Sight Adjustments

Hello Folks,

As a new Bullseye shooter, I'm not familiar with a lot of things about the sport.  Please pardon my neophyte questions.

A 45 ACP pistol adjusted to zero at 25 yards will be about 2-1/2" low at 50 yards.  Is it common practice make sight adjustment for the two ranges, or do most shooters hold over (or under)?

Thanks, Tom

I change sights between the 25 and 50 yard line.  Five clicks up for the dot or Bo-Mar for the .45, three clicks up for my Clark .38 with just the Bo-mar sight.  I'm shooting 3.5 Bullseye with a 200 grain lead SWC for the long line for the .45 and 2.7 grains of BE with a 148 HBWC in the .38.

I zero for 50 yards. Note my red dot setting. Then zero for 25 yards, noting how many clicks of adjustment from 50 yards. I keep this adjustment posted in my gun box.

6 clicks  with irons . You have an adjustable sight use it

3-5 clicks down, give or take a click, from 50 to 25 yards.

"How much is a click worth?", you ask?

1 click is approximately equal to 1 click, give or take a click. And that's gospel.

To keep it simple I load .3 to .5 grains more Bullseye for my 50 yard load.  This renders a little more velocity which in theory results in slightly less drop.  It also produces a little more recoil.  Together my zero stays the same between yard lines.  This affords me one less thing to remember when shooting.

If adjusting zeros, follow AllAces advice of using the 50 yard zero as your reference.

john bickar wrote:3-5 clicks down, give or take a click, from 50 to 25 yards.

"How much is a click worth?", you ask?

1 click is approximately equal to 1 click, give or take a click. And that's gospel.

There's the click on the gun and then there's the click between the ears.  The gun clicks are measurable, the other not so much.

Thanks Fellows.

SMBeyer wrote:

john bickar wrote:3-5 clicks down, give or take a click, from 50 to 25 yards.

"How much is a click worth?", you ask?

1 click is approximately equal to 1 click, give or take a click. And that's gospel.

There's the click on the gun and then there's the click between the ears.  The gun clicks are measurable, the other not so much.

"Two on the gun, one in the head" is definitely a thing, and I wholeheartedly subscribe to it.

Yet I also believe that the mechanical value of a "click" varies from shooter to shooter. I've seen some recommendations (from shooters whose ability I respect) that would have me off the paper if I followed them.

OP, I recommend this:

1. Shoot a group of 20 shots at 50 yards.
   
2. Draw a vertical line that puts 50% of the shots on each side.
   
3. Draw a horizontal line similarly.
   
4. Adjust your sights per the pistol manual and repeat steps 1-3.
   
5. Do the math and calculate how much an elevation "click" and a windage "click" actually moves the point of impact for you, based on the difference between the center of the two crosses. Note that windage and elevation clicks may not be equivalent.
   
6. Repeat the exercise at 25 yards.
   
7. Record the value of a windage "click"and an elevation "click" for 50 and 25 yards in your shooting journal.
   
8. Understand that the values may change from day-to-day due to external and/or internal factors, and may also change over time