How to sight and shoot a 25 yard target range like a pro – Easy Diagnose Guide

Last updated: November 12, 2022

For many pistol shooters, their confidence level decreases dramatically when they have to shoot at a target from about 25 yards away. Most of us do most of our shooting at closer distances because it’s easier that way, we can shoot faster and get more enjoyment out of it. Plus, for self-defense purposes, close range shooting is usually sufficient.

Even if you’re not interested in long-range shooting or action pistol competition, being able to hit a target at 25 – 50 yards is still an important skill for a truly well-rounded shooter.

So today, I want to give you some practical, tangible steps you can take to improve your long-range pistol shooting.

Let’s get to the practice session okay so the first thing i would suggest to do this : Fired five rounds with no time limit

Beginning : Fired Five Rounds

shooting it on seated with table and your range bag if you want now these might end up being the five most important rounds of the whole practice 25 yard session, So what we’re looking for with these five shots is first to confirm our zero and second to make sure we can actually shoot a reasonably tight group.

if you can’t get five rounds in the black cross target shooting from the bench at a leisurely, pace trying to pass the 25 yard practise is probably just gonna be frustrating and you’re not gonna learn anything, so instead we would need to go into diagnostic mode and trying to figure out what’s wrong.

The most common culprits are probably trigger control or maybe some kind of recoil anticipation either of those are going to mess up our sight alignment even small errors that we make in sight alignment can have a magnified effect out at 25 yards if you don’t press the trigger straight to the rear without disturbing the sights you’re going to miss at 25 yard even with a bag or a rest for support mastering the trigger press could probably be a book all on its own.

so i’ll just leave it at that for now if you are pretty sure your trigger control was solid for those first five shots but your group is off center especially with bullet rounds outside the black.

May be sights or optic hardware issues ?

The next thing i would look at would be hardware issues related to your sights or your optic (very few handgun manufacturers actually zero their guns at the factory) usually the sights will be close enough so that you can hit something like an 8 inch circle at 10 or 15 yards with no problem 

but now we’re out at 25 yards and this black circle is five and a half inches wide your zero can make a huge difference for something like that obviously with a red dot optic

it’s really easy to adjust your zero if you need to with iron sights you can usually drift the rear sight for windage if you have the right tools elevation is not as easy to change you’re going to need a file or a new front sight blade, fortunately with modern semi-autos firearm the elevation is usually going to be pretty close right out of the box, however the gun might not be set up for the type of sight picture that you prefer now, 

If you haven’t noticed already, the distance of your target definitely impacts where you aim. For example, if you’re shooting a big target from up close, the sights on your gun might be set so that the top of the front sight is lined up with the very bottom of the bullseye in order to hit dead center.

Alternately, it might be set so that you need to bisect the black in order to hit center mass. Or finally, it might be that you have cover the center withshoot right wherethat front sight dot is because otherwise your rounds will just go wide.

Use your first five shots at 25 yards to figure out what works best for you and your sights. Pick the sight picture you prefer and fire five good shots from a rest, making sure to press the trigger perfectly each time.

With any luck, you’ll have a tight group on your target. That will tell you if need to adjust your sight picture or change some gun parts. You might also need to select different ammunition as the point of impact can move more than you think.

what if you’re having problems with shot consistency maybe you’ve got a nice group shooting except for one flyer that’s way off on its own or you’ve got a group that’s evenly distributed around the center of the target but it’s just a really big group again

If we can’t shoot a five round group from the bench that’s smaller than five and a half inches, passing that test is likely going to be very difficult. It could be an issue with trigger control or recoil anticipation.

The next possible reason I would check is an inconsistent sight picture. This can be caused by the distance to the target at 25 yards, it will appear bigger and thus make it harder to see where your front sight is in relation. Another potential cause for flyers (shots that don’t hit the bulls-eye) might be if we subconsciously shift our vision from the front sight to the target while trying to line everything up without realizing.

it we might even do this as we’re pressing the trigger it’s just commit get a sight picture lock in your visual focus on the front sight or on the target if you’re a target focused shooter and then press the trigger if your eyesight prevents you from getting a sharp focus on the front sight, you might be trying to precisely line up one blurry thing with another blurry thing that’s going to be really difficult to do consistently. a red dot optic might be worth considering, if that’s the case

For both those with and without eye issues, a red dot makes life much easier at longer distances, it’s practically no contest. With iron sights, getting a good sight picture takes infinitely more effort than it does with red dot optics. Once you shoot with a red dot at 25 yards, you’ll never want to go back! However, even though they’re becoming increasingly popular, red dot optics are not perfect. One downside is that if your vision isn’t great, it can be difficult to focus on the dot.

If you want to improve your shooting, make sure to keep the dot on your target and not have it too bright where it makes the appearance of a larger dot. This can cause problems with accuracy if you’re not centered on the bullseye.

In order to test a pistol’s trigger control, I always shoot groups from the bench at 25 yards with several different loads. Most of the time, a gun has 1-3 really good loads (i.e bullet groups around 1-3 inches), some okay loads (around 4 inches), and then maybe one or two that it hates (6-9+ inches).

if you are in the black central target on the last five you know you can do a good trigger press at this point so as soon as you see, a decent sight picture that’s good signal. 

what you need to do then make the shot after those 10 dry reps is do five more, live rounds now this time do them all as one continuous string

Use timer

i would suggest using the timer but you’re not holding yourself to any specific time limit at this point just fire five rounds as quickly as you think you can stay in the black point

check your split times and that will give you an idea of how your pace compares to where you would need to be for the 25 yard test that test is 10 rounds in 20 seconds so to be on the safe side you want to be a little under two seconds in between shots maybe around 1.7 or 1.8 at the most, but don’t let that timer push you around if you’re not getting your hits you have to figure out what needs to be fixed before you worry about the timer.

at the same time, going too slow can actually hurt your accuracy sometimes you don’t want to over confirm the sights or overthink your trigger press you don’t want to stand there so long that you get visually physically and mentally fatigued.

you can always do extra dry reps it doesn’t cost you anything just don’t do so many that you start getting tired or sloppy after your dry practice, Try it with five live rounds

What kind of material target is best to practice shooting with 25 yard ?

Steel targets are by far the best type of target to use when practicing with long range. They’re durable, affordable, and provide a satisfying “ring” when hit which will help you better gauge your shots.

Paper targets are also a good option, but they can be more difficult to see at long range and don’t provide the same feedback as steel. If you’re just starting out, paper targets might be a better option to help you get used to the sights and distance.

Metal targets are a good option as well, but they tend to be more expensive and less durable than steel targets.

Reactive targets are the best for honing your skills as they provide immediate feedback upon being hit (such as those that spin or pop up when hit) and most exciting to shoot at , but they’re also the most expensive and least durable type of target.

Conclusion

To summarize all of that, here is how your 25 yard practice shooting session First breaks down first fire five rounds from the bench to confirm zero inaccuracy, next ten dry reps standing at the 25 yard line with no time limit, fire 5 individual live rounds with no time limit to final 10 dry reps at a faster pace press the trigger as soon as you get a good sight picture with a shot timer, take note of your split times repeat 10 fast dry reps fire another 5 shot with the timer and then attempt the actual test

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