New 97B...Big Kick

[ulflyer]

After sanding the grips smooth I shot a few  200 gr SWC and it seemed very accurate with those.  Either its me or the gun but it does shot a bit high and left.  Won't tinker with the sights till I get someone else to shoot it.  Didn't even think about the recoil today...must have been the rough (to me) checkered grips that bothered me.  I use smooth grips on all my 1911's and thats what I'm used to.  Nice gun, definitely a keeper.  May eventually make it my "house gun" as I like a double action for that.

[Walt-Sherrill]

Until you shoot it from a rest you can't be sure.  (Having someone else shoot it is a good idea, too.)  The 200 gr rounds OUGHT to be making it hit lower than 230 gr.  You might find it shooting even higher with a heavier bullet!

Shooting left sometimes means too much finger in the trigger guard. (Sometimes.)

[ulflyer]

Walt,  the left shooting thing is prob my fault as I do that with other guns as well.  Have tried modifying my finger location more to the tip, but it doesn't seem to make a diff.  Have got to the very senior citizen age and good accuracy doesn't happen much anymore what with poorer eyes, etc.  I get decent groups sporadically,  and then throw the next mag all over the target.  But I  still enjoy reloading and throwing lead downrange.  Have moved my range shack down to 10 yrds.  Gives me the illusion that I can shoot better.   Gonna move it back to about 15 yds...I think that will be about right for me.   I have small hands and can't get as good a grip as I can with my 1911's,  but it is a fine piece of machinery.  I can see why CZ owners get hooked on them.  Unfortunately I don't reload anything other than 38's and 45's so I can't go to a smaller frame CZ.  If I should run into a deal like this one ($400 otd, dated 03) on a 9mm I would prob go for it just to see.  I have everything but a set of dies to reload another caliber.

[Walt-Sherrill]

I'm getting there -- older age -- as well, so can sympathize.  But as the old saying goes, it sure beats the alternatives.  (Just got back from an eye checkup yesterday afternoon, and my prescriptions had changed quite a bit this past year...)  I also have a mild cataract in my left (weak) eye.

One thing you can do to improve the vision problem is get your optomitrist or opthamalogist to prescribe glasses (that you use for shooting only) that let you focus SOLELY on the front sight.  

Mine, yesterday, suggested that I buy the cheap drug-store reading glasses that can do that.  (In my case, he said that single-vision 1.25 diopter lenses would work and made a lot more economical sense than getting prescription lenses.)

Take something you can hold in your hand that approximates the location of the front sight and try out some different, inexpensive reading glasses.  With me, I need to be able to focus at 24.5 inches...

One of the basic truths about shooting -- and its one that nobody really believes until its proved to them through experience -- is that its much, much more important to see the front sight clearly than to see the target.  (The target can be a indistinct, fuzzy mass, and you'll still get good hits if you see the front sight clearly.)  If that front sight's not clear, you really don't have a clue as to where the bullet's going...

You might find this site helpful, too, if you haven't already been there.

Target Diagnosis and Correction

[KingPolymer-III]

"One of the basic truths about shooting -- and its one that nobody really believes until its proved to them through experience -- is that its much, much more important to see the front sight clearly than to see the target. "

  I have practiced and trained with championship combat bullseye shooters and I can tell you that no truer words have been spoken.  If you can combine good trigger control with the above quoted statement, you have it made.

[ulflyer]

Walt & KP3,  thanks for help.  Will work on it and see about some glasses.  I need to go to eye doc anyway.  Got big "floater" in both eyes but don't think theres anything to be done about that.  I use reading glasses but they are for close up, and my regular glasses for distance sometimes get a bit hazy on the front sight.  What I need are tri-focals.  One of my newer 1911's have small sights like the ww2 guns and I can hardly see them at all and my Norinco 1911 also has smallish sights that need replaced.  Gonna order some new sights soon and have them installed.  Am considering either a Ghost ring rear with white dot front,  or a slanted "V" rear with a vertical white bar with a white dot front.  I like the Ghost Ring because I've always liked that type of sight on my M1 Carbine. The "V" requires the front slide be milled and they say the Norinco steel is so hard its a bitch to mill; eats the cutter up pretty fast.  I wouldn't want to mill either of my two Colts.  
The CZ sight is ok now that I painted the front one orange.

[Walt-Sherrill]

No, you don't need trifocals.  

My suggestion to use reading glasses was not the hare-brained idea of another dumb redneck...  

Suspend disbelief for at least one trip to the range, try using some new, inexpensive readying glasses, and see if you don't shoot better!

I made that recommendations after watching a number of guys at our local range improve dramatically.  They did it based on the advice of a couple of local opthamalogist who specializes in sports medicine.  I talked to them, and then I talked to their eye specialists.  The one I worked with suggested that for me and for a number of shooters at our local IDPA club.  

It works.  

On a related note: there's just no way practical way to make tri-focals work in shooting unless you're doing nothing but SLOW FIRE at a fixed, unvarying distance.  If you go that route, you'll spend so much time trying to line up and look through the right part of your glasses, you'll never get off a shot.  Single focal length lens makes it far easier.

Top notch shooters, especially BULLSEYE shooters, preach that you should FOCUS ON THE FRONT SIGHT.   There's a reason for that.   You don't need to see the target clearly, but its critical that you see the front sight clearly.  A fraction of an inch misalignment at the pistol-end translates to VERY BIG ERRORS at the target end...

Your current reading glasses sound as though 1) they won't work, and 2) probably are no longer right for you eyes.  (My optician made the point, yesterday, that as your eyes age, you're forced to pull reading material closer and closer.  Sounds like that's what's happening to you.  You ought not have to do that.  If your glasses are right, you'd not have to do look at things, "close up."  

Buy a pair of cheap reading glasses at the drugstore, and take them to the range. Find some that let you focus on something that is the same distance as the front sight of your gun.  Its an easy test.  

With that second effort, I'll shut up and say no more.

[ulflyer]

Walt,  good advice is always appreciated.  I should have mentioned that with the dimestore glasses I have now...anywhere from 150 to 200...I can only see/read a book close up.  I can still read my monitor and its about arms lenght away even tho its starting to get fuzzy.  I find that with my prescription glasses,  which are for distance,  I can the front sight fairly well at first,  but it rapidly becomes more hazy from the strain.   The same glasses work ok for seeing  the dials on my car dash.   I am going to  the Dr for a checkup as its been maybe 3 years  and will see what we can come up with.   Recently I have been putting a stick-on over my right eye glass which has a very tiny hole.  This does help.  I know there is a gadget made with a little suction cup for this purpose,  but again will wait till after checkup.

[Walt-Sherrill]

There are several of the stick-on things, one is called the Merit Optical Device (It may be two "Ts" not one).  I have one somewhere.  Its great for long-distance target shooting, but absolutely useless for anything requiring rapid target acquisition, as you might do in an IDPA shoot..

I think I paid $75 for the darned thing, and it DOES work.  Sort of like having a good peep sight attached to your glasses.

(Mine has an adjustable aperture, which is why its so expensive.  Other, less expensive versions, aren't adjustable.)

It sounds as though your reading glasses are the WRONG strength for what you need, and are forcing you to focus too closely.

[Justice4all]

My father in law, who happens to be advancing in years has the same problems.  Though he still shoots way better than I do, in fact he's pretty much a natural.  So much so that when I'm convinced that one of my guns is screwed up, I hand it to him to either confirm or deny (it's usuall me).

Anyways, he's got the same floaters and has to wear trifocals and is finding the going getting tougher.  I ordered him one of these to try before going to the more expensive unit:

www.midwayusa.com/eproduc...mid=936878

He said that this made a world of difference in how well he can focus on the front sight and reduced eye strain.  I may try it myself.

[Walt-Sherrill]

That's similar to the Merritt Optical Device, except that the Merritt has an adjustable aperture, which is nice if the sun's bright, etc.

It allows you to see the front sight, rear sight and target at the same time -- and it won't work well with trifocals.  It'll do best with a single-focal length set of glasses.

[dgludwig]

Walt mentioned the Merit "optical device" (www.meritcorporation.com).Like a lot of us "senior citizens", my always poor eyesight has declined even more as I've aged. I'm an old time Bullseye shooter (one-handed at 25 and 50 yards and no new-fangled scopes/red dots for me, thank you) and I'd heard of the Merit device for years but, stupidly, wrote it off as gimmericky. A couple of years ago, I tried it out of desperation and frustration. Folks, for me at least, it works as advertised. That all important front sight, once fuzzy, now much sharper and defined. It's not a panacea, it doesn't clear up your cataracs nor eliminate those pesky floaters but, by God, you can see that front sight again with some measure of clarity!

  The device works like the aperature in a camera and can be adjusted to accomodate your particular situation. It afixes to your glasses with a tiny suction cup and does take a little time to get used to. It's probably not for everybody but it made a very real positive difference in my scores.

[ulflyer]

Had  "Ghost Ring" sights installed on my Norinco and shot it yesterday.  Not only did it improve my accuracy,  but they were POA.  I tell you that gun is one fine shooter and will be the last to go if I ever have to get rid of my guns.   At same time I had an "Express" sight put on a Colt...the type that is a slanted "V" with a white bar in the center.  Fell in love with this type sight as a Colt Defender that I recently bought used had this type sight and again, it improved my shooting.  However,  the one I just put on the 1991A1 is not as tall, thus the white bar is shorter and a bit harder to see.  I've painted the bar a wider and more white on the front dot but haven't tried it yet on the range.