poi in relation to poa / fixed sites

[D.C.]

i have an older 357 with fixed blade and fixed groove. my poi is ruffly 2.5'right and 3.5' down from my poa any tricks to fix this or is my method of try to hold 2.5to the left and about3.5 high the best remedy for the situation have been thinking of hunting with the gun and would rather not have to use the now aim a little this and that to hit over there. works fine on paper but it just aint the same. If I carry it as is I will probaly pass more often than if the poi and poa were the same. but thats hunting  isnt it.       D.C. Don

[Questor]

All of the solutions I've seen for the problem fall into the following two categories:
1) Finding a load that gives you a good point of impact, if possible.
2) Filing and bending the sights.

[Questor]

Another possibility is changing your grip or the stocks on the gun. The way you grip the gun can make quite a difference in POI. Of course, this means developing a new gripping habit. But if your gun has thin stocks, perhaps try something bigger, or vice versa.

Some competition shooters apply putty to their grips to get the best and most natural grip, and it does affect POI. After they get it the way they want it, they replace the putty with an epoxy putty. Rather unsightly on some guns, but it could help.

My first step would be to fool with a few different loads.

[D.C.]

thanks i will try different loads i am tying to figure a way without fileing and bending, but it may come to that. there is a typo in the above it should read " not ' .

[PaulS]

Heavier bullets will normally raise your point of impact while lighter bullets lower it. If you loosen your grip the POI will also rise. With left hand twist a light grip or heavier bullets will move the POI to the right and right hand twist will move in the opposit direction - more so with a light grip or "weak" wrist.

[D.C.]

the load i was shoting was a cast 158gr plain base frn over a light charge 6 g of unique. I have only recently started to shoot this gun.  It could very well be the way i hold it.  I was recenly shooting with a budy he has a lot of contender barrels , all 10 inch pistol, and we were shoting three or four different 22 hornet barrels he kept changing barrels and loads here try this, what do you think of this flavor? and so on .Well on one of the try this switches, he handed me a jdj some dang thang! a 444 necked down to 30 something. i was holding light, dang near blacked my eye. so yes i my just be holding it a little tight after that. I will do some more shoting with some different loads and try to get over the gorrila grip sendrone. I have been thinking of putting this story in the thread of" when do you need something bigger" with the statement when you want to out shoot your buddy ,just give him the bigger gun ,and smile. I personaly know that this can be quite usefull in ruiening his shooting for a while any way. but you do have to smile every now and again through out the day to aid in the total ruien of you buddys form. 
   sounds like some practice and a little load tinkering my fix my problem, and that is welcome news. thanks for the suggestions  D.C.  Don

[Mikey]

DC - See where she shoots with some 357 Magnum loads, those 6 gns of Unique under a 158 gn bb bullet loads you shoot may be a poor indicator of how your revolver performs with properly loaded ammunition. The sights on that older revolver may well be regulated for factory loaded 357s, which may be a mite, ummmm, different, than your handloads.  HTH.  Mikey.

[jimster]

You could widen the groove or notch on the frame....if it's shooting right, you'd file the left side of the notch/groove on your frame. Most times you don't have to take much off to make some more "space" in your sight picture.
You might have to get a real small file depending on how much room you have to work with.
If your gun is blued, you'll just have to apply some blueing where you filed the groove bigger.

There are so many kinds of loads available for .357 that you'd have to pick your favorite one and use that for sighting in though.