9mm 1911 Shooting Low

[sigep1764]

Hey folks,
Just traded for a RIA 1911 9mm pistol. It has the Novak “style” sights. They are actually a different cut, but I digress. It is shooting low, about 1.5 inches. 147 grain Elco boolit over 2.8 grains of Red Dot. Should I have the front sight shaved down? The same load shoots poa in a Glock 26 and a CZ 75B. Shoots about two inches high in a Walther PPS M2. There’s room to speed it up if necessary. The Walther shoots poa if fed 115 grain ammo, suggesting dwell time is an issue with the heavier boolit in that pistol, needing a faster load to compensate. This leads me to the dilemma with the 147 shooting low in the 1911. If I speed it up, shouldn’t it shoot even lower?

[243winxb]

In general, at 25 yards, faster is lower. This is why i like adjustable sights. But not on S&W J frames.

[country gent]

Faster should shoot lower do to less barrel time under recoil, Slightly lowering velocity may raise it some.

I am leary of cutting a staked in font sight down as it may loosen the joint, bu it can be done. This formula will get you very close.
error X sight radius
range in inches

1,5 X 5" = 7.5 / 900 (25 YDs)= .0083 this is what needs to be removed to zero elevation. If the front sight is tall enough it shouldnt be a problem with a very fine file. probably 6-8 light passes. You can measure progress with calipers from under slide to top of sight. measure before starting and work down to .008-.010 less than this number. The big thing is to keep the sight top square

[Larry Gibson]

If that load is all you're going to use in that pistol then adjust the sights accordingly if you want to. However, if other ammo will be used you might try that ammo to see where the POI is before altering the sights.

[Bigslug]

How does the RIA shoot with other loads you might shoot in it? Specifically, how does it do with the factory speeds of about 1100-1200 for 124 and 115 and 1000 for 147? Odds are, lighter, faster bullets will shoot even lower than your 147's.

If all of those hit low, I'd take a file to the front sight without hesitation. If it's just your ammo, re-evaluate your ammo.

[hoodat]

AND --- are you shooting from a rest, or natural hand hold? Often the two are different. jd

[Willie T]

Cover the target rather than a six o’clock hold.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

From a gunsmithing point of view, it is preferable to adjust the load or change the bullet rather than cutting the sight down. Very difficult to replace removed metal.

DG

[DougGuy]

I would opt for a different rear sight instead of surgery to the front. Those ramped rear sights can be had in different heights and some are cleverly adjustable.

[Bigslug]

I would opt for a different rear sight instead of surgery to the front. Those ramped rear sights can be had in different heights and some are cleverly adjustable.

Good point - it is worth contacting the manufacturer with how much of a correction you need to make the gun happy. I've had other makes just send me a sight.

[sigep1764]

An adjustable rear sight makes more sense. Rock Island sells a version of this pistol with an adjustable sight. I will look into whether they sell just that rear sight or into another adjustable rear. Thank you all for the help. That formula will be saved for future use Country Gent!

[rockrat]

Try a faster boolit and see what happens. Load five and check POI

[gwpercle]

I would leave the sights alone , both front and rear and test some other weight boolits 115 gr. and 124 gr. to find the ammo the fixed sights were regulated for .

Best option is adjustable rear sight ... then you can sight it in to whatever load you shoot .
Gary

[Der Gebirgsjager]

A short tale from personal experience. I bought (still have) a Vega 1911 pistol back in the '80s. It was the 2nd all-stainless pistol marketed, the first having been the AMT Hardballer. It shot high, so I figured, like some here that installing an adjustable rear sight would solve the problem. However after doing so I found that it was too high and could not be adjusted low enough to sync with the front sight and it shot even higher. At the time-- my pre-gunsmithing days (we all start somewhere, right?) I was at a loss as to what to do next, so sent it back to the factory. It was returned promptly with a new, much higher front sight. It was, and remains, quite accurate, but was sort of ruined for a concealed carry gun because of the high (snaggy) sights. I think you may run into a similar situation by installing an adjustable rear sight. While the idea is worthy of consideration, and you can always un-install the rear sight, I think the better advice is to adjust your load.

308220 308221

DG

[1006]

If you shoot it enough, your brain may adapt to it.

[DougGuy]

I think you may run into a similar situation by installing an adjustable rear sight.

DG

I have seen the Novak style ramped rear sight with some cleverly implemented adjustable features I thought were pretty cool.

This one looks like it might be higher than the stock RIA rear, it's windage adjustable and I suppose you could file the blade if it shot too high.

https://www.novaksights.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1100491&CAT=9455

This page from RIA, scroll to the bottom there are 3 adjustable rears:

https://advancedtactical.com/parts/1911-parts/upper-parts/slide-parts/sights/

This one from RIA, $39.95 winner winner!!

308229

[sigep1764]

DougGuy, thats the exact one that I found! I don't know why I didn't thinknof it before, but that sight is offered standard on the model that's a step up from mine. It and a pair of VZ slimline grips are in the cart right now!

[fredj338]

Faster should shoot lower do to less barrel time under recoil, Slightly lowering velocity may raise it some.

I am leary of cutting a staked in font sight down as it may loosen the joint, bu it can be done. This formula will get you very close.
error X sight radius
range in inches

1,5 X 5" = 7.5 / 900 (25 YDs)= .0083 this is what needs to be removed to zero elevation. If the front sight is tall enough it shouldnt be a problem with a very fine file. probably 6-8 light passes. You can measure progress with calipers from under slide to top of sight. measure before starting and work down to .008-.010 less than this number. The big thing is to keep the sight top square

I've heard of this theory on faster shooting lower, but I have never seen it. Lighter bullets shooting lower yes, but not faster @ a mere 25y. I wanted to run 300gr @ 1000fps in my 45colt RBH. I had to file the bottom of the rear sight to get enough adjustment. With 250gr going 1100fps, sight adjustment was fine.
Its likely the Novak sight has the wrong front height but I would have someone else shoot it before replacing it.