You just got a new 9mm handgun, took it to the range, fired off a small group, and - all of the shots were clustered high and right!
Relax, this is normal. Your handgun actually should need some adjustments from the factory. It’s called sighting in, and it refers to the process of adjusting your sights at a given range so that your point of impact corresponds to your point of aim.
Here’s the high level way to do just that. The first thing you need is some 9mm bulk ammo and the second thing you need is some range time.
If you have that, you can take it from there.
With Iron Sights
For most handguns, you can only make adjustments to the rear sight, since the front sight is fixed. Consequently, what you need to do is adjust the sight for elevation (up and down) and windage (left and right) to bring the point of aim closer to the point of impact.
You also need to sight-in the gun at a specific range. A good range for this is 25 yards, as only competitive shooters routinely shoot at farther ranges and moreover, most defensive engagements occur at much closer ranges.
While you can perform sight-in offhand, it’s best to do it from a shooting rest, because holding the gun very still is critical here, and that’s something with which some shooters struggle.
Either way, load three rounds into the handgun, set up at 25 yards, and then slow-fire those three rounds at the center point of the target.
First things first, you should get a tight grouping no matter where the shots actually landed. If the group’s wide open, there might be an issue with your ammo which will make sight-in basically impossible.
Otherwise, for the purpose of instruction, let’s say your group clustered tightly, but slightly high and to the right.
To adjust the rear sight of a firearm, you move the sight in the opposite direction from the point of impact. In this case, with your handgun still in the rest and pointed at the center of the target, slightly adjust your rear sight downward and to the left, so that when you create a radius between it and the front sight, the point of impact shifts inversely up and to the right.
Reload the handgun with 3 more rounds, and slow-fire them at the center of the target once more. You should notice that your group shifted down towards the center of the target, closer to the point of aim.
Adjust your sights in accordance with the process described above to bring your group closer in line with the point of aim. Continue to repeat this process until your groups are clustering in the center of the target.
You can continue to make adjustments from this point, but that’s the general process of sighting-in a handgun with iron sights.
With a Red Dot Sight
Now let’s say you get a red dot sight that you can use for co-witness with your iron sights. You can now install that on the handgun and sight that in as well.
Install your red dot sight, switch it on, set up at 25 yards, and fire three shots, slowly, at the target.
Take note of where the shots fell, and refer back to where your red dot’s point of aim was.
The good news is that sighting in with a red dot sight is a lot easier, straightforward and more intuitive than sighting in with iron sights.
To adjust your red dot sight, just adjust the red dot up or down in the direction of the point of impact. Since the red dot is one point, there is no radius here; you just move the red dot till it literally corresponds to the point of impact.
Load and fire three more shots slowly, then make any further adjustments to the red dot until it is aligned with the point of impact.
At this point, your gun is now sighted-in with both a red dot and iron sights, and you can use them for co-witness with each other.
Start Here with 9mm Bulk Ammo
Before you can get sighted-in, you’ll need some ammo. We can help with that. Shop our collection of 9mm bulk ammo and get a good, reliable case of 9mm that you can use for sight-in, then continue to train with that.
Make sure you bookmark our bulk ammo page because we offer bulk ammo deals on a lot more than just 9mm - we also carry .22LR bulk ammo, bulk shotshells, and other bulk rifle and handgun ammo.
Then check out our other deals including our police trade-in specials. You never know what you might find, but once these deals are gone, they’re gone!