[alexcantslee]

Yesterday afternoon I was pretty busy but managed to go outside and run a couple of mags through my new Kimber Pro Carry II. I used the one factory mag and one old Vietnam era colt mag that a friend gave me. Both ran fine so far, 14 rounds is hardly a test of course but so far batting 1000 on the gun running nicely.

But heres my problem. I was about 25 feet from the target (8 yards or so) and it shoots pretty low. I was just shooting at a knothole on a piece of plywood but it was hitting about 8 inches low or so but it was pretty consistent. Windage seemed pretty close but the elevation is off.

I need to take it to a range with a good target and really sight it in but how do make my adjustments?

Its got some simple black sights, no dots even. They can adjust for windage but not elevation. Can I shave down the front sight? Is there a way to raise the rear sight? Do I just need to buy a set of adjustable sights and if so what does one recommend. Or do I need to just get over it and accept a different sight picture?

And it there a formula for the amount to raise or lower a sight based on bulluet drop and the number of inches off, etc. Its a 4 inch barrel in that model.

Its my daily carry gun.

As a side note, even with the aluminum frame the recoil and muzzle flip was really not bad. I was shooting plain old WWB 230 grain FMJ rounds.

Thanks everyone!

Alex!

 

[Avenger]

This is coming from the instructor in me: "Its not the gun, its you, but dont worry, we can fix it!" Most of the time this is true. However, on some cases it was the gun and the sights need to be tapped or modified. If your shot pattern is mostly up and down its your breathing. Yes, even with a pistol breathing will effect the rounds impact. If your shot pattern is side to side then its your trigger control. You said that your grouping is low of center, correct? I hate to ask but are you sighting the TOP of your sights, middle (covering the bullseye with the frontsight post), or something totally different and you have no idea what I am asking?

This is what I would do if you were a student of mine. Yes, free advice. Go to an indoor range (perfect weather all the time), start out close, no more than 7ft. Place 5rds on paper and be sure to take your time keeping in mind your trigger control, firing on your natural pause (and not holding your breath!) and natural point of aim. Keep walking it out 5ft at a time shooting 5rds at a time. Watch your grouping. If you swear everything your doing is correct and right and totally believe its the gun, have a friend shoot it and see what their results are. If they are the same then look into modifying your sights, if they are different, its probably you.

You can modify your sights by filling down your frontsight post (not recommended!) this will most likely turn out crooked and you have exposed shiny metal that will put a glare over your sight, until it rusts! The best option is to either remember that it shoots low, or get new sights (preferably adjustable ones) and start all over again.

Sorry if this isnt what you wanted to hear, I am just trying to help.

 

[GreyGhost]

I agree with Avenger. You need to get to a range to properly tell whats going on. Use a target with a small bulls eye ( I like the small orange stick on dots ). I would start out fairly close maybe 3 yards or so. Set the dot on top of the lined up sights and squeeze of a few rounds. One at a time! This not the time to blast away at the target. Shoot 5 rounds and see what it looks like. Do you have a group? Is it still quite low? Shoot another 5. Group in the same place?

Now ask another shooter to give your gun a try. Preferably someone that is a better shot than you and ask them to sight the gun the same as you do. If their group is up where it should be then the problem is you. If not then it's either the gun or the ammo.

First the ammo. You need to sight the gun in with whatever ammo you are going to carry. This will bring your point of impact up a lot. WWB is o.k. for the range but its going to be a lot less powerful than a carry load.

I do have a question for you. Did your manual recommend a certain load?

If you haven't had any luck to this point you need to contact Kimber. You really don't want to start filing sights on an new gun. There is a reason for it shooting low. You just have to figure it out.

Good Luck!

 

[Arko]

This is coming from the instructor in me: "Its not the gun, its you, but dont worry, we can fix it!" Most of the time this is true. However, on some cases it was the gun and the sights need to be tapped or modified. If your shot pattern is mostly up and down its your breathing. Yes, even with a pistol breathing will effect the rounds impact. If your shot pattern is side to side then its your trigger control. You said that your grouping is low of center, correct? I hate to ask but are you sighting the TOP of your sights, middle (covering the bullseye with the frontsight post), or something totally different and you have no idea what I am asking?

This is what I would do if you were a student of mine. Yes, free advice. Go to an indoor range (perfect weather all the time), start out close, no more than 7ft. Place 5rds on paper and be sure to take your time keeping in mind your trigger control, firing on your natural pause (and not holding your breath!) and natural point of aim. Keep walking it out 5ft at a time shooting 5rds at a time. Watch your grouping. If you swear everything your doing is correct and right and totally believe its the gun, have a friend shoot it and see what their results are. If they are the same then look into modifying your sights, if they are different, its probably you.

You can modify your sights by filling down your frontsight post (not recommended!) this will most likely turn out crooked and you have exposed shiny metal that will put a glare over your sight, until it rusts! The best option is to either remember that it shoots low, or get new sights (preferably adjustable ones) and start all over again.

Sorry if this isnt what you wanted to hear, I am just trying to help.

That's just plain great advice.

 

[Mr. Habib]

I had a similar problem with a Kimber Custom many years ago. If and when you are certain the problem is with the gun, call Kimbers customers service and tell them. Tell them how much high or low your groups are and at what distance you are shooting. They can send you the correct height front sight.

 

[razor02097]

depending on the sight, type of gun, make and model of gun...

Your pistol may be sighted in farther out then 8 yards. Also like in the XD destructions they tell you that the sight picture's objective should be right ABOVE the sights. This is different then the M&P I shoot. The aftermarket tru glo sights I installed have the same sight picture. Its probably something that needs practice to be a good shot. As long as the grouping is good the other things can be fixed.

EDIT: I attached a crude pic that may explain what I'm talking about. The straight line is the line that is made with the sights aligned and looking out. The dark red represents (exaggerated) the bullet travel path out of the barrel. This is not a ballistic table and is only visual reference.

 

[Phantoms]

A good read on sights: Iron sight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Avenger]

depending on the sight, type of gun, make and model of gun...

Your pistol may be sighted in farther out then 8 yards. Also like in the XD destructions they tell you that the sight picture's objective should be right ABOVE the sights. This is different then the M&P I shoot. The aftermarket tru glo sights I installed have the same sight picture. Its probably something that needs practice to be a good shot. As long as the grouping is good the other things can be fixed.

EDIT: I attached a crude pic that may explain what I'm talking about. The straight line is the line that is made with the sights aligned and looking out. The dark red represents (exaggerated) the bullet travel path out of the barrel. This is not a ballistic table and is only visual reference.

Your talking about trajectory, point of aim point of impact. That is why I asked him to start close and walk the target out at 5ft intervals and see what happens to his grouping. Very nice picture though, that really does show exactly what I try and explain many times in one day!!

 

[JimmyC4]

Here's a target that will help.

http://www.outdoorchannel.com/downloads/Target_07_CorrectionRight.pdf