I've had a Springfield XD in 45 for about 5 years-whenever I go to the range with it I hit about 3-4" low at 15-20 yards.

At first I thought I was compensating for recoil and pushing the muzzle down-I don;t think this is the case but anything is possible.

I had factory sights replaced with trijicon night sights recently and took it to the range today hoping maybe it would hit dead on-still hits in the same place. My shots group well-when aiming at center of head on a police type sillouette target I take out the mouth/throat aread. If I put the sight post even with top of the head it getys a dead center forehead hit.

Any ideas?

You might be jerking the trigger instead of slowly squeezing...this could contribute to "pulling the muzzle" down...

rick

There is a target that shows you based on where your hitting what your doing wrong.

To keep from anticipating or jerking the trigger and causing it to shoot low, make sure to squeeze nice and slow so you don't even know when it's going to go off.

Maybe you should try a different bullet weight in your pistol and see if that doesn't help with point of aim with your fixed sights.

Which of the following do you use when aiming at the target?

#2.

I don;t have issues jerking the trigger with a rifle.

I'm shooting 230gr 45 acp; i wouldn't think it was the bullet weight.

I don;t shoot a pistol often enough-I may start hitting the range 1x weekly for awhile to see if I can work it out.

As stated above it is grouping well-wouldn't a jerk of the trigger pull the shots around?

#2

That's exactly how I shoot my XD45, and it's dead on. I'd think maybe your sights are off. If you're consistantly shooting low in the same spot evertime, just file down the front sight. Take a very fine file with you to the range, and start lightly filing, until you get it where you want it. Just take your time, and make sure you keep the file flat. Jewelers files work good.

Aim higher..........just a thought

You might call Trijicon or find a local gunsmith that has a higher rear sight if you don't file down the front sight. Otherwise you can split the front sight dot with the top of the rear sight base.

Have you tried shooting the handgun on a rest to eliminate your body from the equation?

Yep you gotta know where your at before you can find your way out.

Get a good rest and use the same sight plane, it's not uncommon for fixed sight pistols to be off a few inches.

Nice picture RWH24! Thanks.

Never seen this before. Thanks for posting it!

By doing all of these at once so that they cancel each other out, I hit dead center most of the time.

How about raising the rear sight up?

If sights are fixed; file the front sight down in very small increments and test it.

A fixed sight polymer gun will just get you close.

Bench it to try and get all the human error out of it you can while sighting in. Your groupings should be good no matter where they are hitting.

Thanks for the replies. I'll try shooting off a rest next time. I don;t think it is technique but can't ruel it out since I don;t know the cause.

I have a Ruger MK-II 22 and have shot my dads S&W .38 and both hit point of aim.

My 45 hits same place every time-low-with both stock sights and the trijicon sights i recently had put on. Filing wouldn't help much as it they have the three dot sights and I line them up and focus on the front dot.



Either way this gun is for nothing other than defense and is close enough to get the job done.