In order to hit a distant target a handgun must be correctly sighted-in, and to accomplish that the shooter must have some working knowledge of the bullet's trajectory. Sighting-in a pistol to hit a certain number of inches high at 25, 50, or 100 yards (or meters) maximizes the point blank range of the gun and cartridge and is superior to zeroing at a fixed distance. This system maximizes the distance in which no "hold over" is necessary. Of course, the actual distance the bullet should hit above the point of aim at, say, 25 yards varies with the individual caliber and load.

The table below is designed to serve as a starting point from which a shooter can work. Used as such it can save a lot of trial and error experimentation. Of course, no trajectory table can possibly cover all loads for all calibers in all handguns. So after sighting-in, always check your gun at various ranges to see how close its trajectory comes to the published data. This trajectory table can also serve as a comparative tool, allowing the reader to compare the trajectories of different cartridges or loads.

In ballistics catalogs the point of maximum bullet rise is often called the mid-range trajectory (MRT), or sometimes the maximum ordinate. A maximum rise of 3 inches is appropriate for hunting the smaller species of big game, and also for self defense purposes. The Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR), which is shown in the last column of the table below, is the distance at which the bullet falls 3 inches below the line of sight.

Most of the loads below are similar to popular factory loads for the selected cartridges. All trajectories were calculated for a handgun using iron sights 0.8 inches above the bore axis of the barrel. If your sights are not 0.8 inches over the bore your trajectory will vary from those given below. However, 0.8 inches is a reasonable average for iron sights. All trajectory figures are rounded off to one decimal place. While environmental factors such as altitude and ambient air temperature affect trajectory, their effect is relatively minor. For the record, this table was calculated for an air temperature of 60 degrees F and an altitude of 1000 feet. The following data was taken from various sources including reloading manuals and the online Ballistics Calculator provided by BigGameInfo.

For a greatly expanded version of this table with many more entries, see the "Expanded Handgun Trajectory Table" on the Tables, Charts and Lists Page.

To save space, the following abbreviations are used in the table below: Wb = Weight of bullet (in grains); MV = Muzzle Velocity (in feet per second); BC = Ballistic Coefficient; yards = yds.; inches = "; MPBR = Maximum Point blank Range.