I was wondering if anyone else out there is having accuracy issues with their 40S&W? I am used to a combat hold for sight alignment:

Combat Hold:


Rather than a Target Hold:


I use the combat hold when shooting my wife’s S&W M&P 9mm compact and my friends Glock 22 and I feel that my accuracy is more than satisfactory. All of that to say, I feel confident that I know how to shoot a pistol and get combat accurate hits. It is for this reason that I was so surprised when I took my P250 out, and when using a combat hold, was consistently hitting low. 6 or more inches low! Now I know there are numerous factors that should be taken into consideration. The most notable being the DAO trigger. There is no doubt that I need more trigger time and it is for this reason that I have been dry firing with snap caps. Even dry trigger time is better than no trigger time IMHO.

I was not hitting low and left. I was not hitting left or right. I was just hitting low by several inches. For example, I had to completely cover the “X” on a silhouette in order to get close to where I wanted. Am I anticipating recoil? I do not think so. I want to put the gun on a rest and shoot it. That would, I hope, definitively tell me if it is me or the gun.

Has anyone else experienced low hits with their 40S&W? It seems like I have read something related to this on the SIGForum. Any advice is appreciated!

Well, I sent my compact 40S&W off to Exeter, NH. :( My trusty P250 is my daily carry gun and I feel utterly naked without it. I sent my gun back to Sig because it has always shot low (from round 1 until now 1000+). I always suspected the gun, but I was more than willing to accept blame given that it has a DAO trigger and I knew I would need time to get used to it, but come on! Surely I would be used to it by now! That’s over 1000 live rounds of different flavors. That does not even include all of my dry firing.

So, I called Sig to tell them about my problem. The agent was very courteous and polite and assured me that I should not be having any accuracy problems (duh). As a caution he told me that they receive guns every day that are sent back to Sig because of accuracy issues and a lab guy takes the gun back to the range and utterly destroys the center of the target. The problem is, in most cases, the owner of the gun. Therefore, Sig now has a policy that if they receive a gun that does not actually have a problem, they charge the customer the shipping cost, plus a box of ammunition, plus an hour of their time (~$100.00). So I told him before I sent the gun in I would take myself out of the equation as best as I could by shooting from a bench rest. I asked him what distance I should shoot at and he told me 15 yards.

So, I went to my back yard range (I live on 35 acres) measured off exactly 15 yards, set up the table, the rest, and went to work. I shot 3 – 13 round magazines and 1 – 11 round magazine at a target used for sighting in rifles (50 rounds total). I shot at a target in each of the four corners and on average, at 15 yards from a rest, I was 4 inches low. I shot Federal 180 grain, FMJ. I took the box top and stapled it to the target and folded the target up. One other note worthy thing – the first agent told me to make sure I was shooting combat style, point-of-aim = point-of-impact (e.g. front sight post dot is where the bullet should be hitting. I called Sig back and told the agent my results and they emailed me a shipping label. I boxed up my gun and one clip, the target and shipped it off. It was received by Sig on June 1st. At this point I do not know the results. Will I be paying Sig a hundred bucks or is the problem really with my gun? I will let you all know as soon as I hear something.

So was it the gun?

The P250 does seem to be a tough gun to learn to shoot well. I was certain my sights were off when I first got mine. I consistently shot great groups, just a few inches low and left. Over the course of about 800 rounds, my groups moved to the right, and then up to where they should be. I'm currently shooting 9mm, but after renting a .40 cal P229 (which led to buying a 9mm P229) I have a curiosity about .40 cal that has driven me to track down a .40 cal kit for my P250. Looking forward to shooting it soon!

Most of my guns were taken by Ms. Katrina a few years back so I am just getting back into shooting. It pains me to think what I lost but my first new gun was the 250 and I love it. I can tell you however that after over 5 years away from the range it was like riding a bike but you are right about the low feeling. For me I seemed more on target with a one handed grip. But rangetime will tell the tale. My wife shot dead on but did not like the kick. I am going to keep at it and see how it works out but I have a feeling that the grain and grip make a big difference with this gun. Good luck.

The biggest problem that I've seen with people not shooting well with the P250 seems to come from people trying to "stage" the trigger by pulling it very slowly until it "breaks". Since the trigger is like a nice old custom revolver, I think the P250 should be shot the same way. The trigger should be one smooth pull all the way through until the gun fires. The more you practice, the faster you will get but remember to start off nice and smooth. Speed and accuracy will both be the pay-offs from your practice.