elevation is TOO far off. If you have a plain black notch rear sight now, why don't you just deepen it a bit with a small square or rectangular file? That nets you the same effect as a taller front. Or apply some putty epoxy to the top of the front sight, square it off, paint it black, get by for a bit until you can get a taller sight shipped in. This will also tell you how much taller a front you need to order.

I'm still puzzled as to why it's off. A ding in the muzzle crown usually hoses accuracy. I would THINK a bent frame would be almost as bad. This is a puzzler. Run a full checkout and do a more exhaustive test of the gun's accuracy with sandbags, otherwise you could chase a symptom and miss the real disease.

 

[chilly460]

Thanks all for the advice.

After thinking things through, I believe I will go shoot off a rest before jumping to conclusions. I just have a hard time believing that the gun would be this far off from the factory, it is a new gun. As stated, it is very pretty consistent...so I don't think it's a big issue with the frame or whatnot.

I should have time to go Saturday and figure out what the true issue is.

 

[Jim March]

If it's consistent, it's fixable cheap .