Why Would A Revolver Not Shoot To POA?

[doc540]

Just bought one of these old Taurus 82 LEO imports and shot it for the first time yesterday.

Single action is as good as any Smith I've ever shot, double action was smooth, but rather short.

Even when firing it single action it grouped high/right by about 3"-4" at 25 yds.

So, I shot it at 15yds with the same results.

Fixed front blade, notched frame rear.

Apart from the nut behind the grip, what would cause a pistol to shoot like that?

 

[Husker_Fan]

I don't know if the front sight profile should look like a S&W, but if it should it looks short to me. That would explain the high POI. Has it been filed down by a previous owner? It could be that someone compensated for a poor grip by filing the sight down.

 

[doc540]

Thanks

Just checked it closely, and it's an unmolested factory sight with serrations.

 

[Sam1911]

Four reasons:

1) Ammo. Fixed sight guns are set to shoot one bullet weight to point-of-aim. Change to a dramatically different bullet weight and point of aim will shift up or down. (Heavier bullets print higher.) If you're shooting 158 gr., switch to 125 gr. and see what happens.

2) Sights have been adjusted. Someone very well may have filed down that sight to account for their own technique quirks, or to make it shoot their preferred ammo to point of aim. (Sounds like that's not the case.)

3) Minor assembly or production quirks. If this is an ex-LEO gun, chances are no one ever shot it much, and certainly didn't know or care to work on it to improve POI/POA correlation.

4) Nut behind the trigger.

 

[doc540]

thnx

was shooting 158gr ammo

sights appear original

it wasn't shot much, just carried a lot

nut seems to be the most likely culprit

 

[Sam1911]

Yup...I bet if you switch to 125 gr. it will shoot right to POA.

The other thing to consider is I don't know if you're using a center-of-mass sight picture or a "6-o'clock" sight picture.

If you're lining the sights up on the dead center of the bull, and printing high, try lining them up so the bull perches on top of the front sight post. That's a target technique, not a practical shooting technique, and probably an odd choice for a fixed-sight gun, but the 6-o'clock hold is very common.

 

[doc540]

I tried center, then 6.

low/left 6 put'em in the 10 ring

The only lighter ammo I have is some pretty rare Winchester 95grn Silvertips. And I'm hoarding those.

 

[Elm Creek Smith]

Your local Wal*Mart should have the 100 round boxes of 125 grain SJHP Remington .38 Special +P ammo that will save your lightweight Silvertips.

ECS

 

[BCRider]

Is this an actual .357Mag model or a .38Spl model? It would matter since if it's a fixed sight gun for .357Mag then almost any .38Spl will tend to shoot high. Sam's list of possible causes should have included "5- shooting slower rounds than the sights are set for". Both slower and heavier tend to hit higher than the POA. If it's a .357Mag gun then it'll likely be set up to shoot 158gn standard velocity magnum rounds.

My own noodling around with a S&W 19 includes playing a bit of "revolver roulette" where I put in one magnum and five .38's. The magnum round consistently hits about 3 inches lower than the .38 group center at around 12 yards.

And finally, the front sight on your Taurus looks very much like the height of the front sight on the fixed S&W .357Mag models. Which is another indication that lead me to my post.

Oh, and if it's pulling to the right then I suspect it's the nut behind the grips... With my bigger hands I find that trying to get a consistent hold on the S&W version of the grips your gun has is pretty tough. Switching to a set of target grips may give you a different hold which lets you "index" the gun better in your grip and better aligns your groups to more of a vertically centered lineup. From there adjusting the bullet velocity to bring the elevation to match your POA will be done by selecting your load.

 

[AFDavis11]

Single action, it's probably the bullet weight. If it's a nut, the nut usually affects lots of guns the same way.

Double action though is another story and pulling is pretty common.

 

[doc540]

Yep, single action, and it's the only pistol I own that shoots high/right.

I just bought it as a beater, so I'll try some lighter loads in it and see what happens.

 

[CajunBass]

If it's from a S/A police contract, I'll bet it's sighted for miitary FMJ ammo. Try some of that. I know you can find American Eagle 130 FMJ pretty easy.

Also, now that I think of it. I had one of those back in the day, but it wasn't surplus, but regular production. That thing shot 148 wadcutters like gangbusters. Just shoot the X out of a B-27 at 21 feet.

The right left problem is probably in your grip.