Ruger Blackhawk shoots way to high ???

[Zerstoerer]

I am at a loss here:

I got the rear sight all the way down and the gun still shoots way high.
About 12" high at 50 yards.
4 3/8 barrel, distance from front to rear sight 6 5/8".
The front sight is 7/8" tall, top to bore axis, the rear sight now at 3/4".
Front sight 1/2" top to top of barrel - are there taller ones available?

I calculated that the front sights needs to be 0.044 " taller or the rear sight lower.

Shoot handloads - .45LC, 300 gr. Hornady XTPs, 1034 fps (21.3 grs of WIN 296)

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks.

 

[Kernel]

Call Ruger and ask for higher front sight. Bet they send you one for free. Should be able to replace it yourself with a screw driver.

By now, you’d think Ruger would have the sights on the SBH pretty much dialed in. 12" high a 50 yds seems excessive. Nothing about your load looks out of whack.

Technique maybe? If you had a bud shoot it, I wonder if it would do the same.

 

[nicholst55]

Um, you won't be able to change a Blackhawk front sight with a screwdriver. If it's stainless, the balde should be pinned in. If it's blued, it's a one-piece unit silver soldered to the barrel.

You'll probably have to return the gun to Ruger and have them change the front sight if the gun is blued. Ask politely for a call tag, and ship it on their nickel.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Send it back, Ruger should fix that for no charge.

 

[Daizee]

Shoot handloads - .45LC, 300 gr. Hornady XTPs, 1034 fps (21.3 grs of WIN 296)

That's quite a load. Not HUGELY faster than a factory round, but it must have much more recoil. I bet there's a much bigger muzzle flip without reducing dwell time enough to compensate. Is the sight adjustment ok with factory-level load?

Is it possible to get the rear sight blade any shorter? I.e. no shipping or soldering for a blued gun.

-Daizee

 

[Brian Williams]

File the top edge of the rear sight blade.

 

[ArmedBear]

Only 12"?

I've had a Super Blackhawk deviate by more than that -- but it does have a 10 1/2" barrel.

Those heavy bullets with widely variable powder charges can have radically different POI with a plowhandle grip.

Old Fuff is our resident expert.

Here's a question: have you tried firing it with a death grip on the plowhandle, or with it braced hard against a rest? I can vary my POI pretty significantly by wrestling with the muzzle flip. That's why Elmer Keith developed what Ruger calls the "Bisley" grip, but isn't really a Bisley grip. It changes the geometry, and it's essentially also what is used by the high-end monster revolver makers like Freedom Arms.

 

[GRIZ22]

Shoot handloads - .45LC, 300 gr. Hornady XTPs, 1034 fps (21.3 grs of WIN 296)



I'd say the load you're shooting is the reason. Heavy bullets hit high and higher yet with a high velocity. How does it group for you? It may be too much for you to handle. How does it shoot with a standard 45 Colt load?

By now, you’d think Ruger would have the sights on the SBH pretty much dialed in. 12" high a 50 yds seems excessive. Nothing about your load looks out of whack.

It's a 45 Colt not 44 mag SBH. I wouldn't blame Ruger as they designed the gun for standard or warm loads. A few years ago I read Ruger was considering stopping production of the 45 LC BH as too many people were going overboard hotrodding it. I'm not a fan of hotrodding the 45 LC as while there are guns that can take the pressures even the modern solid head 45 LC brass is meant for more modest pressures.

 

[ArmedBear]

Heavy bullets hit high and higher yet with a high velocity.

Not necessarily. My .44 shoots higher with a lower velocity. More time in the barrel, hence more time for the barrel to rise. Counterintuitive but true.

 

[Zerstoerer]

I went back and looked at my records.
At 25 yards it shoots 6" high with that load.
At 7 yards it is spot on.

The lame duck 250 gr. FN at is about 1" high at 25 yards.
I don't think it is my technique since it is very consistent.

Might file down the rear sight and see what happens, a replacement blade is only $3.50.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Zerstoerer]

...and here some pictures of the culprit.
Will report on progress after I file down the rear sight by 0.04"

 

[James T Thomas]

Blackhawk behavior

I agree with ArmedBear.

My Blackhawk shoots with remarkable difference, the velocity being the factor.

High velocity; 1600 fps will cause a three inch or more drop on the paper even at fifteen yards! I attribute it to the flatter trajectory.

You might be correct ArmedBear about the "longer" time in the barrel.
I'm just supposing about the trajectory.

The lower velocity rounds impacted higher on the paper.

 

[Kernel]

It's a 45 Colt not 44 mag SBH...

Good points.

 

[Gryffydd]

even the modern solid head 45 LC brass is meant for more modest pressures.

This again? If this were true Dick Casull have lost a finger or maybe an eye before he got around to creating the .454

http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm

 

[Magnumite]

Heavy bullets will hit higher, especially in a SA as pointed out earlier. While it is a little faster (which would lower bullet strike) it is heavier by a greater margin - a 20% increase in bullet weight.

With your data (well recorded btw), you'll need to take .045" off that rear sight to get POA=POI at 50 yards. That's alot of steel.

It is possible Ruger may have inadvertantly put a longer barrel front sight on that revolver. It would be slightly shorter than what should be on a shorter barreled gun. This would raise your point of impact.

 

[Confederate]

You should also attempt to measure group sizes to make sure it's what you want before you start grinding or otherwise altering the sights.

While you may be consistently hitting your target, you might also try readjusting your grip. Try letting someone else shoot the same load. That may also tell you something.

Plowhandles are a pain for me to shoot, but lots of people like them. Especially with short barrels, they just like going up, up, up.

 

[Virginian]

Quote:
Heavy bullets hit high and higher yet with a high velocity.

Not necessarily. My .44 shoots higher with a lower velocity. More time in the barrel, hence more time for the barrel to rise. Counterintuitive but true.

Man I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who ever encountered that problem.

 

[Zerstoerer]

Update - Range Report

Update:

So I started to file down the rear sight by 0.044, which is, as was pointed out, quite a bit of metal. After using file, grinding stone and Dremel tool I managed to break the damn thing!
Looking down the sight I now had a very large U-shaped rear sight which, the more I looked at it, did not look too bad.
Just to prove everybody wrong who suggested it might just be my shooting technique (and restore self confidence) I took the revolver to the range...

Shot a 2 1/2 inch group at 50 yards. Still 3 inches high and 8.75 to the left!
Can't be grip, grip angle or recoil or time in barrel or anything else other than pointing it and pulling the trigger. The bullet will hit where the gun was pointed when it fired! I did make sure I had a death grip on the gun, with the pinkie under the frame and quite a bit of downward pressure against a Millet rifle rest.
I stuck some electricians tape across the top of the rear sight body, re- measured and might have invented a new sight - maybe I replace the rear blade with some thin wire permanently?
Windage, of course was way off due to the large "U" - I painted a white line on the back of the rear sight and shot two more shots before I ran out of ammo. One hit 3.75" low and center, the other .5" low and 1.5" right at 50 yards!

 

[cottonmouth]

Can you get a shorter sight from Ruger?

J.B.

 

[James T Thomas]

try again, but this time...

From the silhouette; right photo, you are still aligning the front sight with the top edge; plane of your rear sight.

It will not matter how deep you make the rear sight notch if that is how you are aligning the sights.

Try aligning the top edge of that front with the bottom edge of where you machined it out and see where the impact goes!

.044 is almost 3/64 ths of an inch or 1 millimeter.

 

[Zerstoerer]

James, I think you need to go back and read the entire post.
I did not machine out the 'notch' at all.
I used the rear sight body in lieu of the rear sight blade.
Top of rear blade aligns with top of front sight.
That’s how it’s done, works great, try it sometimes.

 

[Magnumite]

Zerstoerer, Ruger makes an "Express Sight" rear blade for those sight. It is actually a set that is for the Redhawk revolvers. It is a very wide v notch with a white line indicating the bottom of the V. You could order one of those and try it out on your gun for that load.