Adj sight, or hold?

[Gammon]

A 50 yd zero is more precise, you know exactly where your round will strike out to the longest practical distance you will use the pistol. It is a habit I developed during the early days of IPSC competition where you would routinely shoot standard exercises out to 50 yds. In those days my practice routine included 50 yd head shots on an IPSC (now USPSA) target. I don't notice much drop , if any out to 50 yds using 125 gr 9mm bullets at 1000 fps.

I remember one match at the Wesfield range that included a rifle side match with targets at 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100yds. I entered it with my .45 as a warm up for the main IPSC match. The targets weren't pretty, but I managed to put all of my rounds on paper. There is no secret to long range shooting with a pistol as long as you have decent ammo and the gun is zeroed properly.

 

[Chappy7]

The longer the distance for zeroing the better. I prefer 50yds.

not sure I understand that - at 50 yards there would seem to be a lot of things contributing to error. And you're zeroing at a range likely much longer than you're going to use the gun. 9mm is gonna drop 3" at 50 yards.

No matter how precisely you try to align or measure something there will always be some type of error. If you try to align something at a short distance and there is a small error this error will become larger the further away from the target you go. For example if the alignment is off 1/8" at 10 feet the alignment will be off 5/8" at 50 feet.

 

[Varmint]

A 50 yd zero is more precise, you know exactly where your round will strike out to the longest practical distance you will use the pistol. It is a habit I developed during the early days of IPSC competition where you would routinely shoot standard exercises out to 50 yds. In those days my practice routine included 50 yd head shots on an IPSC (now USPSA) target. I don't notice much drop , if any out to 50 yds using 125 gr 9mm bullets at 1000 fps.

I remember one match at the Wesfield range that included a rifle side match with targets at 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100yds. I entered it with my .45 as a warm up for the main IPSC match. The targets weren't pretty, but I managed to put all of my rounds on paper. There is no secret to long range shooting with a pistol as long as you have decent ammo and the gun is zeroed properly.

Cool, thanks. Will be a while before I'm hitting head shots at 50 yards, I have enough trouble doing that with my AR off hand.

 

[MisterHappy]

Shotgun.

Problem solved

/thread





As stated above, check the wetware before you mess with the hardware.

 

[pupchow]

Benched the gun (resting elbows on bench), which increased precision. Still had to hold it right. Taking a look at the sights, the rear looks okay. But, the front looks like it could use a nudge.

View attachment 150719

View attachment 150720

 

[jibbr71]

Yup. I'd say that front sight could come left a tad.

 

[mac1911]

This P220 is the only handgun I have this issue with, POI being about 4" left @ 50'. Is it worthwhile getting the sights adjusted, which might require further adjustment? Or, pony up for a sight pusher? Or, just hold right?

Here's a target with four initial rounds hitting left, followed by four rounds while holding right.

Adjust the sights......eventually if you don't you will find your self trying to remember where your gun shoots, then eventually you get old and forget even more then start sticking notes on each gun....

 

[mac1911]

Benched the gun (resting elbows on bench), which increased precision. Still had to hold it right. Taking a look at the sights, the rear looks okay. But, the front looks like it could use a nudge.

View attachment 150719

View attachment 150720

A little to the left.....if you poke around you will find the formula for how much to move the sight.

 

[dcmdon]

Make sure the sights need adjusting. When new to shooting i asked a guy at the range the same question about the same gun. He picked it up shot 8 rounds in the black at 30 ft, put the gun down, looked at me and said "there is nothing wrong with those sights."

At the time with a Sig226 I could put 15 rounds in the black on a 50yd pistol/rifle target. The trigger on the 220 can be strange for lack of a better word. I seem to get better results from a smooth wuick pull than I do with a smooth deliberate pull.

Do this.