S&W shooting a bit high.

So last week at the gun show in Taylor, I bought a new S&W 637. I'd been in the market for a air weight .38 J frame, and the one dealer had a shop price of 370.00 on the 637. I bought it and it was like most S&W's Ive had, near perfect. Good smooth trigger right out of the box, easy to stage double action. Single action was the preverbal breaking glass rod.

The first 5 rounds out the gun, at 10 yards, was right in the X-ring for windage, with it a few inches high at the 12 o'clock in the bull. This was with he American Eagle 158 grain lead round nose. I'm wondering of the lighter weight bullet loadings will be lower in impact on the target. The tight little group is just at the top of the x-ring almost up in the 9 ring high.

I think I remember reading someplace that the heavier weight lower velocity bullets tend to hit higher than the 125 grain higher velocity rounds.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased by this gun, and feel so good to back with a revolver. The Glock was a fine gun, but I just never liked it. Maybe I'm just too old school 1950's for my own good.

the first sentence in your post obligated you to post a photo of said revolver
congrats

I believe you are correct about the heavier bullets, but 158's are on the heavier side. If you were shooting 125's it might make more sense. I'd more suspect a different sight picture that you're not used to with that gun.

cb51 said:

So last week at the gun show in Taylor, I bought a new S&W 637. I'd been in the market for a air weight .38 J frame, and the one dealer had a shop price of 370.00 on the 637. I bought it and it was like most S&W's Ive had, near perfect. Good smooth trigger right out of the box, easy to stage double action. Single action was the preverbal breaking glass rod.

The first 5 rounds out the gun, at 10 yards, was right in the X-ring for windage, with it a few inches high at the 12 o'clock in the bull. This was with he American Eagle 158 grain lead round nose. I'm wondering of the lighter weight bullet loadings will be lower in impact on the target. The tight little group is just at the top of the x-ring almost up in the 9 ring high.

I think I remember reading someplace that the heavier weight lower velocity bullets tend to hit higher than the 125 grain higher velocity rounds.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased by this gun, and feel so good to back with a revolver. The Glock was a fine gun, but I just never liked it. Maybe I'm just too old school 1950's for my own good.

Click to expand...

Quote in bold is correct.
The 125s may be what an air weight is zeroed with.

Definitely try lighter bullets.

I had a hard time shooting little j frame size revolves well took a while to get used to it.
I know it seems kinda stupid but bench rest shoot it and see if it's how youre holding it.
My dad's stupid air weight with +p rounds would pull on me I think is was low left. Only shot it 5 times f that thing.
On my revolvers it was just getting used to the double action. So couldn't group tight but it was a carry gun not a nail driver so it didn't bother me.

Amazi said:

I had a hard time shooting little j frame size revolves well took a while to get used to it.
I know it seems kinda stupid but bench rest shoot it and see if it's how youre holding it.
My dad's stupid air weight with +p rounds would pull on me I think is was low left. Only shot it 5 times f that thing.
On my revolvers it was just getting used to the double action. So couldn't group tight but it was a carry gun not a nail driver so it didn't bother me.

Click to expand...

Oh I have no problem with the J frame revolvers. This is like a homecoming after a few years with he Glock 26 that I sold off. From 1977 to 2015 I had an old well used S&W model 60 that was my go-to gun, and I only sold it off when I couldn't see the front sight anymore and my cousin gifted me the Glock. For two years I tried to like the Glock, and it was an accurite shooter. When we moved to Texas from the D.C. area I used the Glock to qualify. But I never really liked the feel of it, and the overly square slide made for poor pocket carry.

When I sold the Glock last summer, was looking at guns at the local Academy, and I saw that S&W had made the front sight on the J frames thicker and way more visible to 'older' eyes. So after two years, I'm back with a J frame .38. Also, from 1980 to 2007 my main shooting gun was a S&W model 63. I used many thousands of .22's in that gun. In 2007 it got traded in when S&W's new model 63 was made with an 8 shot cylinder from a 6, and they added the fiber optic front sight, another boon to those older eyes. So I've beens shooting one of another J frame for over 40 years. LOVE them!

This new 637 is light enough to go in a pocket of cargo shorts, is more than accurate enough for Personal defense. The group is small enough to cover with a playing card at 10 yards, just a bit high. Centered perfectly. With single action, it's good on clay birds sitting on the dirt backstop at 15 yards. Just have to leave a bit of space between he top of the front sight and the bird.

It's good enough for close range minute of dirtbag shooting.

Get to know your POA/POI with both loads and adjust according to what you are carrying at the time. If the 158s shoot high, aim lower.

Sorry for derailing your thread but how was the gunshow in Taylor. I thought about going but didn't wasn't sure if it was worth the trip.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Texasgordo said:

Sorry for derailing your thread but how was the gunshow in Taylor. I thought about going but didn't wasn't sure if it was worth the trip.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

It was great! Lots of dealers, lots of different stuff on hand and pretty decent prices. Most the gun prices seem lower than Academy Sports or other box stores.

cb51 said:

It was great! Lots of dealers, lots of different stuff on hand and pretty decent prices. Most the gun prices seem lower than Academy Sports or other box stores.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Next time I'll be there.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Lighter and faster will definitely lower the point of impact. Most of my Airweights hit dead on with 125-130 +P loads.