what is your rifle zero distance and why?

I see video after video comparing 25 , 36, 50 and 100 yard zeros

it of course changes for the use and caliber

some times you hear the 25 called 25-300 and the 50 called 50-250 these are generally in the context of AR rifles with a 2.7 to 3.1 inch height over bore. because those are the approximate points near and far the bullet crosses the line of sight in it's arch

this is just a survey of what you use

if you have different context like say you have a zero you use for 30-30 and a different for 223 or 308 ect.. what do you use for what caliber and why

3" high at 100 yds

Depends on bullet/ and caliber but usually on at 200yds or a bit low

I usually shoot Mt 7mm rem mag .for deer / Antelope 139 gr. interlock Hornaday bullets

Or Blue box Federal 100 gr. Softpoints out of my .243's Rifle or Pistol

30-30 is zeroed at 100. 22 at 50 22 hornet at 150 everything else at 300. the why is cause they are for hunting.

My 30-06 with 150g PSP's is zeroed at 200 yards. That puts it 1.75" high at 100 yards and 8.25" low at 300 yards. I don't know what range the bullet first crosses the line of sight but I would guess at about 35 yards.

Most of my shooting is at deer and under two hundred yards. That zero work well for me.

I hunt in 2-3 states every year and it varies so I have rifle zeroed for different scenarios.

For hunting in the local swamp and woods I have two old Marlins, one in 45-70 and one in 35 Remington. Both have a 100yd zero on them, as that is about the farthest I will shoot.

I have a Winchester in 30-30 with iron sights that has a 50yd zero for hogs out of the pirogue.

For hunting food plots and the longer shots I have a Tikka 30-06 and a Browning in 308, both zeroed for 200 as that is the max the food plots and lanes I hunt are cut.

I have a Sako S20 in 300WM with a Zeiss that is my long range/trophy gun. I have a 200 zero on the rifle, and have worked up my dope out to 1,000yds. With a proper wind call I can hit a 10" circle at 1K all day long. This is the rifle I use if I'm hunting trophy animals and want to hammer them.

My .22 and .17 have 50yd zeros, my 5.56/223 guns have 200yd zeroes.

I zero my .222 and .243 at 25 yards. This puts them both a bit high at 100 and back on at distance. I figure I’m more accurate at 25 in setting it up. I think the .222 is dead on at 225 and the .243 a bit further. Maybe I’ve done it wrong all my life.

3.5" High @ 100 yards with my 7MM Remington Magnum.

w

All my guns where lost in a freak boating accident.

50 yard zero. I have never shot at anything over 150 yards.

My 30-06 scoped bolt rifle I use to deer hunt has been set at 75 yards since I owed it. Bought it in 1975 and only use it for 9 day deer season. Hasn't let me down. Longest actually ranged deer I shot was 85 yards.
My 17 hmr is set at 100yds. I have only ever shot squirrels and targets with it. Longest measured head shot on squirrel to date is 65 yards.
My iron sight rifles I generally set to shoot on at 50 yards. Do have my scope shotgun out at 75 yd. Cross bow scope is set so my long mill dot is 50 yd
I really don't hunt where I need to stretch out that far.

Mac

200 yrds

I'm about 2 inches high at 100. .270 win.

it seems like most everyone here has a good handle on shooting some distance to get a zero , sort of expect hat from trapper man you all have a lot more experience hunting than so much of the population.

the mistake I see a lot of people make is to set up only on the near zero and expect it to be right out far

so say 25 yards as a very good example the math works out easy so you fire a 3 shot group at your target dot and your hitting that dot but in reality you are hitting 1/4 inch high and 1/4 inch right

1/4 of an inch at 25 yards is 1 MOA 1 minute of angle and at 100 yards that is 1 inch off 2 inches at 200 yards and 3 inches at 300 yards

so unless you are cutting a projectile size 1 hole group at 25 yards you are off in some direction further out

as an example one video the guy did comparing the different zeros he uses match ammo , shoots from a bench , shoots at 4 inch square targets with numbers on them and in the very first string of shot tells you where he held and shows where the bullets impacted , he was a half inch off right at 25 yards so he was then 2 inches off at 100 and 4 inches at 200 and 6 inches at 300 yards and that is basically exactly what his targets showed.
he was also about a 1/4 inch lower at 25 than what he said his hold was. so his 300 was really 3 inches off also

this is why shooting at some distance is important
you may not make little clover leaf groups at 200 yards it might be 2-3 inches , that is OK the center of that 5 to 10 round group is what you adjust off of , if you have a called flier then discard that , if you have a clear flier inches away from the rest of the group discard that.

100 is good 200 is better if your food centered left right at 200 even if you are a 1/4 inch off at 200 that is only 1/2 inch at 300 and and inch at 400 yards , wind will likely effect it more than that 1/4 inch at 200 yards

but if you were 1/4 inch off at 25 yards your 4 inches off at 400

most of us aren't really shooting 400 at game and if you are you better make sure you have shot at 400 at least every 50 yards between 0 and 400

don't be that guy who thinks bore sighted is good enough
bore sighted is to get you on paper
you also need to take into account height over bore in these calculations , so if you shoot it you know it , where if your going off some one else numbers a 1/4 inch makes a difference

I wrote an article for FFG on this a couple years ago. After 34 years guiding hunters and seeing almost every caliber on the planet in action, my advice is to zero every rifle to their maximum point blank range. I use a 6 inch target. Do this and you will be surprised at how easy it is. No scope dials to fiddle with, just aim and shoot.

Every center-rife rifle I have is zeroed at 200 yards, that make them solid 300 yard rifles. I hunt big game, no varmints.

2 of mine are dialed in at 100m cuz they got mrad reticles. Easier to dial em for long range. Hunting rifles are 1-2.5”a100yds depending on which gun.

I like to be about 1.5” high at 100 with my rifles. Rarely would shoot past 200 and it gets me to where I don’t have to think about it much until the 200 mark on deer sized game

I zero different things at different distances based on what they are

my 308 deer rifles are zeroed at 200yards this puts not more than 2 inches high at any point and about 2 inches low at 275 chances I am going to shoot a deer beyond 250 are really slim where I live

218 yards or 200 meters is the farthest my normal range goes out I have 200 yards and 200 meters marked

if it is good left right at 200 it is good wind will be more of a factor than the stacking of the amount you might have been off

200ish is good because even if a little wind the day you shoot it has very little effect on the projectile of a center fire rifle

.270/3" high at 100 yards.

100 yards and I use a LABRADAR. with all the variables and data I can produce a range card that is verifiable and consistent. I use to zero at 100 then shoot a group at 500 then do the math to determine the true BC then build a card. The 25-300 meter is for an AR with a carrying handle which puts the rear sight at 6" above center bore. It also uses military ball ammo which speeds, BC and bullet weight have to be duplicated for it to work. It will get you close though. Remember though you are trying to hit a full size torso at 300 so there is quite a bit room for error.

how do you calculate maximum point blank

is that 2.5 inches above line of sight to 2.5 inches below line of sight or something else

My .444 Marlin - 100 yd zero because it throws punkin balls.

Most of my other rifles, 30-06, 6mm Rem, .25-06, etc have a 200 yd zero plus or minus. Point blank range for them is 0 to 250 yds. I use BDC reticles (no dialing) and try to match the reticle subtensions to 100 yd increments out to 500 or 600 yds.

Depends on what I'm doing, the sight the gun and the caliber but generally
(When I say all cent fires I mean stuff that isn't gonna be affected by wind and what not at 100yd so not .22 hornet or similar
All centerfires with legit optics ( not red dots or LPVO's) are 100yd ad dead on as center as possible
All center fires with "other optics" 50yd
Center fires with just irons, depending upon the type of sites 35 bare minimum, 50yd preferred . Dont have any I want @ 100yd yet though.

Rimfires. 25 - 30 all the way round. Same for air rifles

Why ? Because at those distances less crap can happen to make your ZERO in correct. For center fires this can be how a person shoots, really high wind , possible problems with reloads ect. With rimfires and air rifles the same goes but you also have to deal with "dwell time".

Not to mention I HATE the whole deal of what's supposed to happen. I zero in at at those distances then log all my data into my ballistic program and then a true and test everything to my max distance. I've just seen way too many people screw the pooch by doing the whole " well if I sought it in 4" high at 50 at 300 I'll drop in on him" . Yeah no I like knowing at 50 I'm her at 100 I'm dead on at 150 I'm here and so on. I've just like being able to say if I can only see a small vital zone I know EXACTLY where why holds are, not should be. I don't like track and I prefer my animals to drop DRT. And being that anal about things let's be move away from the big middle shots/boiler room shots and on to CNS shots. And I have to say if you hunting in a form.whwre you can take your time taking your shots and possibly even dialing in. If your able to on. Your scope I think that's the best thing to do. I mean if course if your doing something where its going to be snap shorts / limited exposure then if couiother methods make way more sense.

Also those distances I zero are generally where I expect a vast majority of my shots to be made and I want them pin point as possible. Habit I picked up from air rifle hunting that's really really severed me well.

When I was shooting Appleseed know distance I found the 25 yard zero cutting bullet holes was where I wanted to be , another way to say it would have been 6 inches high at 100 yards

20 inch barrel m193 ammo 6" high at 100 , 10" high at 200 , 7" high at 300 and 4" low at 400 yards , one zero 4 distances bottom hold the target for 100-300 yards and hold the 5 on the target at 400 yards dropped nearly every round into the V ring of the target.
watched a bunch of guys dialing stuff in at distances and it is a place to get tired and mess up then have to try and figure out what you dialed in wrong.

I go the full 3" above and below. Depending on caliber and load it's usually 3" high around 150 yds and 3" low at around 300 yds. I shot every 50 yds out from a hundred yds to verify. My varmint guns usually just 2" high at a hundred works for my shooting.

I’m not satisfied with the 25 yards zero without shooting at 100 and over. Those 25 yard shots must be right together.

25 yards is a good starting point. scope or sight can be way off and you still hit paper. if you think you may shoot 300 then finish up at 300 or two hundred or 8 hundred. but you need to shoot to figure out your rifle. those books and charts and calculators are fine but they dont replace pulling the trigger.

1 in high at 100 in 270
6 mm 1/2 in at 100
222 dead on at 200

Dead on at a 100 yds w/ .450 Bushmaster.

17hmr, used for coyote hunting with hounds, I sight in 1.5" high at 100 yds. That puts zero at about 150 yds and MPBR at 175... (going on memory). This makes for the ability to make quick shots at those distances ...them coyotes dont give you much time with a hound pushing them

All mine are zeroed for MPB range simply because can't afford the scopes with up/down left/right dials when getting ready to shoot
Plus don't carry a range finder

For (most )rifles, 2" high at 100 yards are good out to roughly 275 yards for deer sized animals.

I'm talking necked cartridges.

30_30 /45_70ish not included.

My 30 06 with buris fullfild
160 zero
1st line 226 zero
2 332 zero
3. 440
4. 548

Zero = 99yrds to 185 in two inch circle
1. 117 ". ". 235. Four inch
2. 131. 275. Six
3. 145. 308. Eight
4. 157. 336. Ten
Holding zero hi and low.

Muzzle 2730
180 grain Accu Bond

Sighted in for big game hunting.

I agree

one of the points I was making is make sure your good at the max range you intend to shoot find where you can't shoot any more

especially don't base your data on the near zero because your error adds up quickly at range

where if your right at 200 you won't be off closer

200 with my 7mm STW, 270, and 308. 100 with the wife's 260 simply because it has a scope with a BDC reticle (which I don't like but haven't got around to replacing) and those line up very close with the loads I am loading for it with hundred yard increments out to 600 when it is sighted in at 100. 100 yard zero on the 218 Bee improved, 223's and 200 on the 22-250. 25 yard zero on the 45/70 because it is used for hound hunting bears and that is farther than I ever actually shoot it. Rimfires anywhere from 25-100 depending on the gun. Pistols at 25 except the Contender, which has the rimfire barrel at 50 and the centerfire barrels zeroed at 100.

2" high at 100 yd. We could shoot out to 450 but rare. Most shooting 200 or closer.

NOT!!!
Not holding on fur (factory chambers)

2 inches high at 100yd would probably be fine for 200.


are you saying that is your sight in for 450yards? or just that you could find a place open enough that you could shoot 450 but you don't shoot that far

Depends on the caliber. You can use a maximum point blank calculator for your load. The idea is to sight your rifle in so that your bullet will never be above or below a 6 inch circle. Think of it like shooting down a pipe. This takes all the guess work out of shots because most calibers point blank range will be in excess of 200 yards.

Shooting rifles that launch at 2900 to 3200 fps, 2 inches high at 100 yards, with max distance out to 250 yards. Most of our deer as taken at 200 yards or less, so that allows one to simply point and shoot with no consideration for hold over or elevation concerns inside that distance. Unless wind is honking, no need to worry about wind either.

Plug your load into this calculator and it will show you how to sight in for your MPBR. Only way to go as far as Im concerned.

https://shooterscalculator.com/point-blank-range.php

22lr=50 yard zero
17hmr=100 yard zero, 4 inch low at 150, and 8 inches low at 200, aim accordingly
All my high powers are zeroed at 200. This will kill anything I need to shoot from close up to about 250. I have a dope chart made up for each rifle for the longer shots.

not far off what I do then , I run my data in the balistics calculator

sight height over bore , velocity , bullet length , BC , weight
let it run the numbers then look for that +- 2.5 playing with the zero range , then if it is a recital with MOA hashes or BDC hashes , play with it a little to try and make it line up at usable distances

this zero is 32/200 I am actually a lot more likely to shoot a deer closer to 32 yards than 200 in most of the places I hunt but zero at 200 because it leaves a lot of options open , that makes the 1.5moa has line up for 256 close enough to 250 to call it that.

this is a 308 180gr load
I have taken the rifle to 420 on steel but in any sort of wind I am not confident enough in my wind call.
250ish is probably my max range shot with that rifle without spending a lot more time with it shooting it in different wind at that range
so far it has taken more cows at inches than deer at hundreds of yards.

my calculator and yours arrive in the same place

Yea you can stretch it a bit by using a larger circle. Since the animals i hunt are larger I could use an 8-inch target and be in the vitals every time.

I have a serious dislike for large scopes with fancy turrets or ballistic reticles. They are fine for the range or maybe hunting from a tree stand but when your stalking or hunting out west or in the mountains they are a recipe for disaster. I've seen it so many times. Guys get flustered or dont have time to twist knobs....much easier to just throw the rifle up and shoot. Im convinced thats one reason hunters 40 years ago were better riflemen.

I've seen hunters that paid tens of thousands to hunt go home with nothing because they relied on turrets or ballistic reticles. Had a guy a couple years ago miss a bull moose at 100 yards. Found out later the scope turrets that stuck up 5 inches had rubbed against something hard enough to move them.

90% of my shots on big game are inside 75 yards, when hunting in SEAK. My rifles get zeroed at 100 yards. I zeroed my 300 Winchester Magnum at 200 for a couple hunts down south and it worked fine, longest shot was 320 yards. If I have to start twisting on the turrets I should be asking myself if I cannot get closer.
I do play around with a 6mm that has a lot of fancy features with the turrets and hash lines on the crosshairs. It’s fun to play with at the range and I would like to use it on maybe groundhogs, or varmint someday. Not real useful in what I consider hunting game.

I agree. In almost 40 years guiding hunters in BC and Yukon I would bet the average distance a hunter had to shoot was well inside 200 yards, and that includes sheep.

There is a guy down your way that has a couple of Winchester 94s in 356. You know him by any chance ? He has taken a lot of game with that caliber. I've been looking for one for a long long time and finally found one new in the box last fall. Even found brass and a company in the lower 48 that makes a good bullet for the 356. Going to use it for bear this spring.

2.3 inches high at 100. Seriously? If your shooting 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards how do you measure 2.3 inchs high???? No the answer is decide where YOU want to be zeroed and sight your rifle in at that distance. All the rest of it is a gallon of lure divided out into 20 different bottles with 20 different names on it. If your a marine sniper, need to shoot a general at 1200 yards, yes you need to do some math to get a one shot hit. If your a deer hunter shooting across a canyon you need experience shooting 400 yards without a bench, without a mat to lay on, using a tree or a big rock to steady your rifle, looking at movement of limbs and weeds to determine how much wind there is. You get that from shooting under hunting conditions not from a calculator

The rifles in .356 doesn’t ring any bells. My late father had a .358 that he used as a brush gun hunting deer around here.
I have a Model 71 in .348 that is a treat to shoot. It was my grandfathers “do everything” rifle. Buffalo Bore has some some pretty stout rounds in the .348 chambering available for it. I am able to hit pretty well with the iron sights out to 200 yards but my eyes are starting to make using irons a bit challenging.

I could stretch it further but I see no point at this time my longest shot on game was around 125 yards lots of places I can't see much further

the scope on that 308 is a 2-7x32 with the Vortec BDC hash recital I could have easily zeroed at 218 and had more range built in , but 200 left me with things lining up on the recital at about the 250 , 350 marks. not that I have used them on anything but targets.
that said I can only think of one time in 17 years of running a 2-7 optic I zoomed in from 2x while hunting , that was a 90 yard threading the needle shot I could see the buck through the brush and trees but only had about a 2x3 foot opening without brush to shoot it through took a knee zoomed in to about 4x and watched my opening for it to walk into the sight that was with my 12ga in a slug zone

I zero the smooth bore slug gun with scope for 75 yards that makes it about 3 inches low at 100 and very close to point of aim at 25 and 50



one of the issues with modern society is people think they can buy performance and you can to a degree. if you buy a 1moa gun and you shoot 15moa standing it is still a 15moa gun standing.
maybe you use a tree for a rest and get that to 6moa , it is still no better than you are.

you can't buy your time behind the rifle , the experience of shooting it at different targets at different ranges in all sorts of weather , well you can pay for it in time and rounds , you can buy tools like ballistic calculators and range finders to shorten the learning curve some. but you can't plunk down the credit card and buy it right now no work involved.

you can't buy familiarity.

3" high at 100 yards. 7 Mag.

1” high @ 100 - 200 yard zero . Why ? Because it’s effective

Varies by gun/caliber for me. Some are dead on at 100, some are dead on at 250.

The 348 is a great caliber in one of the best lever actions ever built. No I dont have one. Yes i would like to someday. A friend has two so you never know.

You are right about buying accuracy. Cant be done. Bullets and powder are so expensive and hard to find up here now I cant shoot like I used to. Back 8 or so years ago I would shoot close to 5000 rounds a year. Cant do that now.

I know what you are saying to an extent Yukon, I guide hunters every year that have every bell and whistle they can buy, but don't know how to use half of them, and can't shoot from a standing position. But I personally like turrets on my long range rifles and think they are the easiest and most reliable method to shoot accurately at longer ranges. No you don't need them at 300 yards, and I'll just throw up and shoot at that range, but if it is far enough to dial in, I figure I've got time or I shouldn't be shooting at that range anyways.

It does depend on the caliber. If it's my 30-06, I started at 50 yards with a 150 grain bullet. From there I started ranging out, 100 yards to 250 yards. I found if I was dead center at 50 yards, I was about 2 1/2 inches high at 100 yards and pretty much dead on again at 225 yards. That's where I am set currently for deer.

The reality is that very few have the ability to shoot past 300 yards. In my entire career I've had maybe half a dozen hunters that I would trust to shoot at game past that distance, and most of those guys were Europeans. Even for guys that have the ability they will seldom need to shoot that far anyway so its hard to justify lugging those big rifles and scopes around in the woods.

I love it when a hunter gets off the plane with a beat up old 30/06 or 270. Chances are he can shoot standing on his feet.