Unique way to sight in open sights

[DeepSouth]

Fairly recently I got got some new sights from Dawson Precision, my dad is a retired machinist therefore he has lots of precision tools, micrometers, dove tail files, brass & plastic punches, etc. So I decided hey, I’ll go to dads house and get him to help put them on. It’s a rainy day and I like spending time with my dad anyway.

So after making some wooden “non-marring” jaws for the vise and removing to old sights we get the new ones fitted to the dove tails. We removed them to add some lock tight before permanent installation.

At this point my dad says “so how we going to get them centered?” As they are fixed sights, in dovetails. I know what this means, the machinist mind is thinking in thousandths.

Long story short he makes a “jig” (for lack of a better word) for the slide to fit in so that he can “have something solid to measure off of.” He centers the sights, quiet literally to the thousandth, using calipers and tiny taps from a small machinist hammer.

We get finished, reassemble the gun, and as we are walking out of the shop I say “I can’t wait for the rain to clear up so I can try it out and check the sights” His simple reply “the sights are right, maybe something in the is gun is off, maybe you’re shooting crooked, but the sights are right!”

So from now own, if you need some open sights sighted in, just find a machinist and tell him he can’t center them. You want have to fire a single shot, no adjustment needed.

it was so funny to me I had to share it, anyone who knows a machinist understands, you should try to put up a fence post for one…. Dad, the post is crooked the level doesn’t….. never mind.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

How many old *tool&die* machinists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

What, are ya stoopid?..... Obviously ONE! It'll just take all afternoon to;
confirm the plane of the ceiling,
confirm the axis of the receptacle,
confirm the thread interface, male-female,
predetermine and confirm application torque.

Oh, figure in time to go and get donuts for the shop's inspector so he'll leave you the hell alone.

I love the final comments as to your Pop's confidence in his abilities and the results.

Tool&die guys......... NEVER be the variable!

Todd.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

So how's the gun shoot? Dead on or not?

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

So how's the gun shoot? Dead on or not?

Yeah, cause.... we sure as shootin' know that the sights are where they are *supposed* to be.

Of course, "supposed to" can be quite relative. This is what it takes to get my old 1903 to deliver ball to point of aim at 18 feet.

The curious crowd awaits the verdict.



Todd.

 

[DeepSouth]

So how's the gun shoot? Dead on or not?

I tend to put a little to much finger in the trigger guard and push it a little left, but he’s right that’s me, Mr. big hands. The sights are spot on, it’s quite impressive really.

 

[Riomouse911]

My sights are all set to move my poi slightly to the right, my astigmatism (and 15 year old lasik) conspire to land all my shots a tad left.

Except for the Ruger SR 1911, which shot just fine out of the box, these are all “first timers” before the sights were adjusted (Some more than others!):


Whoops! I did a little bit too much adjusting with the S&W Model 14-3:



Once you find what works best to pepper the 10-ring you’ll be dialed in!

Stay safe.

 

[Rock185]

If your precisely centered sights hit to your preferred POA/POI, at your preferred distance, with your preferred ammo, Serendipity!

No matter how precisely centered, no two shooters have the same exact grip, trigger press, eyesight, sight picture, and may be shooting at different ranges, with different ammo, etc. Any sights, factory or aftermarket, are ball park. So if centered, and right on for you, doesn't get much better than that

 

[Pat Riot]

I have installed a few sights. I kind of do something similar but I don’t have jigs or fancy machine tools. I use calipers and a level with the gun in a vise. It’s kind of hillbilly but it works for me.

 

[Rodfac]

Yep, I'm like Pat,...it's tap then shoot a cpl of groups...then tap some more....shoot some more. Running back and forth to the basement shop, it's handy that I have a 25-100 yd range off my back deck here on the farm. I use a sight pusher...bought it for my first Sig with tritium tubes as I couldn't imagine banging away on the sight blade without breaking it...should have bought that pusher decades ago. And like Rio, I tend to fire groups slightly to the left with a factory setting...about 2" at 25 yds for most guns.

When sighting in, I correct for windage with my chosen load first, then worry about elevation, which can be a big problem with tritium night sights like Sig's. I like my loads to hit point of aim (the very tip-top of the front sight when centered in the rear sight notch) at 25 yds. Sig routinely supplies sight combinations that provide a "Combat" sight picture. (Front sight dot, covers the impact point.) This setup just isn't as precise as the ones I like. Trouble with Sig front sights is that they're the devil to move, even with a good sight pusher...so changing them out with one that suits my druthers can be frustrating.

But there's light in the end of the tunnel...for defensive use, at speed, I find that I rarely pull the front sight down exactly level with the rear sight ears. This throws the shot about an inch or so high at 10-15 yds...and coincidentally corrects for Sig sights which shoot a bit low for me. Gotta love a plan that comes together, donchaknow.

Best regards, Rod

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I know the truth. It's not the sights. It's me.

Former aerospace machinist, tool-n-die-guy, inspector, CNC programmer, and tooling setup guy, here. I like to make sure the barrel is aligned with the sights and could give a fig about the frame- or slide-to-sight alignment. The bullet comes out of the barrel.

Odds are you didn't notice him doing it but your pops checked the barrel-to-slide alignment by eye before starting. If the barrel was out of alignment with the slide, he'd have corrected it, first.

Oh, and FWIW, in order to call yourself a machinist, you have to work t-n-d, inspection and setup. Otherwise, you're just a machine-tool operator.

How many old *tool&die* machinists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None. We call an electrician to do that. Otherwise, the union bosses at Sparky gets kind of cranky.

 

[Oldschool shooter]

How many old *tool&die* machinists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

What, are ya stoopid?..... Obviously ONE! It'll just take all afternoon to;
confirm the plane of the ceiling,
confirm the axis of the receptacle,
confirm the thread interface, male-female,
predetermine and confirm application torque.

Oh, figure in time to go and get donuts for the shop's inspector so he'll leave you the hell alone.

I love the final comments as to your Pop's confidence in his abilities and the results.

Tool&die guys......... NEVER be the variable!

Todd.

Guilty as charged.

 

[bullseye308]

And that’s why I prefer adjustable sights whenever possible. I find a load I like and move the sights to match.

 

[brickeyee]

Mechanically centered does not mean all that much with all the other tolerances present in a typical handgun.