Bought myself a New Super Balckhawk 44 mag for Christmas las year. I can't seem to shoot the dang thing. Seems like my aim and shooting is good from left to right, but the bullet is always above the target by about a foot at 30 yards or so. Have had a couple of friends shoot it with the same result.

It has been bore sighted. I am right on the money with my 41 mag (also Ruger) and 357 mag 686.

Thinking of selling it as I can't hit anything unless I aim under it.

Is it possible it could be the gun, and not me?

Yes and Yes.

First, yes, it could well be the gun. On the other hand, if it's a Super Blackhawk it should have adjustable sights. Try adjusting the rear sight up (which will bring the nose down...).

And yes, it could well be you. The 686 is a DA revo (not sure on your .41...). The trigger fall on a dedicated SA revolver like the blackhawk is significantly longer than the SA fall of a DA revolver. That could very well be spoiling your aim.

Also, what size bullet / load are you using? If it's a handload, this could easily be the source of the problem: heavier bullets and/or more powerful loads tend to print higher. Chances are your SBH was sighted to throw a 240gr. bullet at around 1200fps... If your load is much off that, it could explain the results.

Final note: Boresighting is designed to get you on paper. It's not an absolute. Once a pistol is "on paper", then you have to adjust the sights to fine tune the revo. It sounds like the .357 & .41 mags were on the money from the start. It just doesn't always happen that way.

Good luck and post back!

quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:
Yes and Yes.

First, yes, it could well be the gun. On the other hand, if it's a Super Blackhawk it should have adjustable sights. Try adjusting the rear sight up (which will bring the nose down...).

Actually no. Move the rear sight in the direction you want the bullet to go. So rear sight down to lower the impact. Ruger's are notorious for shooting high. What loads? Usually the heavier bullet loads shoot high. With my 45colt BH, shooting 300gr loads, I had to file the bottom of the rear sight down to get enough adjsutment to get the bullets to hit POA @ 25yds.

Thanks guys.

I will fool around a little and see if I can get it closer to "kill" like the 357 and 41

Fred, I thought I was the only one that filed a rear sight down...had the same problem with a .41 Mag Ruger NM Blackhawk, shooting too high to adjust. Filing down the rear sight somewhat solved the problem but still allowed me to adjust back up for other loads. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by sputster:
Fred, I thought I was the only one that filed a rear sight down...had the same problem with a .41 Mag Ruger NM Blackhawk, shooting too high to adjust. Filing down the rear sight somewhat solved the problem but still allowed me to adjust back up for other loads. Thanks

Yeah, I don't know why this is such a problem w/ Rugers. Even w/ normal 250gr loads in my 45colt, it ran right to the bottom to hit POA @ 25yds. So filing off the bottom of the site allows the site to sit a bit deeper. The next step would be file off the top of the blade, but I tried to avoid that.

a single action revolver that shoots high generally needs one of three things...

a) A sight adjustment
b)holding it with a firmer hand
c)HOTTER ammunition

Hotter ammo will result in shorter barrel time allowing recoil to "throw" the shot less.

AD

Shooting high with a 7 1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Mag. with 240 gr. or heavier bullets is very common @ 25 yds. Most will need to have the underside of the sight body filed to bring the point of impact "dead on" at that distance, despite the use of full power loads and tight grip.