Red Dot Sights - How To Zero Your Pistol ! - My Own Defender

Every pistol shooter should know how to zero a red dot!

People make the process to find the zero with their pistol red dot sight, way too complex! That's because they forget that your zero should serve your practical applications. If the majority of your shooting happens inside 15 yards, why are you zeroing at 25 yards?

As a USPSA competitive shooter, I find that a 10 yard red dot zero serves me well. I can pretty much hold center of most targets (depending on the size of the target) from 5 to 25 yards. For smaller targets (head boxes) inside 3 yards I will hold the dot just over the area I'm trying to affect.

What you should know is that if you hold your red dot sight center at 25 yards with a 10 yard zero it it will only print .7 inches higher than your point of aim. If you can shoot, that's pretty insignificant. And as my good friend and mentor Scott Jedlinski of Modern Samurai Project always says, "if you can't shoot, your red dot sight zero also doesn't really matter!"

Things to consider when picking a distance to zero your RDS:

• What is your practical application? Where do you do most of your shooting?
• Can you shoot groups well? If so, you can zero unsupported. However, If you can't guarantee good groups, consider a sand bag and a table top to remove human error.
• If you zero your red dot sight on a 1" square at 10 yards, confirm your zero by shooting a group at 25 yards. This will give you an opportunity to see if you need to make any adjustments

We are big proponents of using RDS for self defense as well. Whether you're looking for firearms training for personal defense or practical purposes (sport), My Own Defender is your training company. In fact, check out our schedule of classes and look out for class announcements on social media as well!