adjustable sights
- Thread starter NHSHOOTER
- Start date
How close to it's sights does your pistol shoot ? I had a PT99 with the factory adjustable sights. I ended up getting a PT92 slide, installing it on my pistol and it shot dead on the sights with darn near everything. There are NO sights better than fixed sights IF they're fixed in the right place !! AND getting them there is NO big deal atall.
This PT99/92 pistol has 9900 rounds through without a single malfuntion with either slide, although I've not shot it in a loooooong time as we speak.
And so it goes...
This PT99/92 pistol has 9900 rounds through without a single malfuntion with either slide, although I've not shot it in a loooooong time as we speak.
And so it goes...
Walt Sherrill
New member
Adjustable sights are a bit like the things folks add to cars to "personalize" the car -- they're most often there for "looks" not function.
Generally speaking, once you find a round you like (a weight bullet, etc.) you'll never change -- and even if you do, you won't change your sight settings.
Believe it or not, adjustable sights are generally not needed. If you need to adjust the sights to hit higher or lower, you're better served by getting a different rear sight from the gun maker (which they'll often send you very cheaply) than to install adjustables. Adjusting windage (left or right) is as easy as a brass punch and small hammer.
Generally speaking, once you find a round you like (a weight bullet, etc.) you'll never change -- and even if you do, you won't change your sight settings.
Believe it or not, adjustable sights are generally not needed. If you need to adjust the sights to hit higher or lower, you're better served by getting a different rear sight from the gun maker (which they'll often send you very cheaply) than to install adjustables. Adjusting windage (left or right) is as easy as a brass punch and small hammer.
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I am rethinking the whole adjustable sight option, I had only shot the pistol about 5 rounds and did real poorly but I was not at the range and just shooting at a cardboard box at about 50 ft. Took said pistol to the range on Sat and at a measured 50 and taking my time I was hitting pretty well, all in all I think I will take all your advice and stick with the sights that are on there and just practice, practice, practice. Thanks for all your help, as always "TFL" is the way to go.
rt11002003
New member
If I can get the gun I want with adjustable sights; that's what I get. Once I get range adjusted and round selected, I never seem to change adjustments.
I learned "old school" with non-adjustable (fixed) sights. For elevation, draw a fine or a coarser bead. Fine bead for "down"; coarse bead for "up". For windage, change sight picture right, or left.
None of my guns with fixed sights need anymore than the methods mentioned. Lucky me.
I learned "old school" with non-adjustable (fixed) sights. For elevation, draw a fine or a coarser bead. Fine bead for "down"; coarse bead for "up". For windage, change sight picture right, or left.
None of my guns with fixed sights need anymore than the methods mentioned. Lucky me.
NHshooter, you need to put many more rounds through that gun before you start talking about changing sights. I would put at least a box through it before you even adjust the current sights. I also usually try several types of ammo to see if I can get one of them to work before I start replacing sights. You still won't have to replace anything if you just have a windage problem, a brass drift and small hammer will take care of that. You are down to very few situations where you HAVE to replace sights. Good luck and have fun (I personally don't like sighting in because I don't like breaking out the file and drift, either.)
Though I seem to be in the minority here, I prefer to have adjustable sights on any handgun I have, with the obvious exceptions that include pistols that need to be drawn from "deep cover" locations, i.e., from the pocket or other places of concealment, when an adjustable sight might impede a draw by snagging a retrieval when time is of essence. I like to be able to adjust my sights to accommodate different bullet weights and/or powder loadings in terms of meshing point of aim (poa) with point of impact (poi). And my personal experiences with handguns having adjustable sights (as recounted in numerous previous posts) suggests that the supposed fragility of adjustable sights has been greatly exaggerated.
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Walt Sherrill
New member
dgludwig said:
If you roll your own and do try a lot of different bullet weights and powders, that makes sense. So my comments probably don't apply to YOU.
The vast majority of the guns I've owned with adjustable sights, once I get settled in and find a bullet weight or ammo brand that the gun likes, the sight almost never gets adjusted. (This is true even when I change bullet weights, from time to time. That said, most of my shooting is at 50' or less... In my case, an adjustable sight is extra money for something that I don't use.
hatchettjack
Inactive
I've never grasped why someone wouldn't want adjustable sights!
Walt Sherrill
New member
Because UNLESS your really varying what you shoot lot -- powder and bullet weight -- you don't need to do much adjusting of elevation. Then, too, many adjustable sights can be fragile and some are downright ugly.
There are ones that aren't fragile and also look OK...
I bought my first gun (a Taurus PT99) and my wife's first gun (a Russian commercial Makarov) with adjustable sights thinking I could dial them in if they shot anywhere but point of aim. Since then I have worked on my sight picture and trigger control and find most factory fixed sights are pretty much right on, and if they aren't, it's probably me. Other than target pistols (my Ruger .22), I don't really think they are useful and prefer to buy fixed sight models.
If you don't have adjustable sighs, you have essentially two choices, either find/make ammo that shoots to the sights, or alter (often permanently) the gun.
And also remember that while we do focus on it heavily here, there IS more to the world of pistol shooting than duty guns and defensive shooting.
I vastly prefer adjustable sights on any and everything I can get them on. Often they provide a better sight picture than the fixed versions.
I'm ok with fixed sights if that's all there is, but even drift adjustable for windage is better.
The "fragile" comes from the late 19th and early 20th century sights, and really does not apply to what is used today. If you don't use the back sight to drive nails with, it usually doesn't have issues.
And also remember that while we do focus on it heavily here, there IS more to the world of pistol shooting than duty guns and defensive shooting.
I vastly prefer adjustable sights on any and everything I can get them on. Often they provide a better sight picture than the fixed versions.
I'm ok with fixed sights if that's all there is, but even drift adjustable for windage is better.
The "fragile" comes from the late 19th and early 20th century sights, and really does not apply to what is used today. If you don't use the back sight to drive nails with, it usually doesn't have issues.
Theohazard
New member
I don't want adjustable sights on any defensive handgun, especially one I carry. There's always the chance that they can be knocked out of whack, whereas fixed sights are much more durable.hatchettjack said:
For sure, and so I'll emphasize that I'm only referring to my defensive handguns here.44 AMP said:
I much prefer the sight picture of fixed handgun sights like the Trijicon HDs. But that's only for defensive handguns; I would rather have adjustable target sights for a non-defensive handgun.44 AMP said:
I used to carry a 1911 with adjustable sights. During one range session I started off doing rapid fire holster drills at very short range. Then I moved the target out to 25 yards and all of a sudden I was shooting 3 feet high; I even managed to shoot the target off its PVC hanger. It was pretty embarrassing.44 AMP said:
It turned out that the detent for my rear sight elevation had fallen out and the rear sight had adjusted itself during my close-range rapid fire, but the target was close enough that I didn't notice it, and I just attributed it to me.
My defensive handguns get beat around sometimes, and my carry guns often get knocked against things when they're in my holster. For that reason, I will only use fixed sights on any defensive handgun I own.
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For your gun, I'd agree with the above statement. I have a 9mm STI Trojan 1911 that already had adjustables so I wouldn't change them out. I haven't had to touch those sight since I've had that gun, but it sees a steady diet of 147 gr. loads anyway. But I would say that most full size 9mm service pistols work fine with fixed sights.
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