Rossi really should fix this issue!

[jh45gun]

Well I know why the guy traded in the Ranch Hand I bought. He did not want to mess with it as he could not hit anything. Now I knew going into this the Ranch Hand had a reputation for shooting high on the lowest setting of the sight elevator. How High? Well this gun at 25 yards was shooting about 18 inches high and that is with the Elevator on the lowest setting! Taking the Elevator off only changed it lower by a couple of inches. So you either buy a higher front sight or a replacement rear sight or both. Or file the rear sight which I did. Gun was also shooting to the right so that was an easy fix by drifting the front sight over to the right. That got it even and took care of the Windage issue. I asked my friend to bring a suitable needle file to file the sight when we went shooting but it was a cheap one and wore out before I could get the sight filed enough. I could hit the aiming point by taking just the very top of the bead in the very bottom of the notch by now but I still needed to go deeper. So when I got back to town I went and bought a good set of Stanley Needle files (they call them hobby files) and finished the job. I will go out this morning hunting and bring the Ranch Hand along and finish sighting it in.
It is accurate from what little shooting I did once I could hit the aiming point with the extreme fine sight picture. I was surprised when I got done shooting at the target I shot it at a black plastic square thing about a foot square some one left at the gravel pit half way up a sand hill. I ranged it at 128 yards. Shooting off hand and using the very fine sight picture I was a foot low. Using the whole bead I was a foot high. The bead covered up this square at that distance so the gun would have to be regulated to shoot at that distance using a 6:00 hold which is what I was using. There is no doubt in my mind that using a rest you could consistently hit a target at that range.

Considering that this gun has proven to be accurate others have shown this to be as well, Rossi is doing the gun a disservice by not putting the correct sights on it. I am positive the guy that owned this gun before I did and traded it off has nothing good to say about it which is unfortunate. I wonder how many folks have done the same thing? Rossi/Taurus are you listening?

On the positive side the gun's trigger is great and the action is smooth and the gun handles the recoil well it is fun and pleasant to shoot. I like it. I think it is unfortunate that Rossi has not addressed this issue as it is well known on the internet these guns do shoot high as is.

[J Miller]

Shooting high due to improper height front sights is common for 45 Colt firearms.
EVERY revolver chambered for that cartridge I own has had to have a taller front sight put on it. And my Rossi 92 Carbine did also.

Only my Win 94AE is good to go with it's original height front sight, and my Marlin 1894 Cowboy is the odd one out needing a shorter front sight.

Manufacturers just cannot get the sights right on 45 Colt chambered guns. If you have one with the right sights, the maker did it by accident.

Joe

[Cliff]

Kind of radical thinking there jh45gun. It is supposed to look cool, many buyers are not worried about accuracy, cool is always good to go. Impress your friends with the speed you can run it to empty, get a cool rig and so on. Of course some people just want to hit what they shoot at.

[AJMD429]

Were you shooting it out at arm's length like a handgun, or off the shoulder...???

[Bill in Oregon]

Joe, this is an issue with the Ranch Hand in .44 Magnum, too. I had to add a taller front sight and bought the receiver rear sight from Steves Gunz and all was kosher. Mine also shot about 18 inches high from the factory. It is a design flaw and an easy one for Rossi to address.

[Old Ironsights]

Hoglegs have sights?

[jh45gun]

Were you shooting it out at arm's length like a handgun, or off the shoulder...???

I was shooting it off hand and using a tripod rest off the hood of my truck and I tried it off my shoulder. I got it today so I can hit what I am shooting at at 25 yards so it is good to go I could shoot a deer if I wanted to at close range.

[jh45gun]

Joe, this is an issue with the Ranch Hand in .44 Magnum, too. I had to add a taller front sight and bought the receiver rear sight from Steves Gunz and all was kosher. Mine also shot about 18 inches high from the factory. It is a design flaw and an easy one for Rossi to address.

Thanks for the info Bill and the confirmation that they shoot that high. I think after the first of the year I will order a taller fiber optic front sight and get that Marbles Rear Ghost sight.

[jh45gun]

I just cut "ears" down so instead of a full buck horn sight it is cut down more like a regular sight. This helped a lot so the sight picture looks more normal than looking at the bottom of a long slot.

[765x53]

I had a similar problem with an early T/C New Englander.
It was their first round barrel rifle and they failed to take into account the taper of the barrel.

Sense bringing the front sight closer to the eye makes it in effect taller, Rossi apparently over compensated for the effect.

[AJMD429]

Were you shooting it out at arm's length like a handgun, or off the shoulder...???

I was shooting it off hand and using a tripod rest off the hood of my truck and I tried it off my shoulder. I got it today so I can hit what I am shooting at at 25 yards so it is good to go I could shoot a deer if I wanted to at close range.

Of course moreso with a 'handgun', muzzle-rise is a confounding factor, and the slower, heavier bullets do allow more time for that. Look at the front sights for single-action revolvers, and the more recoil, the taller the front sight. If a gun is 'shoulder-fired' usually there is more rearward recoil and less upward recoil, depending on the stock.

So - your sights will be "on" for the kind of shooting you do, once adjusted, but may be way out of line for any substantially different style of shooting.

I once cut down (to legal but minimum dimensions) a Remington Model 10 that had a cracked buttstock and bent muzzle, and found that shooting it 'from the hip' was photogenic, but pretty useless, and unpleasant if using hot loads. On the other hand, I found that holding it like a handgun out at arms length I could shoot slugs fairly comfortably. HOWEVER the point-of-impact vs. the sights was way different that when I had shot the same gun with a shoulder stock. Unfortunately the gun had a tendency to discharge when the action was pumped, so I removed the firing pin and traded it to a guy who just wanted to make a wall-display of it.

[Streetstar]

Joe, this is an issue with the Ranch Hand in .44 Magnum, too. I had to add a taller front sight and bought the receiver rear sight from Steves Gunz and all was kosher. Mine also shot about 18 inches high from the factory. It is a design flaw and an easy one for Rossi to address.

Thanks for the info Bill and the confirmation that they shoot that high. I think after the first of the year I will order a taller fiber optic front sight and get that Marbles Rear Ghost sight.

There's the problem. You need to hold it on its side like a homeboy in a gangsta rap videa

[jh45gun]

Joe, this is an issue with the Ranch Hand in .44 Magnum, too. I had to add a taller front sight and bought the receiver rear sight from Steves Gunz and all was kosher. Mine also shot about 18 inches high from the factory. It is a design flaw and an easy one for Rossi to address.

Thanks for the info Bill and the confirmation that they shoot that high. I think after the first of the year I will order a taller fiber optic front sight and get that Marbles Rear Ghost sight.

There's the problem. You need to hold it on its side like a homeboy in a gangsta rap videa

Geez Doug you know how to get my goat don't you I hate when I see these idiots in movies hold the gun sideways.

[Old Ironsights]

Joe, this is an issue with the Ranch Hand in .44 Magnum, too. I had to add a taller front sight and bought the receiver rear sight from Steves Gunz and all was kosher. Mine also shot about 18 inches high from the factory. It is a design flaw and an easy one for Rossi to address.

Thanks for the info Bill and the confirmation that they shoot that high. I think after the first of the year I will order a taller fiber optic front sight and get that Marbles Rear Ghost sight.

There's the problem. You need to hold it on its side like a homeboy in a gangsta rap videa

Geez Doug you know how to get my goat don't you I hate when I see these idiots in movies hold the gun sideways.

[jh45gun]

LOL Your not helping any.