Ruger American Rimfire - Shooting way high with Tech Sights?

[Tallinar]

Alright, I have to be doing something dumb, and need some help.

I recently picked up a Ruger American Rimfire in .22 LR with a 22" barrel. I've been very pleased with it so far.

I ended up adding Tech Sights, which I've used for 10/22's in the past and have had great experience with. I went to the indoor range a few weeks ago to do some initial testing of the sights at 10 yards (as far as my range goes), and got everything on paper. I had to bring the elevation down as far as it would go to get it about to print POI about half inch higher than POA at 10 yards.

I went to try to zero it this afternoon at the outdoor range, and found myself shooting about 5 inches high at both 25 and 50 yards. At 100 yards, point of impact is about 2 inches higher than point of aim (as far as my eyes can tell, anyway, holding 6 o'clock on a 4 inch black circle).This, of course, is with the rear sight elevation set as far down as it will go, and the front sight is not height adjustable with the RAR Tech Sights like they are on the 10/22.

It feels like I am missing something obvious. I have a hard time believing there is anything wrong with the sights or the rifle. I'm trying to visualize bullet trajectory. Is it possible that by "zeroing" the rifle at 10 yards I've screwed up the bullet trajectory such that I now need to counter-intuitively raise the rear sight to lower POI? Is that a thing?

Grouping is overall acceptable, and I'm really enjoying the rifle. Worst case, I guess I can dump iron sights and move to a mounted optic, but I am pretty determined to make iron sights work on this bad by.

What am I missing?

EDIT TO ADD: For ammo, I was testing with both Mini Mag Varmint and Federal Auto Match.

 

[Tallinar]

I think I may have found a solution. Looks like Tech Sights sells an accessory “Extended National Match” front post which actually comes standard for their newer 10/22 sights.

While the Tech Sight RAR front assembly doesn’t have the same pinned mechanism for the front post as their 10/22 front sight, I figure the overall dimensions of the post post may allow for it to be dropped into the RAR assembly and retained by the side screw.

I’ve emailed Tech Sights to inquire if this post would indeed solve my problem.

 

[Tallinar]

Erik from Tech Sights replied back. He gave very some helpful advice. I thought I'd record the body of his email here for posterity, for any others who may run into this issue:

"I do have a few ideas that may help.

If you haven’t already done so, you can raise the front post. The post is held in position with a set screw. If you loosen the set screw the post can be raised using your fingers and then the set screw retightened. I would recommend a little loctite on the set screw to keep it from falling apart in the future. Since the elevation on the front sight isn’t “click” adjustable it is difficult to get it exact. You’ll probably need to use the rear sight with it’s click adjustments to do the final zero.

If you can’t get the front sight post high enough, there are taller posts available. The post you have in the MXT200 sight is as tall as our tallest post. We don’t make a taller one, but here is a link to a taller post from KNS Precision for an AR15 that will fit in our front sight body:
https://www.knsprecisioninc.com/product/square-072-front-sight-040-taller/

Sometimes the bottom, threaded end of that post, will need to be ground or filed shorter to fit down far enough into the sight body.

Hopefully this information helps. Let me know if you have any more questions. Thank you for using our sights."

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

I found myself in a similar situation with my fullstock CZ 527 and NECG aperture sight. I should have checked their catalog more closely, as they also made a taller front sight for this rifle (one of these days I need to replace the open leaf rear with a slot blank.)

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Nice rifles guys.

 

[Tallinar]

Last post for posterity's sake. I raised the front post a little over 1/16 of an inch, which is about as high as I figured was feasible while still leaving enough material for the set screw to maintain a firm grip on the post. With the rear sight still at its lowest elevation setting, this allowed me to achieve an acceptable zero, with POI about 1 inch above POA at 50 yards.

Holding 6'oclock on the orange circle from a simple front sandbag rest on a bench. Not exactly sharpshooter work, but proves the sights are in the ballpark.

 

[Spats McGee]

I couldn't have solved your problem, but that's a good-lookin' rifle.

 

[Milt1]

50 yards with iron sights, that's much more than acceptable! What ammo are you shooting?

 

[Tallinar]

50 yards with iron sights, that's much more than acceptable! What ammo are you shooting?

This was with CCI Mini Mag, 36 gr Varmint.

I am very pleased with this performance at 50 yards. If I can do my part with my aging eyes, I think this rifle and I will get along great.

 

[Riomouse911]

Remember: at 10 yards the bullets trajectory is rising, as the bore is lower than the sights. So, to get the POI to be at POA at 30 feet, the bullet trajectory is angled upwards pretty steep. This places the bullets high at 25 yds etc, as the bullets rise to their apex and then fall lower to cross your POA again at whatever further distance the load allows.


Example of a 20 yd zero with a .22, the apex is a bit lower than it would be for a 10 yd zero:


Sounds like the additional front sight elevation brought your POA/POI a bit more into line with what you wanted, but a 10 yd POI will still have a steep trajectory.

Stay safe.