Fixed sight frustration!

I've got a New Vaquero with a 5 1/2" barrel in 357. I primarily shoot 38 spl. Mine shoots best USUALLLY with the 158 gr. but I often use smaller as well.

I'm no "Annie Oakley" and I don't shoot competition. I have shot SA for years though - mainly BP revolvers and primarily a '51 Colt Navy. If you remember, those usually have a post front sight and a notch in the hammer for the rear.

Not trying to start a controversy . . . but shooting a SA - such as a Colt or Colt clone is a whole lot different than shooting a "target model" with adjustable sights. If you expect it to shoot like perhaps one of your semi-autos with adjustable sights or a Blawkhawk with adjustable sights - then you need to learn your revolver and how it shoots. You also need to learn a little "kentucky windage" as well.

I have a Colt Army special in 38 spl. as well as a S & W M & P Target in 38 spl. I can do better with my S & W than I can with the Colt AS but with the AS, I've also learned how it shoots and where it hits with certain loads/bullet weights.

I have a feeling that if the NV was the "only" pistol you were shooting - i.e. no others . . . you would soon learn it well enough that you'd compensate for different loads. The problem a lot of us have in this day and age is that we don't just shoot "one" - we shoot a bunch of 'em.

The old saying has always been . . . "beward fo the man who shoots just one gun". I've pretty uch found that true and have seen it time and time again in muzzleloading where a fellow has just one rifle instead of switching off to a number of different rifles.

I hope the OP won't give up on his SA New Vaquero - the old style single actions are an interesting breed - they just are in a class of their own.
 
Spacecoast wrote:

If you think about it, I think you would understand the objections of a Bullseye shooter to this logic. Nothing in the rules says you have to use a 6 o'clock hold.
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First of all, a center hold in bullseye shooting is somewhat difficult, as that puts black sights centered in a black circle, making a good view of the sight picture difficult. Hence, most shooters use a six o'clock hold for better sight picture definition.

Having said that, with a gun sighted in for a six o'clock hold at ,say twenty five yards and an eight inch (or so) diameter bullseye, and hitting in the X-ring, paste several Birchwood Casey bullseye targets on a target paper, from one inch diameter through say three inches diameter. Fire at these and you will notice that you will be hitting high, the smaller the bull, the higher the group. As you fire at larger bulls, the group will begin to cut the black.

Bob Wright
 
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You are not aiming at the X-Ring, you are aiming at the bottom quadrant of a circle some three or four inches below the X-ring, the black. If you use the same gun/ammo combination aiming at the head of a squirrel, you will go home empty handed.

If you used a center hold to hit dead center, that's precision shooting.


If you think about it, I think you would understand the objections of a Bullseye shooter to this logic. Nothing in the rules says you have to use a 6 o'clock hold.
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As a long time Bullseye shooter, I certainly object to this "logic". I have used both a center hold and a 6:00 hold many times; sometimes in the same match (when shooting at different distances in the same match-i.e., 50 yards for the slow-fire stage; 25 yards for the timed and rapid-fire stages-I will often hold center for one distance and six o'clock for the other). When my bullet strikes the X-ring squarely while using either hold (an event that is getting much rarer these days as I get older :o) that, imo, is precise shooting. To call an X-ring shot precision shooting when it occurred while holding center (lets not forget that every shooter has a "wobble" area, so the sights are almost never really "dead center" anyway when the shot is made-a pretty imprecise way to deliver an accurate shot if you ask me) and to call an X-ring shot less than precise because it happened while holding the sights at 6:00, seems more like an excercise in semantics than it does logical thinking.
On the other hand, no matter which of the two sight pictures you adopt, is it really ever "precision" shooting if the bullet from a pistol being held in one hand, at a distance of fifty yards during a wind storm, hits the X-ring-or just plain good fortune?
 
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But busting cans and such needs spot-On sight pictures. LOL!
My next S/A will be a Blackhawk with adjustable sights.
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Yeah going with an adjustable sight revolver is the way to go especially when you have a 357 that can fire sedate 700 fps 38 Spcl. target loads to 1400 fps Magnums.

Add to that the range of bullet weights usually ranging from 110 - 180 grains and the advantage of adjustable sights is really obvious if you want to use the same sight picture for every load available.
 
On the other hand, no matter which of the two sight pictures you adopt, is it really ever "precision" shooting if the bullet from a pistol being held in one hand, at a distance of fifty yards during a wind storm, hits the X-ring-or just plain good fortune?
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Hey, I'll take them however I can get them. ;)
 
With a fixed sight revolver, you just settle on a load that shoots very well in the gun (accurate but not necessarily to POA) and stick with it. Make the adjustments necessary (filing down front sight, taller front sight, have the barrel turned, file the rear slot, etc.) to shoot to POA at say 25 yards, and then enjoy for the life of the gun (probably longer than you will live) .

Seems to me, Bob Munden did most of his .45 Colt Single Action shooting with fixed sights :) .... and did pretty well at splitting cards, hitting aspirin off the heads of nails, aerial coin shooting, long range shooting, hip shooting, fast draw shooting, etc.... Know your gun is the key and stick with one load.
 
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