Shooting Left Goofy Mistake

A few months ago I installed Ameriglo Sights on my 43X. I got them situated in a way I thought was working.

Fast forward to now… last week I was shooting consistently left and I thought it was a bad range day and I didn’t tamper with the sights. I went back today. I was consistently shooting left… so I decided to push the sights. Now I watched a lot of videos that said “Move the rear sight in the direction you want the shots to move”… but for some reason at the range I confidently thought “move the sights in the direction the bullets are going.”…

Needless to say I started the day shooting left, and left the day shooting more left with a funky looking rear sight…

I went ahead and centered the rear sights as best I could at home. Figure I’ll be alright as long as I’m not getting into 20 yard gun fights anytime soon :joy:.

Here was the final target of the day… the red center was 7 yards, the number 8 at the top was 15 yards. (There’s a group of 6 there that went really well, just needed to be moved over.)

Wish I would have just let the gun smith do it now. The difference is minute until I get to 10 + yards out.

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:person_facepalming:t4:
Wow… Really, really great advice :joy:

This is the proper way to use the sights:

:smirk:

I’ve heard some shooters are correcting their mistakes by adjusting the sights… but for me they are just cheating themselves instead of improving.

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The only reason I adjusted them is because I am the one who installed the sights. I was also very slightly adjusting them. I figured the sights may not have been perfectly centered to begin with.

I have a cheap caliper, but it doesn’t work well, I used the ruler method by measuring and marking the middle of the slide and the sights, but there’s room for error there. In the end, the best measure of where to move the sights is where the bullets are landing.

Lot of variables involved though.

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@Scoutbob, when I get a new gun or install new sights, I fire from a secure rest to check the alignment. If it’s hitting center on the horizontal, I leave them alone. If it’s off, then I make small adjustments to bring it to center. For shooting at typical defensive distances, I am more concerned about missing right or left than high or low.

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Hmmm FORS front opposite rear same

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It’s confusing… but it has to be done this way :point_down:

A 2022-06-15 23-10-59

Make sure your FRONT is centered and eventually adjust REAR only.

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image

Here’s a visualization based on @Jerzees’s graphic: Just imagine a line from your rear sight to the target. It pivots on the front sight. You can see how the target end swings opposite the rear sight’s movement.

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I got it really close to center again. I agree with keeping them center like Jerzy stated earlier. I shot them from a rested position today and was still going left. So I wonder if I was a tad off last time I pushed them.

There’s also the reality that G43X is a smaller gun than my 19X. (The trigger is also heavier). My expectations with the 43x may be a little high compared to shooting the larger pistol. I like the bigger gun, but I find the 43x better for edc. I think there’s a good chance the sights were fine when I started the range trip, if not slightly off, and it’s more of me being rusty (work was really busy for awhile and I did not dryfire or go to the range). When I drifted the sights further left, you can see the line on the picture…

Never the less, I moved them back to center as best I can, and I’ll get back to the range next week and see what happens. Once I know they’re centered in, I will not push them again :sweat_smile:.

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Maybe your 1910 sights are actually off and you are gripping the 4310 the same way?:thinking::grin:

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You are correct, sir, and I was backwards. Thank you.

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So I looked at the sights again today and they didn’t look right (slightly left) so I grabbed my tape measure and marked the middle of the rear sight and the slide. I drifted it ever so slightly to the right. Of course now it appears to be drifted to the right with the naked eye, but I’m going to stick with the measurements.

Before:

Using my sight pusher

After measurements:

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Doesn’t look centered. You won’t be able to do this precisely without caliper. :expressionless:

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IMO - with exception ; people try to get target gun results form a EDC
Hand gun. Sometimes you get lucky and some times you don’t. If the same person that is shooting to the left with their EDC shoots a target model handgun the difference can be Dramatic even for a beginner. If your shooting to the left with your EDC join the crowd it’s a common problem.
How you correct it is the issue.
Good luck.
PS: always make a witness mark on your site with a pencil before you move it around. Also understand that sites without a slave screw have a directional dovetail.

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It looked shifted to the left before. I barely shifted it to the right. Now it looks like it’s drifted to the right. It’s like I’m playing seesaw.

Caliper for me is also tricky. I watch people take the caliper and measure it from the sight post to the outside of the slide, but they hold the caliper at an angle and their is no way it is precise.

I’ve seen others measure the dovetail distance, but I wonder if even there is some variance with this. (My 19x shoots straight for me but it looks like the dovetail is not exact on both sides.

I’m going to go shoot it and see what happens.

I also adjusted the front sight. It was ever so slightly angled from the torque of tightening the front sight post.

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I agree with this. This is why I haven’t really noticed the shooting left. I do a lot of shooting where I shoot as soon as the target and sights align.

That being said, I would like to be accurate with my carry gun 10+ yards out.

I like the 43x because I can draw, point, and find the front sight very quickly. It’s not a long distance gun by any means.

Also the gun didn’t shoot left until I installed the new sights myself.

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A 2022-06-17 18-26-37

Simple picture pixels measurement.
You are about 20% shifted right.

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As I said: witness marks are important, take your time and only change one thing at a time. Be patient.
( remember the old bull and the young bull )

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I think that’s as good as it’s going to get! Really any amount at this point is just splitting hairs and is not going to make a difference on the range.

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Looks good.
I’m guessing you are using this Glock for self defense, so you won’t miss 3 inch “heart zone” from 30 feet. :ok_hand:

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The rear sights on this have a really big gap too. It’s great for finding that front sight quick (which is what I like the most) but long range shots are just going to require a bit more practice. My other guns have sights where the front sight post practically fills the gap.

I think this is a good set up for a 43x size gun. I’ll just have to shoot more :grin:!

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