Ruger Single Six shoots high

[Triggernosis]

My Ruger Single Six in .32 H&R shoots higher than I prefer. It is a Davidson's model with adjustable fiber optic sights and even with the rear sight adjusted all the way down it's still about 1.5" high. I do prefer a center of mass hold rather than a 6:00 hold, so the gun would probably be right on for someone that likes a "lollipop" hold.
I'm shooting 100gr RNFP with 3.3gr of W-231.
What's my best course of action to get it to shoot lower?

[Hickory]

Before I'd do anything else, I'd try different load with a lighter boolit and a little higher velocity.
If that don't work Brownells has front sights. A little taller one will solve that problem and put some adjustment back into your rear sight.

[376Steyr]

Have you checked the rear sight and made sure there's no burrs/wrong size screws/general crud keeping it from going lower?

[phonejack]

Shooting a faster load or using a lighter bullet will slightly lower impact. So will removing the spring under the elevator.

[Triggernosis]

Have you checked the rear sight and made sure there's no burrs/wrong size screws/general crud keeping it from going lower?

It looks to be pretty much bottomed out against the frame to me.

[Triggernosis]

So pushing a heavy bullet faster will cause it to print lower?

[35remington]

No. Generally higher.

[Triggernosis]

No. Generally higher.

That's certainly what my intuition tells me too.

[ReloaderFred]

A lighter bullet going faster will lower the point of impact.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Triggernosis]

Maybe I'll just shoot at targets further away.
What distances do y'all like to zero your single action revolvers at?
Mine's a .32 H&R with 5.5" barrel.

[rintinglen]

You might want to try the Lee 90 grain SWC with the same load you have now, then work up smidge by smidge until you get to the point where what you see is what you hit. Alternatively, you might try taking a file to the rear sight blade and taking off about .0375 inches (assuming you are sighting in at 25 yards.) If you're metric that would be a tad less than a millimeter.

[johnson1942]

bullet might do it but if you like the bullet that shoots high do what i did with my ruger. i took my nice rectangular knife sharpening stone and went back a forth over the back side to hone it down to a very nice small slot. takes a while but it will get their. shot point on at 15 to 20 yards after that. also did that with a uberti 1875 remington. opened up the back sight with a high quality triangular sharp file and polished it with 1500 grit paper. now it shoots to point of aim at 15 to 20 yards. use a nice cold blue to reblue the sight or if it is stainless or nickel plated just polish and leave as is. on my uberti colts i used the stone on the front sights to shoot to point of aim. im with you, the gun should shoot to your specs. the rest are right. i find if i use a resized round ball for all my revolvers. a lighter bullet is more consistant and can take the head off a snake while your sitting on a horse with consistant ease useing your sight picture that you prefer. nothing like a revolver that will do what you want on a normal sight picture. let us know how it all turns out. thanks for the post.

[Triggernosis]

I can't file the rear sights, really. Mine is the Davidson's model with both front and rear green fiber optic sights. You line up the 3 dots and the blade is at the top of the rear notch. If I were to file the rear blade down, then the green dots wouldn't line up.
I'll play around with powder charges and bullets before I start gunsmithing.

Does anyone know where I can purchase some of those Lee 90gr RNFP that Glen mentions?

[rintinglen]

You might also remove a bit off the bottom of the rear sight and lightly stone the seat on the frame where it bottoms out. That would keep your dots the same, while still lowering the rear sight.
If the front sight is held on by a screw, you could remove the screw and the front sight, and make a shim from an old pop can to place under the front sight to give you the height that you need.

[james6600]

ok the boolit advise is good an all but you said you have adjustable sights, probably Williams fire sights as they are the only makers I'm aware of. Well guess what, they were designed for a .22. Williams says they fit and they do, what they don't tell you is they print high on the 32's even with the rear sight either adjusted all the way down or till it hits the hammer on cocking which ever comes first. My single seven printed so high no amount of load adjustment would correct it and I didn't just pay $60 to have a fiber optic sighted Vaquero. The solution is two fold, first you need to contact Williams tell them that they make great sights but they need to make a sight for the .32's not a carry over from a .22. ( this problem has been known by Williams and Ruger since day one and there's no reason for it's continuation other than greed). Second, my solution was to get a piece of .020" shim stock then take your front sight off and lay it in the corner of the shim and mark the screw hole then drill the hole. After you do that use the sight again and mark the perimeter of the sight then cut the shim out with tin snips (or what ever tool you want ) then true the edges with a file or stone. Remember since the narrow (left to right of the barrel ) of the shim will have to curve around the barrel it needs to be a little wider in it's flat state before installation. .020" is stiff when working with such small pieces so depending on what tools you have you might want to try two .010" pieces, either way once cut take a hammer and something like a small socket and roughly form a curve similar to the barrel. My gun is stainless and you cant see the shim, if yours is blued use a sharpee or marks-a-lot marker to darken the edges of the shim. Also .020" brought my gun to a six oclock hold so it should correct yours with a few screw clicks to spare, mine could use another .020".

[Drm50]

Ruger S/As are known for having to low front sights. I think they don't put higher ones on because they would look odd. I have run into this many times with Blackhawks and SBHs.

[Triggernosis]

Excellent ideas, both Glen and James! And James, your explanation about them being sights for a .22 makes perfect sense.
Mine is stainless, so no worries there. And the front sight is removable with a screw. Raising it a tad seems simple enough, so I'll try it first.
Can you generally find shim stock at an auto parts store?

Thanks, gentlemen.

[james6600]

Auto parts stores may have it I've never tried there. I get mine from industrial supply stores but if you have a machine shop in town they will probably give you a piece. By the way I never mentioned my factory black sights adjusted and shot fine but my eyes just wont consistently focus anymore. I did some research on fiber sights and the Williams sights were all I could find as a set. A high percentage of people that bought them had the high point of impact problem but not all. Ahh I just thought NAPA is a nationwide chain and I believe they can get shim stock and worse case you can use a cheap set of spark plug feeler gauges. Be carful drilling, that drill bit will NEVER fail to bite in to that thin sheet metal and cut a tendon or get you stitches at best.

[Triggernosis]

I've got a metal punch set so I'll use that instead of drilling. I'll check with NAPA later today and see if they have any.

[rintinglen]

A model railroad store will have brass, but an aluminum pop can doubled, crushed, drilled and cut to fit will likely be on the side of angels. Make the piece much bigger than you need to give your self purchase for a pair of pliers to hold your shim before drilling.