sighting in your revolvers

[silverback]

this may be a dumb question but I am new again to revolvers.

I have been sighting in my revolver at 12 yards. Then I was ready the manual and it was describing the rear sight adjustments at 25 yards. It got me to thinking at what distance is considered standard for the revolver.

After giving it some thought, 25 yards may be a nice medium distance to zero your sights. Correct me if I am wrong it should result with shots at 12 yards right behind your front sight and about four inches above your sights at 50 yards.

 

[Hondo44]

There's just too many variables like cartridge loadings, bullet caliber and weight, and barrel length for that to be a hard and fast rule for all revolvers and calibers. But 25 yards is a good sight in range generally speaking; shoot a little high closer up and low further out, again based on the variables.

On long distance shooting guns like my 44 mag with adjustable sights I know how many clicks up or down I have to move the rear sight for a particular distance. Some shooters have horizontal bars on the front sight blade for different points of aim to be dead center at different ranges.

 

[Boge]

Let's be realistic: 99% of handgun shooters will never take a shot past 50 yds., if that with iron sights. Yes, there are some hunters who are skilled and can hit something at 100 yds. with regularity offhand. There is a world of difference between casually lobbing bullets into a target at 100 yds. benchrested at the local Gun & Rod club and in the field offhand under less than ideal conditions and on uneven terrain. That is where one weeds out the Internet blowhards who constantly regale us with legendary tales of their pistol wizardry. :wink:

For a novice sight it at 25 yds.

 

[WESHOOT2]

A 25-yd sight-in ususally (but not always) allows shots to be POA out to 50 yds.

 

[jgt]

You will shoot like you practice. Practice at fifty yards and you will be able to shoot proficently at fifty yards. I always sight my hunting guns in at fifty yards. Personal protection guns are different. If I want to protect my self from snakes I sight in to hit a bottle cap at snake bite yardage or should I say feet. That seems to work well at human attack distance also but I stand more chance of needing protection from snakes than humans.

 

[5of7]

I usually sight in at 25 yds except for the snub nosed carry guns and the guns that I expect to hunt deer with. Those get sighted at 30 feet and 100 yards respectively.

With any handgun that produces 1000 fps or more, sighting it in at 25 yds will still group pretty much around the front sight at 50 yds. 8)

 

[contender]

Lots of excellent advice above.
Many folks decide what their primary purpose is for that firearm & zero the sights for the optimum performance at that range. Example; A USPSA shooter might choose 15 yds as their zero since most targets are between 5 & 20 yds. The closer you are to a USPSA target, the bigger the "A" zone seems.
A person who hunts will choose their zero depending upon their personal comfort zone of accuracy. A squirrel hunter may choose 15-20 yds, while a deer hunter may choose 50-100 yds.
Someone who is focusing upon self defense will zero a gun at 5-7 yds.
So you have to choose what the PRIMARY purpose is for your gun. Then work on the zero.

 

[Rclark]

I like to start at 15Y (got to be able to hit the target first... I use paper plates) and then check at 25Y for final checkout. 25Y is good because it really shows up a horizontal sight problem where closer targets do not (unless really off). My revolver shooting at the range is normally 25Y to 77Y (back of the range).

 

[s4s4u]

With iron sighted hunting revolvers I usually zero @ 75 yards which keeps me in the boiler room from muzzle to about 100 yards out.

 

[tuner]

I think contender was spot on, zero the handgun for the intended use, the ranges to be shot and I would add that know your POI at lesser and greater ranges. I would also say that where I zero a handgun I will also consider the sighting equipment used. I just zeroed a Match Dot II red dot today on my SBHH and that will is dead on at 75 yards which will cover everything from feet to 100 yards for big game. I have a .44 Black Hawk iron sights that I keep zeroed at 50 yards.

 

[silverback]

thanks guys. I really want to use the 4 inch from feet to 25yds and the 6 inch beyond. I will have to sight them in accordingly.

 

[Biggfoot44]

(Speaking of iron sights) 25yds is a (the) standard distance. Anywhere from 0 to 25yds for defensive use , you will never notice any slight difference in impact.
Ideally I like to sight for a six o'clock at 25yds ie 1.0 to 1.5 high for group center. For fast defensive shooting ignore the offset. For precision shots have the (whatever) sit on top of front sight instead of behind.

The longer POIs depend on the velocities. For .38spl-ish ( incl .45acp ball , 147gr 9mm, etc ) will be on at aprox 50yds. For .357mag-ish vels ( incl full 10mm ,115+P+ 9mm , etc ) will be on at aprox 75yds.

In my formative years I was exposed to too much Elmer Keith. Instead of siddling with sight adjustments , I use his elevated front sight technique.

 

[silverback]

Biggfoot44, that's exactly how I ended up setting my sights. It makes a great setting for just about anything one would need.

 

[Hugh]

I may take some heat for this, but ...

I didn't see where you said what revolver, which caliber, and what the intended application is. Those are some pretty important pieces of information, at least to me. I don't do long range shooting with a handgun, nor do I use them as a primary when hunting. My intended application of a revolver is inside of 15 yards; ten yards works for me.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Barrel length and caliber are pretty important but for the most part any handgun caliber cartridge will shoot pretty flat out to about 50 yards.

 

[silverback]

sighting in all my calibers 357mag,45colt,22lr most 4 inch barrels and a couple 2 3/4. great distance and anything from 0 to 25 for defensive purposes is a no brainer dead on. I shot DA 357 security six's at 35 feet and drilling the bull about a 3 inch spread with of course several flyers. DA I always seem to pull to right and up a bit. still haven't gotten it done to a smooth reliable action but I am working on it.

 

[Pal Val]

To each his own. My max distance for shooting a handgun at game is 50 yds. My .44 mag guns are set for that distance. That makes my hunting loads about 1" high at 25 yds and 2" low at 75 yds. For shooting at the pistol range, it's a 25 yds zero, simply because at the club we have 25 lanes for that distance, 10 for 15 yds and 10 for 50 yds. Less waiting for a lane!

I have a .22 pistol with a red dot sight set dead-on at 15 yds. That's the distance we use for the pin-and-plate shoots. Lots of fun.