Purchased a sd40 about 5 years ago shot many boxes of various loads at the range. Couldn’t hit the bullseye after four years. I thought it was me, practiced dry fire, muscle strengthening, eye exams, you name I did it. Eventually the range got taken over by the warden service and structured range with a range officer started. I asked the range officer to help he shot about six rounds and said “ there’s something wrong with this gun” no kidding I said.
More history on the gun, I changed the trigger to an Apex to reduce the 7 lb pull to about 4 and new sights. Used a sand bag to stabllize the gun and still shots 2-3 inches to the left. Moved the sights to the right and still the same. Are the sd40’s inherently inaccurate?

How's the grouping?

I had one. Operative word, had. My shotgun shot better groups. Shot my brothers Glock .40 and shot bulls. Not a Glock fanboy but I offered to buy it right then and there. SD40VE got sold and the new owner couldn’t hit diddly with it either.

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1SG, USA (Ret)

How'd the crown look?

My SD40VE was my first 40 Cal handgun. Had already owned/shot the SD9VE for about a year prior. No mods to either gun. I've had range officers/instructors ask what mods I had done to my guns, because I could shoot them so well/accurate. When I told them "no mods-all stock" they couldn't believe it. I've shot double action revolvers my whole life, till 2014 when I got my SD9VE. I've not had to make any sight adjustments to either, for them to hit center of mass and group very well with factory and reloads.

Not saying there's nothing wrong with your gun, and after 4 years you should have it figured out. But my SD9VE was my EDC for 2 years, till I got my Shield 40 & 9. All of them hit COM out of the box and my Shield 40 stacks 13 rounds in 1" cluster from 3 - 7 yards with factory ammo-and I'm NOT a great shot!!

Might try an M&P 40, if you want to stay with S&W, My LEO trade in 40 shoots as well as my FS 9 & 45.

With guns, for the most part, you get what you pay for . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Hah...gotta strongly disagree with that--and not just for
guns, for most anything else that's sold.

Send the gun back to S&W describing what's wrong with it, put the gun back to stock before sending it off.

Way too early for that. OP hasn't responded with how the
pistol groups (or doesn't).

He also said he moved "the sights" to the right--both front,
and rear?

AFA relying on opinion of a "range officer" as to functionality of
a firearm, I have a funny story that happened at a local DNR
range that was also converted to supervised operation. In a word,
"don't".

Grouping was 2-3 inches to the left. I shouldn't have to justify the range officers qualifications, other than the warden service qualified him. I wasthinking about sending the gun back to S&W for service ice, but the person I spoke with said that they might not work on it due to the personal changes I made.
In the interim I did purchase a S&W M&P Shield 40. Feels well in my hand with the 7 round mag, so I'll get mag extenders to keep my pinkie on the gun.

Way too early ? He had the gun for 5 years ?

What mods. did you make that you can't change O.P. ?

Too early to diagnose if the problem is with the pistol...

We already had that. What's the SIZE of group--3" at
25 yards, 15" at seven yards?

If you're cutting a cloverleaf at 25 yards, a few inches to
left of aim, the pistol is not "inaccurate". Without the grouping
information, it's impossible to diagnose.

You don't. But don't take for granted that he's knowledgeable or even
experienced with firearms, because he was hired for that
job. I know two guys that were hired for that exact purpose and
neither knows much about firearms. They know the rules & regs, and that's it.

Did you actually move both front & rear sights to the right, as your
first post indicates?

O.P. You say your shooting 2 to 3" to the left ?

Sarcastic Steve wants to know, WHAT SIZE GROUPS ARE YOU GETTING & WHAT DISTANCE ARE YOU SHOOTING FROM ?

ALSO, MYSELF & STEVE WANT TO KNOW, IF YOU MOVED BOTH SIGHTS TO THE RIGHT ? OR DID YOU JUST MOVE FRONT OR REAR SIGHT TO THE RIGHT ?

IF YOU MOVED BOTH SIGHTS TO THE RIGHT AS YOU SAID YOU DID, IT WILL SHOOT TO THE LEFT.

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SIGHT IN OPEN OR IRON SIGHTS ?

SINCE YOUR'E SHOOTING LEFT EITHER MOVE YOUR'E FRONT SIGHT LEFT ( CHASE THE BULLET HOLE ) OR MOVE REAR SIGHT THE WAY YOU WANT THE BULLET HOLE TO MOVE ON SAID TARGET.

NOW CENTER YOUR SIGHTS, SHOOT AGAIN, MOVE SIGHT ACCORDINGLY.

THIS ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT GROUP SIZE YOU ARE GETTING ? THAT WAS ASKED IN THE VERY FIRST REPLY IN THIS THREAD.

3 OUT

HELLOOOOOOO ARE YOU THERE THERE THERE OLDGAMER6333333 ?

Duly noted. The following phrase is rampant in the internet zeitgeist, and I agree with it. Cheap Fast Quality. Choose two . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Yah, yah. Version I heard was fast, cheap, reliable--pick two.
Same idea.

Life's an IQ test. Half the population's on low side of the
bell curve. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Maybe he's gaming us...lol

That's the problem people want ALL 3, Cheap, fast & quality. You want quality nowadays as was said, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT & HOPE IT IS WHAT THEY SAY IT IS. DO YOUR HOMEWORK WHEN BUYING ANYTHING ANYMORE, IT DOES PAY OFF MOST OF THE TIME.

You can't even rely on ratings for any products that are sold because they are being corrupted by the company selling the product ? But it's all we have is, ratings or reviews & forums like these to make our choices.

Don't even want to get into reputations of good companies that are now sold to ? Then quality goes down the toilet.

I have found that testing POA/POI off a rest can be problematic.

The first photo shows a 3 shot group fired standing, offhand at an ISSF target from my Ruger Mini-14 at 25 meters after I fitted a pistol grip stock and removed the scope. The three previous rounds, fired off a rest, all impacted the top of the 10 and the 9 ring at about 1 o’clock as can be seen by the patches.

Photo 2 is a 6 shot group fired single action from my 686-4 AFS at 50 yards from a roll over prone position with my upper arm braced on the ground. The next 6 rounds, fired seated with my forearms braced on my knees, was centred in the target but all but 1 hit were in the 8 and 9 rings.

The next two 6 shot groups, fired standing, unsupported from either side of the barricade were centred horizontally on the target but grouped high at 12 o’clock around the 7 ring.

Pistols can also be very picky about ammo. My two 9mm’s, a pre Witness Tanfoglio CZ75 clone bought in the mid ‘90’s and a Kimber Stainless Target II 1911 bought in early 2017 both shoot very well with the ammo they like, but give barely adequate groups with the other gun’s ammo. And the difference between the two loads is just .2 gn of powder and a slightly deeper seating depth.

I’d find the brand/weight of ammo that gives the smallest group then sight the pistol in for the most realistic self defence distance (15 meters) firing unsupported.

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View from down under

Shooting off a rest can be a problem if you don't do it right ? I've seen so so many people sighting in by placing the rifle barrel on the rest, public shooting ranges ? Others put the very end of the fore end on the rest & their flimsy stock pushes up on the barrel, then the ones who pull down on the sling hard, ones who put their hand over the barrel so it doesn't free recoil.

Depends on what kind action you have ? Also what type of stock you have on the gun ? But I only touch the gun with 1 hand, butt tight against my shoulder & let it free recoil off the rest. I know a few guys like my boss who only sights in off hand, won't shoot off of a rest ? Too each their own I guess ?

Yes ammo is a big issue in some guns with accuracy, either bullet weight, grains of powder, types of powder, O.A.L. even down to the type of primers ect...

For some people, firing a round can be problematical.

I didn't get what you were trying to say in your post.

Care to break it down?

I read his post then read it again then broke it down in paragraphs to try to understand it better.

I kind of got what he was saying since seeing how some people bench their guns.

I totally agreed on finding the right ammo for your gun, I tried to break it down in my post.

But sometimes I'm on the CONFUSER WAAAAY TOO LONG & reread what I just wrote or posted & I can't even understand what in the HE)) I JUST WROTE. LOL

Shooting off a rest can give a different point of impact that shooting unsupported. The OP spoke only of shooting from a rest.

And ammo,selection/tuning to a particular pistol,also,needs to be taken into account.

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View from down under

I've been shootin' a long time guys and I have seen this more than my fair share at the range. I recently ran into a pair of young guys that were shooting a SD40VE and I overheard one guy complain that he couldn't hit anything with it. Being the ever so enthusiastic shooter that I am I offered to have me try the gun out. At 25 yards I hit a 8" steel plate 3 out of the 5 shots, the other shots missed by inches. Neither one of these young guys couldn't hit within 1 or 2 feet of it. Ok I'm not a marksman by any means however my point is, IMHO, the OP's SD40 accuracy will improve in time


The trigger is different in the SD series... master it. Get plenty of dry fire practice at home...

I figured he just wanted to post pics of groups he
shot...RELEASE THE SCHMOO!!!

Keep yer stick on the ice...

Same here, done it a few times. Leaves the guys with mixed
feeling--the gun's ok, after all; you just can't shoot it (yet).

AFA "range officers" being versed in firearms...a local state
range was fairly recently turned into a staffed, supervised
operation. I hadn't been out there in a while, and decided to
take two new-to-me firearms out: a CMP Garand and a surplus
Beretta 92S. Got there on a weekday afternoon, was only
shooter there. I parked and asked the RO's what was going on;
one young man sternly advised me that "this is now a
DNR supervised firing range" and that I needed to comply with
all rules and regulations.

Long story shorter, as the only shooter, I had the honor of two
newly-minted RO's hovering over every move I made. While
shooting the Garand, one commented to the other "I don't
understand why anyone would want a gun that pukes it's
guts out, when it's functioning normally." He apparently didn't
notice that I, too, was wearing amplified muffs.

I told them I wanted to fire the 92S, and the non-Garand guy
followed me over there. I stuck a target out at the 25 yard line
and fired about ten rounds, just to check function and get a
sense of accuracy--I was ready to end this range session early,
at that point. I fired the mag standing, offhand, and brought
the target back.

The rounds were in a four or five inch blob (that's a technical
term, mind you), all in the black. Good enough for a quick
check, for me. As I was looking at it, the RO--who'd been
standing about two feet behind me, the whole time I was
firing--looked over my shoulder and said "Oh, that's weird!".

I looked at him and asked "How's that?". He said "Well, usually
the first (double action) round isn't in the same area as the
rest of the (single action) shots."

I had a few quick thoughts, and settled on telling him
"I've just been shooting 92s for awhile", and left it at that.

But he really had all the rules about the range down...

I've heard this so many times from other shooters at our outdoor range often when I'm shooting my revolvers. There's some out there that are of the opinion that a revolver shooter cannot shoot as fast and as accurately as a semi auto... I beg to differ.

My revolvers are much more accurate compared to my semi's. I even hand load for all my guns to get the best I can out of them.

I can't shoot my revolvers faster than my semi's but my revolvers are a bigger caliber also, much more recoil. I also don't shoot them as much as my semi's.

Use better ammo. SD40VE + Speer Law Man 155 gr TMJ = tack driver

Is the SD inaccurate?

Watch this:
shooting the SD40 - Yahoo Video Search Results

Then watch this:

shooting the SD9 - Yahoo Video Search Results

Have Smith put a new barrel in your pistol..........the barrel lockup is out of spec.

The SD's are inherently as accurate as any other mass-produced pistols with the Browning action. The design of the SD, and the manufacturing of the barrel, etc., are equal to other guns in the class, even though they are a little less expensive. The SD itself can inherently shoot as well as any M&P, Glock, XD, Canik, Sig, etc., striker-fired gun.

The next level of guns, with perhaps slightly better manufacturing processes, tighter tolerances across all products of one design, better fitting of the Browning actions, etc., is presumably more accurate than the guns mentioned above although their design is pretty much the same. This might include the Hk's, FNs, Classic Sig-Sauers, CZ's, etc.

But practical accuracy, how the gun interfaces with the shooter, might be of greater significance than inherent accuracy. Sights, triggers, etc., don't affect inherent accuracy if they are set up right but sure can affect practical accuracy. We spend a lot of time and money working on sights and triggers, and on practicing with the ones we have, to wring out the best practical accuracy a given platform is capable of achieving in our hands and using our eyes.

Some individual guns may have problems based on how each one was made or assembled, how much variation there might be in the barrels and the way they lock up, etc., which will affect the inherent accuracy of that particular platform. That is, some guns are stinkers because of the way that particular one came from the factory or because they were damaged or abused. Sometimes a design error gets in the way, too, affecting a group of similar guns: I recall the M&P-9's having a different twist rate prior to 2012 than they do now, and with some ammo weights, that caused them to throw flyers. I never got a couple of my M&P-9's from that era to shoot well for me, and I ended up selling them. But those sorts of problems are hard to detect in individual guns.

The OP could have an issue that affects his particular SD-40, or he might be having a practical accuracy problem with it -- his ability to shoot that trigger or use those sights or get a comfortable grip with those grips, or a recoil management issue with .40 S&W in a light pistol, etc., that would yield the same results (or problems) with any SD-40 he shoots. This is where getting someone else to shoot the particular gun, or using a bench rest, can take out individual (shooter) variables and make it easier to assess the inherent accuracy of that gun itself. (We also often try different types of ammo to determine if a particular design of gun has an inherent accuracy problem with a particular weight or design of bullet)

I've had guns that I couldn't shoot particularly well, and others that really work well for me. My S&W revolvers are generally easier for me to shoot than semi's, but among semi-autos, I have varying levels of success. I shoot my P239 better than almost any semi, and my 586 L Comp better than any gun I've ever shot. I suspect these results come from those guns having very good inherent accuracy (e.g., great designs that are really well made) and from their sights, grips, triggers, etc., just working well for me -- providing me in particular with very good practical accuracy on top of that.

Anyway, the solution to the OPs problem is to isolate out the variables and attempt to find out if the problem is inherent to that particular gun or if he is having a practical accuracy problem relating to how he interfaces with that gun considering his personal level of skill. (As mentioned, ammo is also a variable to be isolated and experimented with). I think this is what most of the suggestions in this thread are dealing with -- isolating the variables to identify which ones are the critical ones giving him the undesirable results.

One solution never to be overlooked is to just sell a gun that doesn't work well for you (without worrying about it too much) and keep trying others until you find one that does. That's the one that will allow practice and training to pay off. I knew those M&P-9s from before 2012 weren't working for me (at least not with 124 grain bullets) long before I read about the systemic reason they were having problems.

Long post, I know, but I think there are some useful ideas in there somewhere.

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S&W Rover