sighting Crimson Trace grips...

[Jerm]

im thinking of getting one for my new Glock 19 thats on the way(although the switch doesnt seem the best on the Glock models).

the LaserMax fans seem to make a big deal about the CTC being "off axis"?

im just wondering what range most folks sight at and the difference this makes at varying ranges?

for example if you sight at 20'...will you be very far left of the dot at say 5',or right of the dot at 30',etc?

[NCPatrolAR]

I zero mine for 25 yards. You'll have to get out and learn the offset at various ranges, but it isnt that bad at 25 and under. Hell, it really wasnt that bad to me out as far as 50-65 yards.

[Jerm]

i didnt think there would be much variation at realistic pistol ranges,just seems to be alot of fuss over the issue with some.

IIRC the LM can be off by up to 2" right from the jump(?)...

[ToddG]

I usually zero mine at 15yd. That makes them within 1" POA out to 30yd and around 2" at 50yd, not accounting for bullet trajectory. Which is better than a Lasermax is going to be, and you can't zero most Lasermax lasers.

The farther out you zero them, assuming you can get a good zero, the less offset you have to deal with in general but the more you'll be off at closer ranges. I used to use 25yd, but settled on 15yd as a better compromise for my expected use. YMMV.

[Jerm]

excellent...

doesnt sound like it will be much of an issue at all(as i suspected).

thanks guys.

i guess my only reservation now is the switch on the Glock models.:(

[ToddG]

Yeah, I'd say the Glock model Lasergrips are just about the worst ones they make. I'd expect to see a new & improved model at SHOT next year.

[subzero]

I zeroed at ~15 yards. I was concerned with axis and all that at first, but then another issue popped up for me. I wanted the dot zeroed as far out as I could but without interfering with the sight picture. In daylight this isn't much of an issue. In low light, I learned that the dot will play hell with my eyes if I'm trying to get a normal sight picture.

So 15 yards or so is as far out as I can get it.

[David Pennington]

Ideally, you zero your CTC Lasergrips just like you'd zero any other off-axis laser like a PEQ-2 or ATPIAL. On a Glock, the CTC laser is roughly 0.5" to the right of the bore and 1.0" below the bore. If you zero your laser to hit 0.5" to the right of your POI, it will "always" be 0.5" right of the POI. By the time you hit 10 yards, the 0.5" offset gets absorbed in the group size. Basically, your laser "should" run dead parallel to your boreline. This prevents crossover at any range and your horizontal offset will never exceed the original 0.5".

Crossover is the real enemy here. With the laser being on the right side of the pistol, if you zero at 25 yards, the laser will be further and further to the right anywhere past your zero distance. The closer the zero, the further it will be off axis as the range increases. This off-axis laser v. boreline will be far worse than the original 0.5" offset zero.

The elevation doesn't really matter. We are always dealing with elevation issues because of iron sight offset and trajectory. However, the further off you zero, the more consistant your hold-off. IE, zero at 25 yards (with the 0.5" offset) and the POI will always be above the laser dot out to 25 yards. If you zero at 50 yards, the laser dot will always be under the POI to 50 yards (absent trajecory issues).

Also, the further out you zero, the more you minimize the laser to bore angles. This prevents the crossover issue and simplifies life signficantly.

Zero at the maximum range that you expect to use the pistol. For me, I zero everything including J frames at 25 yards.

[ToddG]

Different strokes. After 10 years of using Lasergrips, and having tried the boreline parallel approach, I find having the dot zeroed in both axes makes for less thought process. I agree that crossover happens, but if I'm zeroed at 25 yd that means I'm within half an inch (within your constant offset) out to 50yd. And in between the extremes (0 and 50), my margin of error is less than 0.5 inches. Even with my 15yd zero, my lateral offset is going to be about an inch at 50yd ... still well within, as you said, what is "absorbed" by group size at that range.

Unlike with a long gun, handgun ranges and handgun accuracy tend to cancel out offset.

Both methods will certainly work on the handgun. Seriously, my debate here becomes about half an inch at 25yd. :cool: