Thoughts?

[jonk]

1861 Armisport... had her all zeroed in at 50 from the bench, tearing the center out of the target with 40 gr 3F and the Moose 315 with crisco in the base.

Went to a skirmish, and she was shooting between 5 and 8" low. Checked screw tightness- all snug but not overly tight.

I'm a tad nervous about grinding on the front sight unless I am sure that it really is shooting low and that nothing else is amiss. So... what are your thoughts on what would consistantly cause a gun to go low offhand vs. on the bench other than the ape behind the trigger? FWIW, windage remained spot on.

[FirinFlatTop]

Did you try offhand after you benched it? If not that is could be your problem right there.

Bench it, and then offhand to be sure all is right.

[kowdok]

Rick is exactly right, benching from a sitting position will usually put your head at a completely different angle and change your impact point. I always bench these guns from a standing position, I have work boxes on the back of my truck and simply use a sand bag on the back. I'll add that the weather (cloudy or sunny) could change impact pt. by an inch or 2, but not the 5 to 6 ins. you had.

[Maillemaker]

I have always wondered why this would be so.

If my eye makes the same sight picture, lining up the front and rear sights the same way, what difference does standing or sitting make?

Steve

[Rob FreemanWBR]

I'm not throwing stones brother, but if the piece groups well while you're benched and you get different results while standing - I'd say that the problem most likely lies with the trigger puller.

Grouping low indicates consistent jerking/flinching or not following thru. It MAY be attributed to changes in light condition, but not resulting in up to 8 inches of bullet drop at 50 yrds. If your loads, screw setting etc. are all consistent and proven, then BEFORE making any front sight changes, I'd strongly recommend practicing more that particular rifle, esp. if she's new! Get comfortable with the recoil, your stock weld, sight picture, trigger pull, follow thru, etc.

I'll be the first to admit that I blame my beloved Fayetteville on days that I don't do well, but in retrospect it's always "pilot error" that was the problem. If she's sighted in, and from what you wrote it reads that's the case, then rifle is only shooting at what it's aimed at...

Trust me, "I feel your pain"! Hope this is of some help.

[jonk]

Well, the thing is, I had just soldered on a new front sight, that was a wee bit higher than what I had on there already, so it's not surprising; but shooting so well from the bench I figured, 'meh, ok, whatever, good luck for me.' I had not shot it offhand since putting the new sight on. I've got a battery powered dremel tool, I think next time I'm going to go to the range, shoot 2-3 rounds, grind, shoot 2-3 rounds, repeat until I have it where I want it.

[Paul Lampman 263V]

All of the preceding advice is dead on. I would also add that when shooting off of a bench to rest the stock in the same position as you would hold it shooting offhand. Also when you go to the range take a shooter with you if you can to observe your follow through. A low grouping as you described can be indicative of lifting your head off the stock during the shot.

[jonk]

It certainly could be a follow through issue; I'll pay particular attention to that before removing any metal. However, while apples and oranges, in general I'm a pretty decent offhand shooter with high power rifles, and am on our A team carbine team; musket is another story as I've about given up shooting my 2 band euroarms enfield, it just keeps wandering. A very consistant but low grouping with this musket would reinforce I'm doing my part right, the new sight is just high. But follow through and head snapping off the stock is indeed one thing I hadn't considered and will certainly make sure that I'm not messing it up myself on firing.

[iron brigade]

follow through is key. recoil factors in too. in recently shooting my Mississippi rifle, the gun grouped in the same place off hand as well as on the bench. granted the groups were several inches bigger off hand. I can remember one time my wife shooting with me, she wanted to go deer hunting so I let here shoot my 20 ga with slugs. gun was dead on at 50 yards. she shoots... bam! 10 inches low. this went on for a few shots and you guessed it, she was flinching like a son of a gun. anyway hope it gets corrected for you

[John Bly]

Most of us do see an impact shift when shooting offhand versus off a rest. 8" seems to be way too much. You could try holding the rifle in your hand and placing your hand on the rest when shooting. This always seemed to work on those lever action rifles with lots of stuff attached the their barrels.

Sighting in offhand may be time consuming but it works. You MUST be able to call your shots. If you cannot do this with any regularity you need to go back to the basics. Trigger time is important but only if you practice it correctly. If you do it wrong your results will be erratic.