Monday, September 28, 2015

Saturday, Shootyday

     I took my H&R Model 999 to the range at Indy Arms Company, with the just-installed new rear sight the Data Viking had located on eBay, and shot a scary ghost face in the target at 21 feet:

     This is about a hundred rounds of .22, and "dialing in" the sights consisted of me working out if they were set for point of aim atop the front sight or covered by it.  I set the rear sight at home by lining it up with the barrel.  I don't know about long guns, but if your pistol sights aren't lined up with the point of impact when centered on the barrel or slide, it may be time to reevaluate your shooting technique; the manufacturers do go to great lengths to align the bore with the gun.

     Here's what I brung:

     L-R, Sistema Colt, H&R 999, Astra "Constable" (thank you, MK!) and an Iver Johnson TP-22. (On the latter two, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to use a .22 clone.")  Alas, the little Iver Johnson wasn't happy, but the rest of them ran fine.  My .45 ACP shooting is not so good, with six or seven rounds out of fifty in the 9-ring at 21 feet.  They're all supposed to go in the center!  The gun does hammer-bite a little and that's not helping -- I don't want to put a modern beavertail on this nice old gun, so it is what it is.

10 comments:

Jeff the Baptist said...

What's the trigger pull like on a 999? They always seemed like neat guns, but I've heard the double action trigger pull can be brutal.

Roberta X, remotely said...

It's no worse than the other .22 "plinker" revolvers I own. (The Smith and Colt are about the best, though the Iver Johnson top-breaks are not far behind.) I always shoot them double-action, and I down own a Nagant, so I may be more forgiving.

Hat Trick said...

"If your pistol sights aren't lined up with the point of impact when centered on the barrel or slide, it may be time to reevaluate your shooting technique"
For guns that undergo good QC I would agree. I had two Bulgarian Makarovs. Both shot tight groups for me. One was dead center on POA, the other was about 6" left at 50 ft. with the sights set as they came from the factory.

Roberta X, remotely said...

"Set as they came from the factory," but were they centered on the slide? Most of the machine work is, at least, not "freehand," but drifted-in sights are pure touch labor. J. Random Schlabotnik has a bad day, you get a Mak with lousy sight adjustment right out of the box.

Hat Trick said...

I didn't give enough detail. Yes they were centered on the slide. The deviation was inside the gun and I wound up drifting the rear sight until it was noticeably off center to bring the bad gun to POA. Never thoroughly investigated what the problem was. Sold it to a cousin who sold it to his BiL after a bad slide bite.

JC said...

Headline needs more reverb, and a bit of delay. SATURDAY Saturday saturday. YKWIM.

JohninMd.(HELP?!??) said...

Don't know if your want to do the work, but a replacement 1911 hammer isn't too much. Then cut the spur shorter til it won't bite. Keep the original, well, original. Not a hard fix, the Data Viking should know, as well as Tam. Or wear a glove.....

Roberta X said...

JohninMd, that's a Cylinder & Slide hammer, as is the rest of the lockwork. I got a very good price on the Sistema because the trigger pull was horrible, which turned out to be a chipped sear. So I replaced all of the lockwork with good stuff. I wouldn't feel at all bad about carefully taking a file to the hammer, eventually.

Hat Trick: H'mm, sounds serious. Sometimes you do get a weird one -- but it's still worth a basic "align with the gun" on used ones. 99 times in a hundred, that will fix won't-shoot-straight problems.

Will said...

You'll need more than a file, to shape a Colt hammer. Way hardened. I would look for one already shaped, and make it work with the other parts. Maybe a Commander style? There are also the stock beaver style grip safeties (look more like a spade), that don't require frame work, if you still need more web/hand protection.

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