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sight in distance


sbaker5

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Are you shooting iron sights or a "dot" sight?

Most people usually sight in for 15 - 20 yards, since that is the

distance we find most targets in USPSA.

BUT, you should be aware of where the bullets hit at 5 and

35-40 yards (those shots do come up on occasion) - 5-8

yard head shots are tight, especially if you're using a dot

that's 1.5 - 2" over your bore - easy to drop two quick

"head shots" into the body (and MISS the head). :cheers:

I sight my "dot" gun in at 35 yards, since I shoot quite a bit

of MultiGun - and use my STI TruBor on rifle stages that

are frequently at 30-35 yards. But, I know where the shots

go at 5-15 yards, also.

Edited by Hi-Power Jack
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I like 25 yards with an iron sighted gun, no opinion on a dot gun. When you do sight in be sure to use the same grip that you will use in shooting a match. Shooting off a rest or with a looser/tighter grip than normal can change impact points.

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I like 25 yards with an iron sighted gun, no opinion on a dot gun. When you do sight in be sure to use the same grip that you will use in shooting a match. Shooting off a rest or with a looser/tighter grip than normal can change impact points.

Sounds like you are adjusting your sights to a flaw in your technique. There should be no change in impact going from rested to freestyle.

What happens when you go strong/weak hand only?

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I shot both open and limited. How should I sight it in if I don't have any type of clamp? Seems like off hand is not consistent enough.

FWIW, I sight in at 20 yds. I use a buzzer and the holster I normally wear. I shoot two shots, holster, and repeat 10 times. I then check the target and move (if needed) my sights. I want my group to be just high center. I then do the same at 30 yds. (much bigger group size) :) I personally don't see how using a rest shows your true groups. I agree that a Ransom Rest shows the accuracy of your gun, and handload. But IMO, that's doesn't mean squat in a match.
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How should I sight in if I don't have a clamp?

If you're sighting in at 15 yards, you really don't need any type of support,

IMHO.

If you're sighting in at 25 - 50 yards, I use any type brace I can get -

rest my body or elbows or wrists (not the gun) on anything I can

find -

At my gun club, they have beautiful benches - I rest my arms on a

box or anything, and use that to steady my aim.

Nothing wrong with sighting in offhand - that is the way you will shoot

a match.

I think it's a mistake to fire one five shot group, and say that's how and

where the gun shoots. I usually fire a 10 - 15 shot "group" and drop

the five or so "flyers" - look for the center of your group.

But that's all very personal - really, whatever works best for you.

BTW, sighting in is much different than testing a new gun or new

loads - that is best reserved for as steady a hand as you can manage,

using anything and everything to steady your hold - that is trying to

detect just how accurate a particular load is in that one gun, at

that one distance. Much different than "sighting in". :cheers:

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I think Brian has written about this topic as well.

I sight my gun at 15 yards. I have mono-vision so my shooting eye is a close focus. It is very hard for me to get a front sight focus without the target being very blurry.

Also, I think a 15 yard equates to a 45 yard zero.

Initially, I use a rest of some type to eliminate other variables that may affect the sight picture/trigger control. Then I verify the groupings at different yardage freestyle.

I am usually accused of setting up difficult targets at distances 25-35 yards. So last week I set up a fast and furious stage with some targets at 2 yards and others at 10. It was interesting to see the grouping of various shooters as well as their cadence.

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I am usually accused of setting up difficult targets at distances 25-35 yards. So last week I set up a fast and furious stage with some targets at 2 yards and others at 10. It was interesting to see the grouping of various shooters as well as their cadence.

What was the grouping and cadence differences?

I sight mine in at 15 yards as well. Have never shot out past about 35 yards in a USPSA match and it's worked fine. My 3 gun pistol is also sighted in at 15 yards and I have shot steel plates, about 18"x24" or so, to 100 yards and only used a slight high hold.

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I tried this out this morning to see the difference on my new open gun before shooting it in a comp tomorrow.

Using a predator tactical sideways cmore mount at 5, 10, 25 and 50. The gun is zero'd at 15. The ammo makes 160pf so it is destined for practise.

I'm not the best shot in the world but there isn't much difference for me. All shots were fired off hand, the 10 yard shots were a bit quick so the group isn't very good. 50 yards was 10 rounds shooting prone and had 2 fliers 1 high and low. Looks like I need to move the dot sideways a little but the elevation is going to be fine for IPSC.

20141108_090747_zps3lhixnb2.jpg

20141108_090927_zpsdb0vqhv7.jpg

20141108_091230_zpsdurzknbt.jpg

In this one I aimed at the big black dot rather than the small one because it was hard to see.

20141108_091804_zpstm8yibg0.jpg

Edited by dansedgli
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There seems to be a mixture of information here, split between "sighting in the gun" and "knowing where you're hitting" which are two different things.

First: get your gun sighted in, then find out if you're hitting near where it's sighted into. If your gun is zeroed properly and your draw and fire shots at X yards are not hitting close enough, then practice practice practice until you are hitting adequately close to point of aim.

As to which distance: that can depend on whether you are shooting a red dot or iron sights. In both cases there is a parallax issue since the line of sight and the line of the bore never line up perfectly. The line of sight is a perfectly straight line. For iron sight guns that line is from the top of the rear sight to the top of the front sight out to the target. For red dot sights that line is from the red dot to the target. In both cases this line is above the bore of the barrel. With iron sights the two are close enough together that you can ignore the difference. However with a red dot it can be significantly greater distance. This means your sight in distance is more important with the red dot.

If you zero a red dot at 15 yards, then the bullet has risen from the muzzle to the target at 15 yards to hit the zero. Then if you shoot at 25, the bullet is still rising, and you will hit higher. Therefore I like to sight in a red dot gun at 25 or greater distance. However as stated above, you must then realize that when shooting 5 yards you are going to hit low. This can be an issue if you're squeaking a shot just over a no-shoot.

The lower the red dot is mounted to the slide, the better as this reduces the parallax issue.

Anyway: once you've got the gun sighted in (yes: using a benchrest is fine), THEN you practice to get your hits near to where the gun is sighted in.

-ivan-

p.s. I suspect you're now sorry you asked :-)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Honestly, I've never adjusted the sights on any quality pistol I've got.

I just learn how the gun shoots and get to work. Don't mean to sound flippant, just being honest.

I've never adjusted the powder measure on any quality reloading press I've got. I just load rounds and get to work.

:blink:

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Honestly, I've never adjusted the sights on any quality pistol I've got.

I just learn how the gun shoots and get to work. Don't mean to sound flippant, just being honest.

That sounds like crazy talk! Say your gun shoots 3" left at 15yds, that's fine, get used to it it's not that far off. What happens when a small target appears at 50yds? Do you just know to hold 10" right or do you stop and do the math? Because either way sounds really slow. I put a lot of work into making sure my sights are dead nuts for windage, then verify that my offhand shooting has the same POI. If I miss a small distant target I want to know for a fact that it was my fault, not be second guessing my sights, equipment or math. My .02

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