Friday, December 02, 2016

Sight Insights

Commenting on Facebook the other day, I mentioned the totally impractical fixation I had on the idea of the Glock 35 with a .357SIG conversion barrel. My head knows that my chrono testing showed that most carry loads only picked up about a fifty foot-per-second velocity boost over the compact Glock 32. My head also know that there's very little that .357SIG offers over good Gold Dot or HST 9mm ammo other than reduced magazine capacity. The heart, however, wants what it wants.

Chuck Haggard is one of the most clueful folks I know, and so when he remarked that a friend of his had reported finding serious point-of-aim/point-of-impact differences with the factory sights when he'd dropped a .357SIG barrel into a G35, I figured I'd better check for myself on my gun.

I bought a box of Sig Sauer Elite Performance 125gr FMJ and fired off a few rounds at 5, 7, 10, and 15 yards, holding the center of the dot on the Ameriglo I-Dot Pro so it covered the bullseye at each distance. POA/POI seems fine with these sights, at least out to fifteen. I'll make a followup trip and use the other bay to bench it at 20 and 25. (IAC's pistol range is 50 feet and the rifle range is 75 feet.)

With the NAA Mini, it was time to try something spicier than the CCI Standard Velocity fodder. CCI Mini-Mag 34gr hollow points and Winchester Super-X Hyper-Velocity 40gr hollow points were ordered from Lucky Gunner.

My initial attempts were foiled by the fact that the schmutz on the laser lens was diffusing the beam enough that it was impossible to see on the target only nine feet away. I fired two cylinders each of the CCI and the Winchester trying to use the iron sights. Not only do the sights seem to be off, but they're hard to pick up since the rear sight is notional at best and the size and shape of the gun makes consistency in grip and trigger press very problematical.

I went and borrowed some paper towels and twisted one into a fine point, squirted it with Windex, and used it to clean the emitter lens more thoroughly.

Having cleaned the lens, I fired one more group each of the CCI and the Winchester, now using the laser to aim. These were fired one-handed, bringing the gun up to roughly eye-level, cocking it on the way, and firing as soon as I saw the dot in the desired spot. The top and bottom five shot groups with the laser are circled.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Laserlyte grip makes a big difference in shootability.

More shooting to follow.
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