QUOTE="SavageHunter11, post: 1630839, member: 100006"]Something that has always perplexed me is why guys will sight in their rifles at 150, 200, 300, etc yards. Why would you not just sight in for 100 yards and learn your drops/elevation adjustments for anything beyond that? In my head, if I sight in for 300 yards I need to remember hold-overs for anything past 300 and hold-unders for anything inside 300 which is seems overly complicated. I'm a sight in at 100 yard guy but I want to understand why you would sight in at a different distance as I feel like I am missing something here.[/QUOTE]
There are a lot of reasons. Here's just one. Its called point-blank.
Ive used two basic methods. Full and half sized kill zones.
The pictures below are for the same gun. Same load with a 100 yrd zero, a 250 yard, a 300 zero and a 327 zero and a 7" kill zone. (The point blank changes with different cartridges/speeds/and the animal being hunted)
Look at the photos.
With a 100 yard zero I can hold center of my target out to 253 yards. I can aim slightly high or low in that zone depending on distance.
But with same gun zeroed at 250 yards my point blank is 323 yards.
A 300 yard zero and my point blank becomes 360 yards.
A 327 zero and I'm point blank to 381 yards. No
No Muss. No fuss. No worries.
I'm not thinking of ups/downs till I'm past my point blank distances. I'm simply ensuring Im within my free fire zone. If you hunt animals that move a lot you can find yourself dithering with a laser and turrets when you should be shooting.
The flatter your gun or the larger your kill zone the farther you can set zero.
The trick is to find the point in your arc where your bullet is the same distance above the line of sight (high) as the kill zone. In this case its 327.
So at 200 yards I'm holding low in the kill zone. At 381 I'm holding top of my 7" circle.
Some people use the above method and hold high or low in the kill area.
Some use the half kill zone method.
Divide the zone by 2.
Now assume you are hunting moose. And you have a 14" kill zone. Using the 7" point blank you can hold center mass out to 381 yards and have a killing shot without thinking.
If you ever find yourself shooting at other than animal situation knowing your point blank distances might work well for you.