What distance are y'all zeroing your pistol lasers and why?
What distance are y'all zeroing your pistol lasers and why?
Parallel, so the POI is constant from muzzle to where the bullet starts dropping. Using CT grip models for example, I make sure the POI is hitting an inch high and left at about 7 yards, and then ideally shoot the laser at 25 and 50 yards in diminishing light (so the red laser is visible) to confirm my parallel zero.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I've been using 7 yards for the last several years, but GJM's way is probably better.
I zero my X400U-GN for 25 yards. It's a compromise, to be sure, due to the massive offset that comes from having the laser under the light (relatively speaking, anyways, it's about the same as the offset for an AR and a red dot using 1/3 cowitness). The way I figure is, the laser is used for larger target zones, with precision shots being taken with irons; once you get to around 7 yards and further, the rounds are getting fairly close to the POA, anyways, only around an inch or inch and a half high. If I had something like a CT, I'd definitely go with GJM in using a parallel zero. So far, I've had two instructors tell me the 25 yard zero was the way to go on my set up when queried (Darryl Bolke AKA nyeti and Kenan Flasowski).
And as a side note, holy crap, the green is so much more visible; it is a huge improvement, especially outdoors during the day, over my old X400.
Oh, and I see GJM busted out his chart while I was making this post. I was surprised he didn't do it on his first post, TBH.
I have a TLR-2, which I keep zeroed at 25yd. That puts POI about 1.5 inches high of POA at 10yd. At ranges inside of 10yd I put the dot ~2" low and call it good.
This works for me because I don't do pistol work at ranges past 25yd. I run the TLR-2 in light+laser mode, so if I need to line up a precise shot I transition from the laser to the nicely backlit silhouette of the iron sights. 600 lumens from the TLR-2 gives me an amazingly sharp front sight focus, better than what I can get during most daylight shooting. But I really like shooting with the laser. So. Much. Fun.
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Based on years of interacting with the firearms-purchasing public on an indoor range, I feel fairly comfortable in stating that most people think adding a laser to the firearm automatically turns the bullets into guided missiles that home in on the dot.
(I'll also add that for the first several years I had it on there, I just kept my J-frame's CTC grip indexed so that it coincided with the irons on the doorknob across the room. What distance was that? **** if I know or care; I was just using the thing as a coarse muzzle reference anyway...)