I own two guns that are completely irreplaceable to me for sentimental reasons. One of those is a new-production Colt Anaconda. Sentiments aside, this is also my favorite handgun to shoot as a devout disciple of Our Father, Elmer Keith.
Upon the first trips to the range I found that the gun was shooting high. Like… 6″ at 15-20 yards high with the rear sight cranked down all the way, and with both my down-loaded plinking ammo and the full-power 296 loads, all firing the classic Keith #429421 bullet from Stateline Bullets (which are excellent). As an aside, I’m running .430-sized bullets, but may try .431 next batch. Some suggested the loads could be too hot or to try different ammunition, but I thought “phooey on that” as soon as I heard it. That wouldn’t be the Elmer way. I thought it could somehow be related to my technique as this was my first revolver, but that also didn’t seem to add up.
Here are some of my initial offhand groups at 10 and 15 yards. I am not particularly proud of them, but hey, we’re being honest here, right?
It sounds like at least a few other folks over on the forums have run into this same issue, so I wanted to share my experience and the solution I’ve found to your High Shootin’ Blues.
First, I dropped in an adjustable Wilson Combat Battlesight to replace the factory rear, as it is marginally shorter than the OEM unit. This didn’t really help, but man, I do love this sight. The machining is beautiful, as you’d expect from WC, and the anti-glare serrations work well, as they’ve done for decades. There are two kinds of people in this world — those who prefer u-notch rear sights on pistols, and those who haven’t tried them yet.
Unfortunately, this had the somewhat predictable result of… no real change. Keeping in mind the mnemonic “FORS” (Front Opposite, Rear Same) to determine which way you need to adjust when shooting with irons, I decided to go to a taller blade sight, which I really should have done right off the bat.
If you are searching for the front sight for your snake gun, Harrison Designs (1911 buffs will recognize the Harrison name) is where you want to go. I ordered their .230″ tall front sight with a McGivern-style gold bead, and five days later it was in my mailbox. In general, when it comes to the OG gold bead sights, you want the rounded ones as they pick up much more light than the flatter style, and the Harrison item is the perfect example of the ideal gold bead front sight.
As far as I know, all of their parts are small-batch, so you might need to keep an eye on their website for the sight you need and be ready to pull the trigger when they come back in stock.
Once installed I was immediately back on target, and can hold point-of-aim out beyond 20 yards now. Just in case you thought I was Jerry Miculek, here’s the honest target after the fixes, flier and everything:
Going to the .230″ front sight brought the point of impact down where I needed it immediately. The rear sight is bottomed out, so there is room for adjustment if you want to really stretch the legs of your .44.
Even if you aren’t experiencing any issues with your point of impact, the Wilson/Harrison sight combo is sublime on this gun. If you’re on a budget and just want to bring your point of impact down, changing out just the front sight will do the trick, or, you can also order the factory-height sight from Harrison as well.
If you’re worried about holster fitment after moving to the taller sight, I have no issues with either my Diamond D holster or my Gunfighters, Inc. Kenai chest rig (both of which are also products I recommend if you actually want to, you know… use your guns).
There are no downsides. Well… other than the literal one of fixing a high-shooting Anaconda or Python.
Links to Parts:
Harrison Designs HD-028 Gold Bead Front Sight, .230″ tall
Wilson Combat Python/Anaconda Adjustable Battlesight
