Dan Wesson shooting low

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  • throttletony

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    Hi all - my DW Specialist is shooting low. Consistently 3-4 inches low at 7 yds. with a dead on hold - not a 6 o'clock/low hold.
    I DON'T think I'm jerking the trigger - I can shoot DA revolvers to POA quite well, and this trigger is much smoother and shorter than that. I've looked around the interwebs and found that a few peopple had sights that were just too tall on DW Valors, Valkyries, and Specialists, but these were all posts from 2-5 years ago.
    Since it has tritium, I don't feel comfortable just filing it down.
    Some of the previous posts on other forums said they sent it in and it was replaced with a shorter sight, or that DW replaced the barrel link (or both shorter sight and barrel link)

    Is this worth pursuing through DW cust srvc? Anyone with experience using their warranty? Thanks.

    And yes, I've tried different ammo -- hot 180 SD loads, mild handloads in 200 and 230 gr, standard 230 plinking ammo, and 230 gr +P. ALL of it shoots low. I've only shot the gun at 7 and 10 yds, I'll try at 25 when I get a chance.

    I love the gun, but hate the POA/POI difference
     

    Hopper

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    I don't recall my V-Bob shooting anything but POA/POI if I did my part, which as you noted, should be easy to do with that trigger. And you've done enough due diligence it seems. IMHO, for the price point they command, it's absolutely worth pursuing with their CS, which is supposed to be very good.
     

    natdscott

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    I'd still have a known-good shooter duplicate my results before calling DW CS.
     

    Doublehelix

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    I'd still have a known-good shooter duplicate my results before calling DW CS.

    I was thinking that same thing, but consistently 3" low at 7 yards in a decent group is a pretty good indicator, although I am not sure the OP mentioned the group size.

    Nonetheless, it is an easy thing to do and adds some peace of mind.
     

    natdscott

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    I'm decent with pistols. I'd certainly volunteer to finger that one for a magazine or two. Orrr....a month or two. Ya know...as a service.

    :cool:
     

    throttletony

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    So, I've gone back and measured.
    I'm consistently 1.75-2.25" low, not 3"
    Also, .75" right
    I can drift rear sight to bring to center, but the vertical isn't as far off as i thought.
    Group size is good, trigger pulls are good.

    If it's less than 2 inches low, i may just file the front sight down a bit OR LEAVE IT and see how it is at 15 and 20 yds
     
    Last edited:

    Bigtanker

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    So it's low with the #3 hold?

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    Hookeye

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    If a 3 dot sight, it's set to hit across the dots like in image 3..............which I friggin' hate.
    Also................for Gosh's sake............it's 7 yards.
    That close stuff should hit a little low (being set for longer distance).

    If you want a 7 yard gun...........proly change the sights.
    But then you aint gonna like it at 50 or 75 ft.
     

    gmcttr

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    If a 3 dot sight, it's set to hit across the dots like in image 3..............which I friggin' hate...

    As an old bullseye shooter, I hate it too.

    The DW Specialist comes with Straight Eight type night sights (dot over dot) which I assume are still meant to be aligned as in image 3. Been too long since I've shot mine to remember, but I think I initially hit low with it as well and bought a DW Silverback as an expensive way to get adjustable sights.
     

    natdscott

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    I'm not an old Bullseye shooter, and I still think that sight alignment is STOOOO-PID.

    Not being able to see most of your POA is kind of a poor way of expecting to HIT said POA. I realize most pistol shooting nowadays is viewed as rather qualitative rather than the precision of a conventional target, but I still think the "dot over" picture is a bad idea, and if I had a pistol that hit there, I would take great pains to change that POI.

    -Nate
     

    gmcttr

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    ...Not being able to see most of your POA is kind of a poor way of expecting to HIT said POA.....

    Agreed. Probably works great for hitting a chest sized target at close range but for anything else, not so much. Pretty much hides the 6" paddles on a shooting tree at 10+ yards.
     
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