Handgun sights "zeroed"?

[Rangerrich99]

Like the title says, are handgun sights zeroed for any specific distance?

I don't know why, as I've been shooting rifle/pistol/shotgun for over three decades now, but I just never really thought about whether handguns were zeroed to a specific distance. Last night I was looking for the directions to a set of CT grip panels and noticed that they said the laser was zeroed for 50 feet, which got me thinking.

[Doyle]

Personally, I believe that even IF the handgun had good enough sights to zero that factory zeroing for a specific distance would be futile. That's because the point of impact on a handgun is far too subjective. Change almost anything - stance, hold, and especially ammo and the POI will change significantly.

[Drm50]

I sand bag all my handguns and sight in for practical range the gun will be used
for. Target guns at 25', field 22s at 36' and the big bore field guns at 50'. You
still have to get use to hold over or under unless you shoot only at one distance.

I tune mine at night. I cut a window in a card board box and tape a sheet of
white paper over the window. The paper is marked with a black Flare marker
in a simple cross, quartering the paper. Have small light inside the box. I am
sitting in the dark and getting perfect sight picture on the illuminated white
paper. I first concentrate on windage, hitting the vertical line. Then fine tune
in for elevation. With this method there is no distraction the only thing you can
see is your sights on the target paper. Pistols are all iron sights but I have done
22lrs rifles / scopes this way. Your only restrictions are how long of a extension
cord you have for the light. 22 pistols I actually do in my basement, if wife isn't
home.

I came up with this by accident. I got a new deer rifle the night before season.
Went to range and put head lights on target. It was another case of you could
only see cross hairs on the target. Try it, lay a beer can with bottom pointing
towards you, at night. Have a light of to side of you shine on can. The can will
be the only point you can see your sights or cross hairs. That's how I came up
with the light box for pistol sighting in.

[RickB]

Point Blank can be good way to sight in your gun.
What size target are you going to engage?
How far?
What load?

As a convenient example, I found a 180gr, 10mm load that when sighted to hit dead on at 100 yards, was three inches high at 50, and three inches low at 118, so with a reasonable target size of six inches, you could hit that target at any distance from muzzle to 118 yards by aiming at the center.

If your target is a golf ball, then, of course, your sight-in would have to take into account that you'd never want the bullet's path to be more than about a half-inch above or below the POA.

The vast majority of shots for me are at targets no smaller than six inches, and distances from three yards to thirty yards, so sight-in doesn't have to be very precise, but I like to see the bullets "landing on top of the front sight".

[Rangerrich99]

Fellas, you’re misunderstanding the question. I was just wondering if handguns came from the factory with a preset zero, like an AR-15, for example. You know how an AR comes from the factory set to 50 yds? That sort of thing.

[RickB]

The first reply answered that.
One person really can't sight-in a handgun for another person, so, even if the gun comes with a test target showing dead-center hits with the distance noted, there's no guarantee that the gun will shoot to that point for you.

Just changing between a one-handed and two-handed grip will change the point of impact.

The gun I bought most recently didn't need any sight adjustment for me and my preferred load, but a revolver I bought ten years ago shot a foot low and six inches left.

[David R]

Some handgun companies claim to have zero for 25 yards.

I think springfield and Sig are two.

David

[T. O'Heir]

"...sight-in a handgun for another person..." You can't sight anything in for somebody else. However, the factory will set 'em to a specific distance. Kind of guessing it may not be an exact distance though. Still depends on the ammo used and what the thing is used for as well. For example, sighting in for IPSC isn't the same as for bullseye.
Laser sights are a different thing altogether.
A net search for "factory sight in distance" turns up 16,300,000 results. Mostly arguments about the subject on assorted forums. snicker. One of 'em says the SA Inc. XD manual says "it refers to the XD using the 6 o'clock hold at 25 yards." And there were still arguments. snicker.

[Rangerrich99]

T. O’Heir:

Thx. That was kind of the answer I was looking for.

[RickB]

I was going to mention 6:00 hold, but it's such a can of worms; without both the distance and the target size, it's meaningless.

"Sighted-in for 6:00 hold" would be about as informative as "32nd floor" for an address.

[buck460XVR]

Fixed sighted handguns are "regulated". This is generally using standard for caliber weight bullets(158gr in .357 for example) @ 20-25yards.

[44 AMP]

Generations of pistols (US) were zeroed for 25yds with the standard bullet weight & load for caliber. 158gr .38Spl @ 850fps for example.

Not sure if they do that still today though. Odds are good that the gun will leave the factory set for one bullet weight at one velocity hitting point of aim at 25yds.

Which one this is, check with the maker....

[bamaranger]

Lots of variables here, but the only sure way to determine how one's pistol is shooting in regards to sights, sight picture and ammo, is to sand bag the pistol off a bench, then verify with some offhand shooting. Some of the manufacturers may claim a POA/POI correspondence at a certain distance, but I would not take it as gospel and would bench and verify any pistol.

In my work as an armorer for SIG, occassionally the SIG P-models I dealt with needed a rear sight change to get a working POI for a given shooter. I cannot say why, but every now and then somebody would be high or low and we would have to swap out blades. Not common, just every once in a while. Could easily have been sight picture or point of aim for that shooter. I have also seen windage off a tad left or right on new pistols as well. At one time, SIG enclosed a factory zero target with new guns, but I do not recall the dx it was shot, or if was even indicated.

I had a problem with my G20.......for full power 180 gr ammo and my sight picture, it shot low, and I had a Glock armorer put in a higher rear.

The fixed sight revolvers (rear groove or channel and blade front) were indeed regulated to common load, when we shot S&W M10's with 110 Gr +P+, they tended to come in a bit low.

Finally, I have NEVER heard of an AR with a pre-set factory 50 yd zero.

Bench that thing.

[rodfac]

Most manufacturers have a "sight picture" necessary to give a point of impact on the target. Sig, for example, currently uses a "combat" sight picture, in which the point of impact is under the center of the front sight dot. This assumes that the shooter keeps the front and rear sights aligned with each other. The distance according to Sig is 25 yards.

For me, I want my point of impact on the very top of the front sight, again with front and rear sights aligned with each other; and that point of impact is at 25 yards. As a result, my newest Sig, a P225 A1 shoots a bit low (a little over 3") at 25 yds.

My Ruger New Vaquero in .45 Colt on the other hand, shot over 4" low at 25 yds with the front sight centered laterally and the tip of it level with the rear sight notch. To correct it, I only had to file down the front sight. It's just my opinion, but I think Ruger purposely supplies its fixed sighted revolvers to allow shooters to make the adjustment to suit themselves.

My S&W's with fixed sights have always shot high at 25 yds, requiring me to hold at the 6 o'clock position on a 6" diameter black bullseye target...about 3" high. This is with the nominal weight of bullet for the gun...158 grain in the .38 Special for instance.

HTH's Rod

[SIGSHR]

Recall reading (forget where) that BP revolver were "zeroed" for 75 yards, my Colt BP revolvers all shoot high at 25 yards.
Skeeter Skelton wrote that fixed sighted revolvers usually shot to the right for him. Charlie Askins wrote that he sighted in the Colt New Service 38 Specials for the Border Patrol, he mentioned making a tool to adjust the front sights for windage, gave no details of it.

[RickB]

Fixed-sight Colts used to be zeroed for windage by rotating the barrel slightly.
I've seen a picture of someone having tightened a bench vise on the barrel, putting the handle of a hammer or similar through the cylinder window and cranking on the handle to move the barrel.
On a Single Action Army that might work, but I wouldn't crank like that on a swing-out cylinder gun, for fear of bending the frame.

The last new revolver I bought shot six inches right at 25 yards, so I just filed the left side of the front sight until I was "on".
The front sight was too wide anyway, so I got a better sight picture in the bargain.

[Rangerrich99]

Thanks guys. Some interesting information here. I also remember reading somewhere that old BP revolvers were 'zeroed' for 75 yards or something like that.

The bottom line seems to be that handguns are 'zeroed' to some distance (caliber, bullet weight specific), but that there's no standardized consensus as to distance.

Ergo, all modern handguns are not 'zeroed' to 25 yards, or 50 yards or 11.5 yards. Probably it's more specific to the manufacturer.

[imp]

I'd be surprised to find out any manufacturer actually zero's production line pistols. More likely, they just put front and rear sights in as close to the centerline of the bore as they can visually, and leave it to the consumer to fine tune if desired.