Sight Settings for Different Relative Target Elevations

[jmoore]

Was at a different shooting bay than usual for paper practice on C,P and R (75yds is either verboten or requires additional target frame that weren't on hand this day). Was hitting low on both chickens and pigs, both in shadow and bright sun. Ram setting was OK as used at the last match (at a completely different range.)

Same everything, except new shoes of the same style, and the target frames are much higher than I usually shoot except for Rams which is at ground level.
So, as opposed to shooting at 25yd chickens at or below foot level, these were about head high. Pigs even higher.

Could that change in shooting position cause the low impacts? Bullets were clustered at the leg level rather than center, about 2" low for chickens, 4" roughly for pigs. It would seem that hits would be higher, but...

Also noted that at start of last match, shots were high, probably off the paper target settings.... It's somewhat confusing as the new load is more consistent overall, but still fine tuning. Could be I'm noticing things previously lost in the noise with the old load.

At this point I'm thinking of going back to the settings left from April's match.

[high standard 40]

Was this with iron sights or scoped?

[jmoore]

Iron sights. Specifically, an adjustable four position front sight equipped S&W29-3 mit 10 5/8" barrel.

I check the front sight settings with dial calipers, as there's no clicks. Repeatable, but it's slow to adjust in the middle of a string! Chickens have been giving me fits, and I'm wondering if the practice sessions aren't throwing things off. Funnily enough, I almost never have elevation problems with turkeys that are not operator induced, perhaps because I can't practice on them between matches....

Managed a 29 in FP this month so progess is being made! It just seems that good scores are generated more courtesy of rams than chicks.

[high standard 40]

The personal experience of myself and my brother has been that practicing with iron sights on paper targets does not follow true to actual steel targets. It is my belief that the way the eye perceives the edges of the targets differs from paper to 3 dimensional targets. My opinion anyway. Paper target practice has never worked for me.

[260 Striker]

I think using paper targets works better if you use paper that will match the background of you range. We have light gravel on the backstops so using white paper with a chicken painted on it gets me very close when I shoot on our range. If your range had a grass background then try some brown wrapping paper to paint your practice chicken and see if there is less difference when you shoot steel. Even shooting at different ranges with different background color may change your sight settings a few clicks. Your eye gets fooled in what is thinks is the bottom of the target which would appear much clearer if using white paper for practice then going to a range with grass or dirt backstops. Even shooting at white targets will throw your sight settings off if you are used to shooting at black targets.

[jmoore]

Seems reasonable. We shoot at black targets with a very light grey granite gravel backstop. Wouldn't be a difficult experiment to vary the paper target background coloring. The FP chickens and pigs are on a roughly two foot square backing.

At any rate, it seems the best course of action, short term, is to put the sights back to what was working at the end of the last match.

Thanks y'all.

[aggshooter]

I agree with Lynn. I shoot a lot of paper, using targets printed on white paper. If the match targets have a light sand or light rock background, there is very little difference. If the background is grass with dark shade from trees or clouds, I will have a tendency to shoot low because I'm holding the sights a bit lower, trying to get a clear vision of the bottom of the target body.

If youi're shooting a 29 in FP with iron sighted wheelgun, you're doing something right!! My hat is off to you.

[jmoore]

Well....Beats all I ever saw. Shot the GA State match FP entry with last month's sight settings that worked so well...at least for a few rounds! Was a wee but low on sighters, but under when things got real. Pretty much same conditions from match to match. Thank goodness for Rams!

Didn't feel well in control the entire match, and it showed.

Today to try again in FPAS!

[260 Striker]

Jonathan, Just keep at it. I really suck when shooting any standing category. My hat is off to all you standing shooters. Just keep using the same sight settings and make adjustments for different light conditions as needed. Shooting a revolver brings its own conditions too. Good luck in PAS.

[jmoore]

Thanks again!

Shot FPAS with the same "wobblies" as FP and achieved the same sub-par score. But felt better later in the day, enough so that a re-entry for morale was done with the same sight settings. Chickens didn't go well, as usual, and was a couple of pigs short of the official entry's efforts, but turkeys were FAR better! AT any rate, I reckon the moral of the story is that standing classes need an operator in good "tune" just as much as the equipment.