100 yd zero?

[Jon A]

I've noticed from some posts here and on other boards that many of you zero your rifles for 100 yds. Why?

I know you adjust the scopes to whatever range, etc, but wouldn't even 1" or 1.5" high at 100 simply mean you need no adjustment out to 300 or so (depending on your rifle) and "fewer clicks required" at longer ranges? Is there any specific reason you guys don't do this?

I'm wondering because whatever load I end up with in the 300 RUM should be flat shooting enough for a 300 yd zero without having to worry about excessive mid-range trajectory. 400 yds will only be 6 or 7 clicks away, etc. Is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks.

 

[Brent]

Hello Jon, all your drop charts are based on and referanced to the initial 100yd zero ie. 24.5moa up = 700yd zero with my 416wby and a 400gn XLC at 2550fps at +50degF. I understand your question, and yes you could and might need to carry in the field zeroed at 2 or 300yds BUT your elevation dial should indicate how far past your 100yd zero you are, weather its 2moa and on a 200yd zero or 4moa and on a 300yd zero and so on. My rifle is carried on 2.25moa for 200yds in the woods and short range under 300yds, when I'm on the hill it doesn't much matter, my rangefinder and drop chart tell me where I need to be and that takes about 10 or 15 seconds in all and I'm settling in for the shot.

Later
Brent

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: Brent ]

 

[Dave King]

Jon A

We zero at 100 to get a "standard" setting on the scope. Once zeroed at 100 ,many of us reset the turrets to indicate "0" on the turret marks.

Here's another post about it.

"Althought not completely universal the 100 yard zero is very common. From a 100 yard zero setting we can all talk about the number of Minutes of Angle (MOA) we need to get to a certain distance and hold for Point Of Aim (POA) to Point Of Impact (POI).
As an example: I use a 308 Winchester a lot so when someone asks me for my 500 yard data for a particular load I simply reply "11.5 Minutes Up" which they immediately (in most cases) understand to mean that I adjust my scope up by 11.5 MOA over my 100 yard zero.

Many of the long range shooters have a little chart taped to their rifle somewhere. This little chart shows distances and elevation numbers. (My chart is inside the rear scope cap) I can loan my rifle (AND ammo) to another shooter and after he verifies that his 100 yard zero while shooting my rifle is correct for him he has all the additional data he needs to shoot the rifle to any distance (1000 yards or so)."


I don't believe many of use "walk around" with the scope set to the 100 yard "0" mark. I personally walk about on either 1 MOA up or 2 MOA up depending on the size of the critter I'm after.

 

[Jon A]

OK. I understand.... Thanks.