Please explain this laser sight effect.....???

[the count]

happy new year to all.

i just put a viridian green laser on my new glock 30SF. the beam is about one inch under the barrel. sighted it in for 7 yards. with my run of the mill handloads (230 LRN over 5 gr. Bullseye) I shot something like 3 inch groups (I am not a great shot). moving the target out to 15 yards the impacts were way low... around 5-10 inches lower than the laser. if I remember my geometry correctly, going from 7 yards to 15 would mean the impact is around one inch low at 14 yards but not 5-10! what i am missing???? I bought the green laser assuming I would be a great shot from 7-25 yards

if this is really the way it is, there is almost no point in spending a ton of money on a green laser. at 7-10 yards a red one will do just fine, even in daylight.

 

[rcmodel]

You sighted it in too close.

The beam is pointed up-hill considerably compared to the bore line to be zeroed at 7 yards.
Moving further out, putting the beam on the target drops the bore line that much.

I'd suggest a 25 yard zero and you will have the bullet strike within 1" of the laser beam all the way out, but getting progressively closer as it gets to the 25 yard zero.

assuming I would be a great shot

Hate to bust your bubble, but a laser will not make a great shot out of you unless you already are one.

Jerking the trigger or flinching throws the shot off just as much with a laser as without one.

rc

 

[the count]

You sighted it in too close.

The beam is pointed up-hill considerably compared to the bore line to be zeroed at 7 yards.
Moving further out, putting the beam on the target drops the bore line that much.

I'd suggest a 25 yard zero and you will have the bullet strike within 1" of the laser beam all the way out, but getting progressively closer as it gets to the 25 yard zero.

Hate to bust your bubble, but a laser will not make a great shot out of you unless you already are one.

Jerking the trigger or flinching throws the shot off just as much with a laser as without one.

rc

Thanks I will rezero at 25 yards as you suggest. Wonder when they will come out with laser guided bullets? Thats what I really want....

 

[highorder]

Wonder when they will come out with laser guided bullets? Thats what I really want....

As soon as ballistic flight is obsolete.

Though not any time soon for small arms, guided artillery is here.

 

[bigfatdave]

Jerking the trigger or flinching throws the shot off just as much with a laser as without one.

Yep, there's no magic replacement for practice and good trigger control.

Re-zero it further out and shoot more while focusing on the basics, then turn on the laser and continue shooting the same way.

 

[the count]

You sighted it in too close.

The beam is pointed up-hill considerably compared to the bore line to be zeroed at 7 yards.
Moving further out, putting the beam on the target drops the bore line that much.

I'd suggest a 25 yard zero and you will have the bullet strike within 1" of the laser beam all the way out, but getting progressively closer as it gets to the 25 yard zero.

Hate to bust your bubble, but a laser will not make a great shot out of you unless you already are one.

Jerking the trigger or flinching throws the shot off just as much with a laser as without one.

rc

I might just take the green laser off the glock and put it on my keltec plr16 instead. in case you are unfamiliar, this 'pistol' shoots .223's! so I am assuming (maybe wrong again here) that it should be a pretty straight shooter to at least 50 yards (just played around in the 25 yard range until now). If i sight it in for 50, how off do you thing it will be at 25 and 15??? Or sight in in for 25 again....?

 

[bigfatdave]

I am assuming (maybe wrong again here) that it should be a pretty straight shooter to at least 50 yards

A laser won't make you pull the trigger on that gun more smoothly either.

 

[DriderX]

A laser won't make you pull the trigger on that gun more smoothly either.

What a laser can do, though, is train you to be a much better trigger-puller. Turn on the laser for dry-fire practice and it will mercilessly show you every little flaw you have in your trigger pull. Wonderful training aid.

 

[bigfatdave]

What a laser can do, though, is train you to be a much better trigger-puller. Turn on the laser for dry-fire practice and it will mercilessly show you every little flaw you have in your trigger pull. Wonderful training aid.

Now this is absolutely true, turn on the laser (even a cheapo laser taped to a gun will help!) load up a snap-cap, and dry-fire away, the laser will tell on you when you jerk the trigger or flinch, the goal is to pull the trigger the same way (up to the point of recoil) whether there is a snap-cap in the chamber or a live round. Flinch away after recoil, we all do, there's no helping that part. But you CAN fix the anticipation part.

 

[Geckgo]

to the original question, bullets don't fly in geometrically straight lines. This is notoriously worse for handguns because sighting in short means that the barrel either angled slightly down or very close to level, not up like a scoped rifle. There is almost no rise to a handgun bullet.

You may also be flinching the trigger (which I would guess you are, all of us do at first) and pulling the muzzle down when you shoot. You will notice this a long more as you move out to 25 yrd targets, even after you get your lazer sighted in.

 

[rondog]

The laser and the barrel are on two different planes. They will only intersect at the exact point where you "zero" the laser to meet the point of impact. At distances before and after this exact point of intersection, the bullet impact and the laser dot will NOT meet, and they will move progressively farther apart as the distances increase.

Add to this the fact that a laser beam is perfectly straight, and a bullet's path is a curved arc, and the bottom line is.....a laser on a gun is only good for target shooting at the EXACT distance that you have the laser zero'd to meet the bullet.

It's a tool to help put a bullet in a bad guy in a high-stress situation, not a magic target shooting talisman. The color has nothing to do with it. If you buy a laser intending to be a bullseye wizard, you're wasting your money. Laser's are only good for minute-of-criminal accuracy at self-defense ranges.

 

[the count]

Hi guys, just got back from the range. I took the Viridian C5 off the Glock and put it on my KelTec PLR16. Sighted it in at 25 yards (around 3-5 inch groups). Then moved the target out to 50 yards. Hits were within a 9 inch paper plate. Moved the target close to about 10 yards, 1-2 inch groups! Yeah, I am a happy camper. This is more or less what I was expecting. Obviously out of the Glocks capabilities. Of course you guys are right that a laser does not make you an instant marksman. But this KelTec/Viridian duo is a winning combination. Gets attention at the range for sure...impressive fireball and very loud, plus the green laser....

 

[Geckgo]

You are looking at 10-20 MOA, which with a pistol is very nice, little better than I can shoot at the moment with my XD, but still I think that it's more the marksman than the gun at that point. 5" groups at 50 then I would start looking at the gun as the source of the problem, but if you can hit a 5" target at 50 every time, I don't think you really need to worry about being more accurate, unless you want to show off or start competing.