Dumb Question on Sig Sights

[John Crow]

I'm breaking in two new pistols. My Ruger MKIII sights as I've always been taught. You horizontally align the top of the front sight with the top of the rear sight at 6:00 o'clock on the target. I had to adjust the rear sight for windage a couple of clicks but that was it. I love that Ruger. Don't be scared off about the field-stripping - it isn't that hard if you go slow.

My Sig 239 shoots about 3" low at 50 feet from a bench resting position. It's almost like the pistol is shooting on the white dot in the middle of the front sight. Do Sigs aim different? The P239 has non-adjustible sights. You have to mail away for adjustments. I'm not going to bang the sights out of a new pistol......little nervous about that job.

I like the Sig. It feels great to shoot. Sometimes it fails to lock the slide on the last shot but I think it's my practice ammo? Or maybe having fired only 150 rounds. I tried a few 135 gr. Hyda-Shoks and it locked back on those OK.

Any advice about the sights?

[Bullseye]

Your practice ammo may also be the source of the low hits. It sounds like the ammo is a little under powered. How do the Hydra-shoks perform with the sight placement. If you suspect the sights are off, then too low is better than too high. You can remove some material off of the front sight with a file to adjust the point of impact.

Here's a formula for how much to remove. Multiply the sight radius (in inches) by the error (in inches) of impact movement on the target, divided by distance (in inches) to the target. Example: A Colt 1911 with a 7” sight radius shooting 2” low at 10 yards yields (7”x2”)/(10 yards x (36”/yard)) = 0.0389”, requiring you to raise the rear sight or lower the front sight by this amount.

Hope this helps.

R,
Bullseye

[John Crow]

Thanks, Bullseye.

[Bullseye]

Your welcome John.

R,
Bullseye

[aomiii]

Hi John Crow, I have 3 SIGs and a brand new MKIII Hunter. What I have found that is somewhat unique to SIGs is that the sights are set for combat in that you place the dot over the intended target instead of just below it. I noticed that my owner's manual implies that the MK III Hunter uses the "combat" method. After 150 rounds my front sight came loose which is a common problem. Bought Blue Loctite and will try it again. Let's see what happens.

[DancesWithSquirrels]

With all due respect to Bullseye's experience and expertise if that Sig 239 has fixed sights it is most likely the 3 dot variety. Filing on the front sight is not going to do much good as it is the alignment of the 3 dots that determines where the gun is going to shoot. Filing won't move that front dot.

The fixed sights are a combat sight and are not intended for a six o'clock hold. You want the bullet to strike at your point of aim. Usually sighting in will involve a certain amount of experimentation with various loads to find those that strike where you want them to.

DWS

[Blindpig]

I gotta go with DancesWithSquirrels on this one. I use Tru-Glo night sights on both my Kimbers and they are made to put that front dot on the expected point of impact. Of the combat pistols I've owned that had the three dot sights, they all seemed to use that alignment. Personally, I like that kind of setup. I have the cross hairs the 6X18 on my CZ 452 set that way as well as the EOTech on my S&W MP15A.
By the way, DWS, don't I remember you from the 1911 forum or AR15.com?

[Bullseye]

Gents, I too have to agree with all of you. I totally missed that these were three dot sights from the original posting. Changing the height of the front sight will not change the orientation of the dots. Three dot sights are designed to be aligned to the center of the target or point of aim. Like in this picture.



Oh well, I guess I can have a senior moment or two from time to time.

R,
Bullseye

[DancesWithSquirrels]

BlindPig,

Not sure where you might know me from. I've been using this same handle on any forum I have ever participated in for about 8-10 years now. I've been on here before but it has been awhile since I participated. I've also been on the MarkII/MarkIII forum before. Nice group of folks here. And very helpful stuff can be found here.

Bullseye,

I can relate to those senior moments.

DWS

[Bullseye]

I have to agree with you DWS on the quality of the membership both here and at Mark III.org. It's good to see you back. I've seen a few other names I hadn't seen in a while recently, perhaps the new web server is the reason. It doesn't take forever to load a forum page now.

R,
Bullseye

[Blindpig]

Senior moments? What are those? Is that something like BearandOldMan would have? Oh, no, I remember now. He's got CRS.

[bearandoldman]

Senior moments? What are those? Is that something like BearandOldMan would have? Oh, no, I remember now. He's got CRS.

You got that right, Can't Remember Stuff. But then a lot of things after you think of them were not worth remembering in the first place, or in the second place either. .

[Blindpig]

Senior moments? What are those? Is that something like BearandOldMan would have? Oh, no, I remember now. He's got CRS.

You got that right, Can't Remember Stuff. But then a lot of things after you think of them were not worth remembering in the first place, or in the second place either. .

I thought that might get you up from your nap!

[bearandoldman]

Senior moments? What are those? Is that something like BearandOldMan would have? Oh, no, I remember now. He's got CRS.

You got that right, Can't Remember Stuff. But then a lot of things after you think of them were not worth remembering in the first place, or in the second place either. .

I thought that might get you up from your nap!

Not a nap, just silent meditation, just looks like a nap.

[John Crow]

Thanks, to all you guys for the tips. My Sig 239 definitely shoots to the white dot on the front sight being on line with the top of the horizontal rear sight. (I just have 1 dot on the front and a vertical white line on the rear sight.) It shoots about 3" low at 50 feet if you line up the top of the front sight in a conventional manner.

I got a tip about Sigs from a book by Massad Ayoob (The Gun Digest Book of Sig-Sauer). The reason my pistol's slide wasn't locking on the last shot was that a straight thumb grip on a Sig oftens interferes with the slide stop lever (page 151). He recommends a low thumb grip - I tried it and problem solved! Talk about a senior momment. I'm embarrased but it might help somebody else out before they ship their pistol back.

I'm having a lot of fun shooting after being out of it since I was a farm-kid. My biggest problem is that at 56 I wear glasses to see at distance. If I wear "my" glasses, I see the target perfect but the front sight is a bit blury. If I wear non-prescription safety glasses, I see the front sight perfectly but the target is blury. I'm getting use to the fact that I might not get to be a Master Shooter in this lifetime.

The Ruger MKIII is great. I've got about 500 rounds thru it and I shot 50 the day before yesterday with no jams, stovepipes, etc. I clean the pistol after every use without a field strip. Q-tips, CLP and a bore snake seem to be doing a pretty good job.

I got into that RUST discussion. My wife thinks I'm nuts but I got 1/2 dozen metals plates. Grinded them to bare steel and left them out. I tested Ed Red's Oil, CLP, WD-40 and Militec 1. The WD-40 is really quite a good rust preventative but I've read it's a bad gun lube cause it gets gummy? THe CLP is ahead of all the rest BUT.......they all are very good. Just don't leave your carbon steel gun out in the rain for two days. No rust. I can't believe any of them don't work well as long as the gun isn't really abused.

C-ya

John