100 or 200 Yard Zero???

[RockyMtnMT]

Like what's been brought up, there is zero range and zero height, I zero at 100 so enviro's don't mess with what I'm getting, by 300 I can see substantial effects especially from wind. I usually will zero a couple inches high at a 100 to give me a nice PBR but it's all done at 100 so it's stable across all of my hunting year.

I do know that you shoot your intended zero yardage and confirm it just like you confirm your dope at 1000y etc.

Steve

 

[Bravo 4]

I zero most rifles at 100, then when I get to my intended hunting spot I adjust to match the scenario. If my range only goes to 200 just add an moa or so, depending on rifle. If I am at a spot that may only go to 350 I may do a MPBR. If I'm at one of my favorite elk siting spots I set it for 600, as that's the closest shot I will get.
For my big gun I had a 400 yard zero as that's the closest I ever plan on hunting with it. That is gonna change back to 100 because I find myself having to re-zero when I make the 8,000+ foot elevation change to hunt in the mountains. Don't have to do that with my 100 yard zero guns, the POI difference at that range is so minuscule it is irrelevant.

 

[Canhunter35]

I used to use 200yd zeroes, but I've taken to 100yd zero especially with zero stop turrets, but then I dial it to my max pbr when I go hunting. Easy to check 100yd zero especially in wind.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Been thinking about this thread. I think many of the guys here that prefer to work at 100y don't stop there and just rely on the math of the drop chart / balistics calculator. They do verify those farther down range solutions.

If there are guys looking at this that are thinking they can verify a solid zero at 2" high at 100 that will give them a true zero at 300y and they will be good to go when they get to their hunting spot to use hold over reticles or dial yardage out to 1000y are looking for a train wreck with animal victims.

The math and bc's are not reliable. Every rifle system is different. I wind up with different bc values for the same bullets in twin rifle systems. I quit worrying about why and just adjust bc values until the projected drops match field drops.

I hope this clears up my position. No one can figure out long range solution without leaving the 100y butt.

Steve

 

[quarterman]

I always zero my rifles for 300 yards, so if I was going to zero my rifle for 100 or 200 I would go with the 200 yard zero

 

[Canhunter35]

Been thinking about this thread. I think many of the guys here that prefer to work at 100y don't stop there and just rely on the math of the drop chart / balistics calculator. They do verify those farther down range solutions.

If there are guys looking at this that are thinking they can verify a solid zero at 2" high at 100 that will give them a true zero at 300y and they will be good to go when they get to their hunting spot to use hold over reticles or dial yardage out to 1000y are looking for a train wreck with animal victims.

The math and bc's are not reliable. Every rifle system is different. I wind up with different bc values for the same bullets in twin rifle systems. I quit worrying about why and just adjust bc values until the projected drops match field drops.

I hope this clears up my position. No one can figure out long range solution without leaving the 100y butt.

Steve

I wonder if It could be the twist rates of separate rifles. 1:8 twist vs 1:8.1 twist in another as an example do u think?

I generally tweak bc until I'm happy, sometimes I wonder if atmospheric conditions in extreme case start to affect the bc. Example -1500 density altitude. It's so **** cold then I don't really do any testing, just knock 100-125fps off my dope and shoot under 600yds.

I usually tweak my velocity first though, then play with the bc if I find the curve isn't matching

 

[Clucknmoan]

I wonder if It could be the twist rates of separate rifles. 1:8 twist vs 1:8.1 twist in another as an example do u think?

I generally tweak bc until I'm happy, sometimes I wonder if atmospheric conditions in extreme case start to affect the bc. Example -1500 density altitude. It's so **** cold then I don't really do any testing, just knock 100-125fps off my dope and shoot under 600yds.

I usually tweak my velocity first though, then play with the bc if I find the curve isn't matching

That's what I was taught too. I shoot at 450 to 500 and adjust velocity to fit. Then shoot it at 800 and adjust BC to fit.

 

[Jakedasnke]

I used to use 200yd zeroes, but I've taken to 100yd zero especially with zero stop turrets, but then I dial it to my max pbr when I go hunting. Easy to check 100yd zero especially in wind.

This. If your gonna dial elevation it seems to be the best of both worlds. As always validate your trajectories

 

[DoneNOut]

Complicated question and it really depends. For hunting in the old way of expecting encounters at conversational distance up to say 400-500m your game animal size has something to say about how far you should not exceed for a zero. You want to be able to hold on-hair as far out as possible and still be able to put metal right into the pumping room right? To do that you need your Point Blank Range to match your game's vital area size divided by 2 to the maximum ordinal of the bullet (bullet height above line of sight). If you set it up so you're 2.5" high at 100yrds and dead on at 250 then you're good with many rifles to somewhere around 400yrds holding on hair. I personally never liked that way of doing things, it seemed to be kinda ball-parking things with something's life on the line for my taste.

The LRH crowd though tend to look much farther for shots and that old rule of thumb goes right out the window because of how you shoot at them. We/y'all tend to identify the exact range the critter is at, dial turrets to a precise firing solution and engage from a supported position. None of those things typically gets done the way I describe in the paragraph above. So you want a dead-on zero you can rely on as a solid reference point (so your ballistics DOPE works properly) and a scope that tracks like a rolling train. Simple enough. Now we've identified that you NEED a soild reference point to dial ballistic firing solutions properly.

Some very limited military and competition circumstances have a 600m zero being right (they're only needing to put metal on meat and wound someone, not necessariliy make sure it's dead and didn't suffer) but for our ostensible purposes of long range hunting and for long range precision rifle target shooting in general I teach my students to use a 100yrd/m zero. There's a simple reason for it. It's close enough that subtle changes in things like wind, muzzle velocity and air temperature become inconsequential to getting a really solid zero and far enough to be useful. 10mph of wind is going to be 1-2 clicks and up/down changes from MV and temp are not going not going to show up at all. As you get farther out it becomes tough to tell if you've got a spurious couple inches of wind dialed in or if terrain effect is throwing off your zero.

This system of configuration and use assumes that you'll be dialing your scope to your firing solution from the middle or its mechanical range to nearly the mechanical bottom of its range for zero setting and that when normally shooting you'll be dialing up, usually a significant amount. You don't want your scope at the actual bottom of its range though for optical reasons so careful selection of bases and rings should be exercised. If you're stopping shooting at 1000yrds or somewhere closer, you're not likely going to need 100MOA of adjustment. 40 will do so you can set up the scope to be in the middle of the range for most scopes we might tend to use (they frequently have 60-80moa or more of adjustment range). On most of my guns I'm set up for going to the supersonic limits of the bullet so I tend to set up my scopes near the mechanical bottom so I have the maximum amount of up left in the scope. I don't shoot anything closer than 200m except for my zeroing target.

So to sum up, you need to take cartridge performance, game size, typical engagement range, scope adjustment range, etc... all in to account and those will generally determine for you if you MUST go further than 100yrds or if you can get away with 100yrds.

FYI, a 600yrd zero is done by shooting at 100yrds and making the POI the requisite number of mils higher than the POA. You'd never shoot for a zero at 600yrds. Wind changes would jack you up bad. So even if you're looking for a longer than 100yrd zero, there's ZERO REASON to actually shoot that zero at beyond 100 physical yards. Just adjust POI vs. POA so that the angular adjustment is there already.

If that's not insanely clear, I apologize. I tried.

Wow

 

[Hoss50]

I zero at whatever range is needed to be able to hold dead on from 0-300 yards and not have to worry much about being out of the kill zone. Usually about 230 yards or so. I can hold dead on from 0-300 and if I do my part I get good results.

 

[jjmp]

All great answers , I've been useing the 200 yd Zero ,but it depends where I'm hunting ,of course I test and shoot longer on the range to verfy drops just in case &then write it down on paper and tape it to my rifles stock , I also take my range finder with me ,cause it's Better then guessing and walking .

 

[GSP814]

I like a 100 yard zero and dial the scope.

 

[UplandFreak]

I used to use MPBR zero several years ago before I started spinning dials. Then I used a 200 yard zero for a while. The problem with the longer zeros is they are more impacted by changes in elevation. All my guns are zeroed at 600ft and I regularly hunt at 9000 ft. Its was a huge problem. So I have started zeroing everything at 100 yds. I can still spin the turret to whatever mpbr is for that specific caliber while I am hiking around.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

100 yard zero for me. Again, it's what I'm used to. It is also as a result of hunting mostly in close range stuff Michigan, and stand hunting in Texas. Also, I like to only have the wind and my fundamentals to worry about in the heat of the moment. So, I take the time to dial to as closely as I can and time provides. I've got right at 15" of drop on my 308 with hunting rounds. Not sure if 200 or 300 yard zero guys concern themselves with hold under or not, but it stresses me out just thinking about holding under hair on a 60 yard shot with 308, should that shot present.