Is there a way to zero your 9mm pistol red dot at 25 yards, without having to shoot it 25 yards? My local range only goes to 15 yards.

I like the 25 yard pistol zero trajectory and ease of aiming center mass. I'm not someone who will be shooting my handgun 50 to 100 yards.

4 to 4.5" barrels

How much drop is there at 25 yards with the caliber you are shooting? If it is close to zero, you could maybe co witness the red dot with a laser bore sight at home. 9mm 124 grain (no barrel length mentioned) is close to zero based on this article:

http://gundata.org/blog/post/9mm-ballistics-chart/

A friend of mine was got this system... he said it worked fairly well. I don't know the specifics...

https://g-sight.com/

use an online ballistic calc for your ammo to determine the moa delta from 15 to 25. put a mark at that delta from the bull on your target and aim at the bull and adjust until poi is at your mark.

You might reconsider the 25yd zero and go with a 10yd.

Scott Jedlinski is one of the RDS "gurus". I took an RDS class with him in the spring and the 10yd zero makes a lot of sense.

aggieforester05 said:

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How much drop is there at 25 yards with the caliber you are shooting? If it is close to zero, you could maybe co witness the red dot with a laser bore sight at home. 9mm 124 grain (no barrel length mentioned) is close to zero based on this article:

http://gundata.org/blog/post/9mm-ballistics-chart/

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I may try this. Yes, my defense ammo is 124gr 9mm. I have a bore laser as well.

Any my gun dot is green with the bore laser being red. This might could work.

Thanks!

He references a guy with "a 12-in" drop at 7 yards on a 25 yard zero. Would be interesting to know what caliber and grain. That is significant.

According to ballistic calculators/trajectory....a 9mm Gold Dot Hollow Point 124 grain is a 0 drop at 25 yards zero... From 3 yards you have up to -2" drop, then shrinking drop going out 25 yards. So shooting low at shorter distances and the up to perfect bull at 25.

3 yards 2"
7 yards 1.25"
12 yards 0.75" drop

So I'm thinking if I aim center breast bone directly between the Pectoral muscles, I'm on target every time elevation wise, and have plenty of room to be off windage wise either direction.

Motracicletraficificker said:

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He references a guy with "a 12-in" drop at 7 yards on a 25 yard zero.

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A foot drop at 7 yards??

That ain't the gun, that's the scared housewife who was firing it.

They have targets designed with the offset in mind that allows you to zero at 10 which will equate to 25.

This is using JBM's calculator using Hornady Critical Defense 115gr. The FPS on 124gr makes a negligible difference.

With both zeroes you only have around an inch of deviation out to 50yd, but the 25yd really drops off past that. 10yd is fairly flat from 0 to 80yd. Even at 100yd, w/a 10yd zero, hold at neck/upper chest and you get a center mass shot. W/a 25yd zero, you need to hold at head to get a chest shot

Definitely personal preference. Scott's thought process made sense to me and I can make shots consistently with a 10yd zero. I know other prominent trainers like the 25yd zero

find a longer range

i zero'd all of mine at 10 yds, based on Scott J's reasoning.

reality, i'm not keeping rounds within a few inches of each other much past that in anything other than an ideal scenario.

Motracicletraficificker said:

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I'm not someone who will be shooting my handgun 50 to 100 yards

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Why not? Its fun.

I have never thought of it more than looking at the ballastic chart for the individual rounds and using that as a point of reference. Home defense gets zero'd at 10, ranch gun gets zero'd at 25.

Hmm. Interesting chart. I've only really used red dots on my open gun, which has more offset.

We just "cheat up" a bit at very close ranges, and very far ranges, but the 10 yd zero might make even more sense with the higher offset.