Zero distance

[Brett]

We got talking about siting in a scope in another string and it got me to thinking.....  At what distance does everyone zero there rifles for and why?

[Graybeard]

With most scope sighted bottleneck centerfire rifles I sight in either one inch or two inches high at 100 yards.

With most of them one inch high puts me dead on out in the 150-175 yard range and allows me to hold dead on to 200 yards and not care how far it is. With a 2" high sight in I'm generally dead on in the 190-210 yard range and can ignore distance to at least 250 yards. If I know I'll be in an area where longer shots are the norm I'll sight in for max point blank range based on size of game to be hunted.

[Wlscott]

I chose "other" because my zero changes depending on where I'm hunting, what I am hunting, and the conditions under which I am hunting.

I may have a 250 meter zero on my rifle when I start hunting, but if time permits as the shot develops, I may change or "dope" my sights for a 300 meter, or a 50 meter shot.

[JPH45]

This is almost too narrow a survey to answer. I, like WlScott answered other. Not only is where I am hunting relavent, but what gun and load I am using. The average 308/30-06 load or close equvilent (270,280,303 Brit, 7x 57 etc) can be sighted 2" high at 100 and be very close to either point of aim or 2-3" low at 200, and this is probably a perfect sightin range for a great many shooters. But what should really dictate the sight in distance is the point blank range of the load or your max expected range. Following this, I generally use a point blank target size of 4". This will let the bullet rise and fall 2" above/below line of sight. For my 45-70 using a 400 grain bullet at 1500 fps, this is about 125 yards. For my 30-30 driving The Hornady 150 SST at 2360 fps, the 4" point blank range is 200 yards. My 44 Mag and 357 Max I sight in at 75 yards, I use them both strictly as woods guns and want them to be as flat as reasonable and still be able to hold dead on at 100.

Shotguns with slugs and muzzleloaders using modern sabot loads are quite similar in trajectory to the 45-70 and 150 yards is a long shot with these guns. Maximum point blank range of a load may or may not fall within the size of the kill zone. Every load is different and I don't think there is a one size fits all, and while every shooter may have a "zero" range they prefer, that they know why they have chosen that range and how the bullet will travel before and after it are far more important than what the given range is.

[handirifle]

30-06 is 1.5" high at one hundred.  dead on at 200, I've checked.

[Mac11700]

I site any of my rifles in a 3" high at 100 yards...if you check the ballistics you''l see that GENNERALLY this will give you a maximum point blank range to the majority of cartridges out there...this is the way I was taught to do it..it     just makes it easier for me to do it this way...

Mac

[Donaldo]

Me too.  I usually sight in 1.5 to 2.0 inches high at 100 yds.  With most of my rifles this gives me a dead on hold out to 200 to 250 yds and not have to worry about holding over.  This will normally,(course there is no such animal), give you a target area of about 4-5 inch dia.

[Natman]

I zeroed my 45-70 Handi in at 17 yards to see if data on another website was right...At 100 yards I'm 4 inches high...at 186 yards I'm back to zero and at 200 about 2 inches low..I forgety where I was at but it gave you near zero and far zero as well as a graphic of projected path...You do need to know muzzle velocity and Ballistic Coefficient of the load your using though..

[fish280]

2 inches high at 100 yards with  .308 and 6.5 swede. good to 250, which is the absolute max range for me, not rifles.

[Longcruise]

I wonder how many respondents to this survey thought you were asking at what range do they sight in their rifles as opposed to what range the rifle is zeroed at :?

For any rifle with a muzzle velocity of 2500 to 3200 fps I sight in to be dead on at 200 yards.  That's also usually my max field shooting range on big game regardless of the rifle or caliber.  What the 100 yard sight in will equate to varys a bit from cartridge to cartridge, but not very much.

[Ditchdigger]

My serious hunting rifles are zero'ed at 300 yds. That would be for my 300 Wby. and 220 Swift. The Swift is about 2" high at 100 yds. and the 300 is a little over 3" high. I've been running backhoe's for 40 plus years, and I've gotten pretty good at yardage guessing over the years. Any thing over 550 yds. starts getting iffy though.  Digger

[Brett]

I wonder how many respondents to this survey thought you were asking at what range do they sight in their rifles as opposed to what range the rifle is zeroed at :?

Well at least I know one guy is paying attention.  You are correct Longcruise.   Like you,  My .280 Rem.  is zeroed for 200 yrds using 140 gr. Remington Express Core-Lokt's.   To achieve this I sight in 1.5" high at 100 yrds.  The .280 shoots pretty flat so I don't have to worry about compensating up or down out to about 250 yrds.  I generally wouldn't attempt a shot on a deer beyond 250 yrds. anyway.   Yeah, I admit it, anything beyond 200 yrds is stretching  my capabilities under real world field conditions also.  

My 12 ga. smooth bore slug gun I zero for 50 yrds. so I can hold dead on out to 75 yrds without any need to compensate.

[bajabill]

for the hunt, I like about 1 - 1.5 inch high at 100 yds.

But, my guns are rarely zeroed.  I run so many different weights of bullets and tinker with loads that I just keep track and adjust my target relative to the paper.  I just look for groups.   IN my 30-06, I have about 5 inches between POIs for 125s and 150s.  I do a final zero with my intended hunting load a week or two before the season.

[safetysheriff]

I sight my .223 for 200 yds, and my larger calibers for 250 to 275 yds.    I set up Remington projectiles based upon the Remington website as a guide, and load my Hornady's according to the Lee Shooter program.

A .270 that is loaded heavy and shooting out of a fast barrel can get a max' point blank range for an 8" circle of over 315 yds' (with a 4" maximum rise of the bullet over the line of sight), possibly with a 1.5" scope height.    That's using a good, aerodynamic bullet, of course.  

The .223 is not zeroed for longer range, for my purposes, because I hate to shoot over the top of a small ground hog with a longer zero!    Sure, they're easier to hit standing up, but I don't always see the little ones get up on their hind legs.     A little one this last summer ran around in circles like he was on 'speed'!     And he never did stand up.

[Coltrane]

I start at 25 yards to limit the number of shots to zero. This is after the initial boresite.

I then move out to 50 to test fire and finish at 100 yards. Depending on the available range of fire I might be hunting and the caliber I'm shooting determines if I will sight in high or dead on.

Coltrane

[Big Blue]

I set my rifles up according to caliber, load, and what I'll be using them for. I look for the maximum point blank range I can get. For deer I choose a six inch vital area, and set my scopes to be a maximum of 3" higher than the line of sight, and have a point blank range out to 3" lower than the line of sight. The zero will be somewhere in between, but doesn't matter to me as much as knowing my maximum point blank range for that rifle and load.
Don

[bconway84]

308WIN at 200yards with Hornady 168gr BTHP Match, this works good with the 165gr SST Hornady both handloaded. Close to same POI with the Mildot scope working good with approximately same holdover/under for both out to 600 yards.

[AZ223]

I was one of the ones who misunderstood the question: I use 100yds as my most common sight-in distance, but my zero depends on caliber. For my .223 and 30-06(a Rem. BDL, my only non-NEF rifle), zero is around 225-250 yards or so; that means 1.5-2" high at 100yds and about .75" high at 200.  For my 17HMR, zero is about 150yds or 1-1.5" high at 100yds.  The range I'm at most frequently doesn't have a 150yd marker, so that's why I use the 100, then check at 50 and 200yds to make sure my ballistics are consistent.  

The .22lr gets zeroed at 50, then check at 100 to see if I'm staying on the paper. Works pretty well; if I hold the bottom post on the bullseye at 100yds, I hit it pretty consistently.

[gstanfield]

My NEF's are for Vamits and tehy are zero'd to 150yds for the hornet and 200yds for the 223. Of course this can change at any point, especially in the hornet which gets a lot of experimental loads run through it.

On my other rifles, it depends on which rifle. I zero my '06 for 200yds, my 338 for 250yds, my 303 British for 150yds and so forth. It just depends on the maximum usable range for the gun in question, and I generally don't mind being a little too high at 100yds or less, it's easy for me to compensate for close shots, but I have a harder time compensating the long shots.

George