Sight in revolver for DAO?

geologist

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I was shooting my 2.5" S&W 19 roundbutt, two hand RCMP grip.

I have for a while now, shot my DA revolvers in double action only.

At 15 yards I am printing 2" right of POA. The revolver was sighted in at 25 yards, single action (which on my 19 is wonderful) off a rest.

Firing single action the POI is on the POA.

I think the best thing for me is to drift the rear side left so that my DA POI is on the POA.

Hiw do you Nutz have your DA sights setup?
 
If you are only going to shoot double action, adjust the sights accordingly.

Personally I would leave the sights alone and simply hold 2 inches left if I ever was to use the double action. I prefer the tighter groups achieved with single action.

In the past I shot double action with revolvers that had been worked over for that... and they shot where they were aimed. Murray Charleton was the skilled man who built them.
 
If you only shoot it DA then it makes sense to have it sighted in for where it goes when shooting DA.

I only have a few revolvers so they all get shot in single action at times.
 
I don't have a triiger scale but the DA trigger is smooth an I estmate it under 4 lbs.

It's me.
It's you, sure. And you COULD spend time and effort to fix that. The question then becomes do you want to spend the time and effort to fix that problem, or do you just want your DA revolvers to shoot to POA?

There's only so much time in a day. No shame in deciding you'd rather be fishing or shooting for fun instead of training your DAO trigger pull.
 
It's you, sure. And you COULD spend time and effort to fix that. The question then becomes do you want to spend the time and effort to fix that problem, or do you just want your DA revolvers to shoot to POA?

There's only so much time in a day. No shame in deciding you'd rather be fishing or shooting for fun instead of training your DAO trigger pull.
At 4 lbs the effort to correct technique should be negligible… a couple shooting sessions maybe or some dry fire practice. Pull slowly and smoothly straight back with the correct part of the finger.

Changing the zero will ingrain bad technique, and assumes you’ll make the same mistake every time.
 
I don't have a triiger scale but the DA trigger is smooth an I estmate it under 4 lbs.

It's me.
If your revolver is stock, it's most likely a ~10-12lb DA trigger pull and ~4lb SA trigger pull. A revolver can be tuned to ~6lb DA trigger pull, but it will need reloads with slightly crushed Federal primers to reliably set off rounds. You would get light strikes with factory ammo.

Does it shoot POA at 15y in single action? What's your group size at 15y?
 
Changing the zero will ingrain bad technique, and assumes you’ll make the same mistake every time.

I'm sure none of this is news to the OP. He clearly knows it's a skill issue. But time is finite, and I highly doubt OP is gonna be on his death bed one day lamenting his DA revolver skills. Life's short, we can't all be perfect in every possible way. Sometimes it's best to know when to call it good enough.
 
There's also the thought that for an aim-critical longer shot you're probably going SA, so being sighted there may be what counts. DA is for shorter-distance cylinder dumps!
 
If your revolver is stock, it's most likely a ~10-12lb DA trigger pull and ~4lb SA trigger pull. A revolver can be tuned to ~6lb DA trigger pull, but it will need reloads with slightly crushed Federal primers to reliably set off rounds. You would get light strikes with factory ammo.

Does it shoot POA at 15y in single action? What's your group size at 15y?
It's stock with a target trigger and target hammer.

It shoots to POA SA at 15 yards groups 2.5" if I shoot with clear non prescription lenses so the front blade is sharply in focus.
 
If it shoots poa single action, then it is your trigger control. Try dry firing DA and see it the front sight stays where it should be . Are you shooting DA with a steady sweep through or are you stroking til it stacks and then applying the last bit of pressure? And to move the rear sight far enough to center at 15 yds it would bring the rear sight blade off the left side so far it would look weird. Also the problem with shooting close targets is staying on the front sight because you can see your shots and a lot of shooters tend to look at the group and drift off the front sight . Having shot provincial, national and international competition, I have learned from over 50 years of shooting that practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
 
I'm sure none of this is news to the OP. He clearly knows it's a skill issue. But time is finite, and I highly doubt OP is gonna be on his death bed one day lamenting his DA revolver skills. Life's short, we can't all be perfect in every possible way. Sometimes it's best to know when to call it good enough.
Then why ask? I've told him the correct answer-- don't reinforce bad technique... and certainly don't zero a gun differently for how you pull the trigger.

You like to find something to argue about.
 
If it shoots poa single action, then it is your trigger control. Try dry firing DA and see it the front sight stays where it should be . Are you shooting DA with a steady sweep through or are you stroking til it stacks and then applying the last bit of pressure? And to move the rear sight far enough to center at 15 yds it would bring the rear sight blade off the left side so far it would look weird. Also the problem with shooting close targets is staying on the front sight because you can see your shots and a lot of shooters tend to look at the group and drift off the front sight . Having shot provincial, national and international competition, I have learned from over 50 years of shooting that practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.
I try to steady sweep through the trigger pull and not stack it.

My objective is to hit a pie plate at 10 yards everytime DAO concentrating on the front sight.
 
Front Sight ... Front Sight ... Front Sight ... ✔️

all same POI from POA for me: both revolvers (both Eyes)

(Having been a PPC shooter for 3 decades/late 70s to late 90s) - still shoot the same 6" 586 L Frame and 2.5" 686 L Frame (no Dash) and started with a 6" K14 K38 Masterpiece; moved to the L Frames when they came out - Ron Power specials' works of art.

25yd Centre hold - 50yd Head hold
148gr WCs 2.1 grs Bulleseye (blew out the target centres consistently lol ✔️

(I even still have the complete rig set-up).

I know you are partial to the short barreled pistols + revolvers: so am I ✔️ - my favorite is the 2.5" L Frame.

It's trigger control in DAO: you need to Lock It Up - then, its the last squeeze-set-off to 'Fire: that's when you do your final last Sighting before Firing ... and, you do it very fast and quickly and consistently - PPC has its own timings etc. (Tactically you want to be fast and accurate of course).

More then happy to send a short video - send a PM.
 
I find shooting handguns is more of an individual thing than "one method fits all."

I like semi auto pistols, but I really love my revolvers.

S&W Mod 19 can easily be stoned to an oiled glass pull, with almost zero drag, and depending on primers, the hammer spring can be reduced so the trigger pull is right around two pounds.

I find this pull weight to be perfect for me, and when I'm doing my part, windage isn't an issue.

I've had a couple of "competition" DAO revolvers and got spoiled.

When I got them from an estate sale, my first thought was to flip them for a quick profit.

I was curious and took both of them to the range. One was a Mod 19, with a 38 special cylinder fitted. The throats on the cylinders had been reamed and polished a bit larger than standard off the shelf specs, and meant to shoot cast lead exclusively.

The other pistol was a heavier S&W 686, K frame, and it was DAO as well. Other than that, it was unmodified.

Both of these pistols had been stripped, all of the internals had been honed or polished for oiled glass smooth operation, and I believe the original owner used them for rapid fire competitions. Both came with quick draw holster rigs and multiple speed loaders in ten pouches on each belt.

I ended up selling both of those pistols, but only after using them a lot for close to five years.

I regret selling them, but my eyes aren't what they were, and in truth, I just wanted something else.

I've had several more S&W revolvers, different models, and also picked up a very old Colt Trooper, chambered for 22LR.

The Colt put things back into perspective, as it had been issued to the Toronto Police Service as a training firearm and tuned for competition.

It had a two pound trigger pull, and it was, again, oiled glass smooth all the way from the start of pull to sear break.

I ended up replacing the barrel on it to get it out of prohib status. It still shoots well, but it was a futile effort.

That Colt, initiated several projects.

I went through all of my revolvers, mostly S&W, and honed all of the surfaces, and lightened the hammer springs.

They're much more fun now.

S&W revolver hammer springs are flat trap springs and can either be replaced with kits or with the tension screw on the front of the grip.

Reducing the tension on the trigger return spring is easy, but care must be taken. I found it was best not to take more than two coils off or replace the spring with a spring with smaller diameter wire for less tension.

This process usually brings trigger push-pull sideways issues to a minimum.

The other issue, many folks, including myself, had with control, was, factory grips are often too small and don't offer enough support, even in small hands. Good replacement grips will usually fix this issue as well.
 
I have a couple of sets rubber Pachmayer grips with finger grooves. Maybe I'll try them.

They look goofy big on my M19 and M12. Also the purist in me thinks that OEM wood stocks with a T adaptor will be less fabric sticky and print less.
 
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