What is your baseline zero a dial adjustable scope?

[yobuck]

Yes, in the class there is a section on load development and you load the ammo you will shoot in the class before going to the range. There are several options depending on the bullet you want to use, and a list of different powders and charge weights that will produce close to the velocity needed to match the reticle and then you adjust to that velocity. I shot several loads at 1000 yards that all worked. The nominal is a 180 grain Nosler Accubond at 3,370 fps. If you are not a hand loader you can buy the ammunition from them.
The simple part is that it is a turn key system, with scope rifle and ammo tuned together.
However it is a simple matter to adjust for other calibers which I have done for my 6.5-300 Wby with everything from 135 grain Berger Classic Hunters to 156 grain Extreme Outer Limits and from 3450 down to 3150 FPS. You simply sight the load in for 300 yards and then adjust the magnification for the 1000 yard dot to align with the point of impact. You don't actually have to shoot at 1000 yards, you can use a ballistic calculator to build a drop table like you would for your turret scope and mark a yard stick, to correspond to the 1000 yard drop in MOA and then adjust the power on the scope to match and then mark it.
I've actually done this and it works really well.

There is no need to shoot 1400 yards or even 1200 yards hunting because it is beyond the ethical distance to insure proper bullet function for a humane kill. The 1200 yards was simply to demonstrate how the system works.
In the class Mark teaches that we want above 1800 fps impact velocity to be ethical, and I agree with him.

I'm the design engineer for Berger Bullets and often see the results when velocity falls below this floor. It isn't good, for our bullets or our competitors. I test them all. Here is an example of a 208 grain EOL at 1150 fps impact velocity with an elk.

Well, you as an engineer would for sure have an advantage over the average guy in regard to all of this.
But there is also a more important aspect to it.
What you are in fact doing, and possibly encouraging others to do as well, is to complicate that which in reality isnt complicated at all.
And if it were, then young kids and adults with little experience wouldnt be able to do it.
Regardless of the cartridge, the scope, or how the scope was zeroed.
You were successful at the school for one reason, you listened.
And so can others be successful even if they never attend any formal school, or use any special scope.
All they need do is listen.
Just be carefull who you listen to.
Back in those deep hollows i spoke about, the 6.5x 300 Wetherby died in the early 70s, for very good reasons.
And Berger bullets wont be bringing it back to life. lol
As for distance for killing animals, the vast majority of them are killed well under 1000 yards.
The main reason being conditions, not distance.
And another major factor is how people go about it from the standpoint of equipment, other than the gun and a rangefinder.
The old cliche about when in Rome we do as the Romans do, could also apply to long range hunting.

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

Is how high is your scope?

I will have to take a measurement for ya because it has been awhile since I've moved a scope around. Generally I shoot with a 20 moa rail and 1" rings cause I use a 56mm scope most times. I will have to measure to give a definitive answer on that

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

Coming late to the party, as we just got back from Africa and I'm just catching up on emails. So, in answer to your question, no matter what distance you zero at, your bullet will never be lower than your scope height at close range. When using a 200 yard zero in a 30 caliber rifle shooting a 200 grain bullet with decent BC at 3000 fps, the bullet first crosses the line of sight at between 30-40 yards and then crosses again at 200 yards. Its highest point in the arc will be somewhere around 150-175 yards, but should not ever be more than 2" high. So anywhere between 5 yards and 240 yards, the bullet should never hit more than 2 inches from point of aim. When zeroing at 100 yards you're just lowering the top of the parabolic curve of the bullet's flight path to closer to the line of sight, so the first time it crosses line of sight will be more like 70 yards and then it crosses again at 100.

When I first started playing with rifles, everything I knew was gleaned from Jack O'Connor or Jim Carmichael in Outdoor Life. Their advice was to zero at 25 yards, which would put you about 1.5 inches high at 100 yds and back on zero about 225 yds. When I first started playing with the long range stuff, I tried setting zero at 100 yards, but after 40 yrs of the old way, my inelastic brain wasn't re-setting it's zero...

So, short answer, I zero at 225-240, hold to 300 and dial most shots over 300 if the animal allows. This did cause me to miss an opportunity on a pretty good waterbuck last week, as we spotted him, ranged him at 365, and as I was dialing, he started walking and then trotting off. The old me would have held a little daylight and squeezed it off, but the new, more precise me watched him trot away as I dialed

Thanks for the reply, I have learned this before but honestly forgotten about it because it's not often I put a target at 25 yards with a 6mm to a 300wsm and shoot. But when I do I'm always surprised at how low it hits at that distance. I know the faster a projectile is the lower it hits at 100, if I was to take a 70 grain projectile in the 6mm and shoot the same zero as a 103 or 105 grain projectile I'm typically 1" lower poi at 100 with the faster projectile and same goes all the way up to 300wsm. 150 grain vs 200 grains same results. I have never zeroed at 300 and stepped backwards all the way down to 25 but am definitely going to try now! This peaks my interest, thanks again for that info

 

[tacomHQ]

Anyone have ELR rifles with steep MOA bases that do not allow for SR/MR zeroing? Say under 300-500yds?

YES- actually well beyond 1000yd zeroes (which are very problematical). We run a well over 100moa bases and use our Bravo upside down to obtain 50-200yd sight ins. Run the scope thru its full travel (lets use 100 for my simple mind) with an Bravo upside down. Remove the Bravo and reset your turret to zero. Run the scope its full travel. Return the scope to zero add the Bravo upside right and run the scope again. You created 300moa of travel within one simple set up.