How Do You Accurately Shoot with a C-More?

[shred]

Hmm.. yours is a bit better than mine, but similar-- the dot far-off-center is somewhat off target as well. Not usually a big deal, but not parallax-free like they claim..

[10ring]

I talked with a tech support guy at C-More today and he said horizontal parallax is unusual in that design. Therefore I will be removing the sight from that gun and sending it off for repair.

[JerryDGeek]

Parallax.

funny word, I'm not sure what it means.

I originally assumed you were discussing the difference between the eyeball/dot line and the boresight line. That isn't usually a problem, except that it often makes it difficult to find the dot when you make fast transitions ("C-More Shuffle")

But now you are talking about "horizontal parallax", and I don't know what that means.

It could very well mean, as you suggest, that there is a technical problem with the sight, and in that case sending it back to the factory is probably a good idea.

But with a properly functioning C-more sight, my experience has been that the sight shoots to point-of-aim reliably. The trick is that you have to sight it in at about 25 yards to have the sight picture reflect the expected point-of-impact.

It doesn't matter what sight you are using, if you sight-in a pistol too close, the angle of deviation between your boresight and the sight-to-target line will not be obvious, and you will probably not be sighted as tightly as you would prefer.

When you sight in a pistol with a C-More sight at 25 yards, you should be able to hit the upper a-zone as often as you can hold it on the target.

Getting back to Parallax, in reference to the distance between the barrel and the sight, it's true that the C-more is usually mounted much too high off the barrel. Some sights (for example, the OK Sight) are mounted closer to the barrel. This not only mimizes the difference between the sight picture and the point of impact, but it also makes it easier to acquire the sight quickly. (This is "Parallax" in its most beging ... or obnoxious ... form depending on your point of view.)

Because we can't see what you're talking about, it's difficult to determine exactly what the symptoms are, and therefore to understand your question. But my advice would be to shoot at a 25-yard distant target with your limited gun, and then shoot at the same target with your C-more sighted gun. Big difference in accuracy? Sight the C-more in at the target, and try again.

Still a big difference? Get someone else to try the same exercise, just to make sure that' it's the hardware and not the 'software'.

Sometime during this process, you might check your mount to be sure all of the screws are tight, and the sight isn't moving in relation to the gun.

When you've eliminated all of the obvious problems, then send the gun back to whomever mounted the sight, and let them figure out why the gun isn't shooting accurately.

Be prepared to hear that the sight works okay, and start looking for other causes ... ammunition, bad barrel, loose slide-to-frame fit, etc.

Personally, if the gun isn't reliably accurate I would be inclined to look at the gun and the ammuntion before I automatically assume it's the sight.

But that's just me.

[shred]

What I've been referring to is when the dot is way off-center in the scope lens, the point of impact is off from where it should be.

The easy way to check for that is to set the gun on sandbags (or vice) aimed at a particular spot, with the dot in the center of the lens. Then without moving or touching anything, move your head such that the dot is at the edge of the scope and then see what the dot covers

[10ring]

Jerry - please re-read my description of parallax observed in my Oct 17 post. I do agree with you that I may be dealing with some other problem. It could be barrel, bullet, loading, or fitting of all the parts. However, the amount of parallax I was observing just didn't look right.

As an interim update to this .... I sent the sight back to C-More. They called me the day after reveiving the sight to say they could not see anything wrong. He said he checked it on their grid and columnator. Now I may have corrected some "problem" in my removing the sight from the mount. I had to remove the battery cover and the laser diode mounting cover in order to get the mounting bolt/screw out. I then remounted the covers before sending it in. One of the first things I'll do when I get it back is to repeat my parallax test before mounting back on the gun. Hopefully this weekend?

[AWLAZS]

The difference between bore and the dot in a C-More or any other sight and bore is called the "offset."

[10ring]

As an update to this situation .... I received the sight back in the mail in a few days after talking with the C-More service guy. Very quick turn around. I took the sight out and checked it over a 25 yd distance. I still saw what I was seeing before but maybe to a lesser amount. I was still seeing about 1" of horizontal parallax at 25 yd when the dot is at the right and left side of the lens. I was able to take some pictures of this effect. I wrote C-More service an email with the pictures attached asking their take on it since they said they saw NO parallax error. It's been almost a week and I haven't heard back from them at all. Therefore this coming weekend I'm going to remount the sight and see if I still have the accuracy issue and if so start working through the variables. I still don't feel confident the sight isn't the problem so I'll have to figure out another way to clear that possibility.

[10ring]

Another update to any of you who might be following this. I re-mounted the sight following the "slide-ride" mounting instructions to avoid over-tightening. Took it to the range Saturday and dialed it back in. The elevation seemed okay and the windage only needed slight teaking. I then tried a few qroups off of sandbags from 25 yds. I was loading 6 rounds at a time with the thought of shooting 3 shot groups. My first shot was high ~2" and right ~3". Second shot was high ~1.5" and right ~2". Third shot ~1" high & ~1.5" right. Then the next three shots were right around the aiming dot ~1.5" within each other, (all 6 shots on the same aiming dot). Loaded up 6 more rounds and tried that again. This time the first 2 shots were a little high and right then the remaining 4 shots were around the aiming point. The third time I tried this was similar to the second grouping.

Is there some special technique I'm missing shooting a open class gun off of sandbags? My technique is highly suspect at this time - including my ability to maintain a consistent grip before and while making the shot. I'll try this test again some time to see what happens. I may even take this gun along to the next local match and see if I can get one of our accomplished open class shooters to try shooting a few groups with it.

[Flexmoney]

It does kinda sound like the shooter is settling in behind the gun.

What do things look like when you lots of shots at once? (15 shot group?)

Of course, I am likely no help here. I seldom do any group shooting...even less off a rest. I probably should, but my interest lie more in whether or not I can score a hit in a more dynamic situation.