Good distance to zero rifle?

[uumikew]

What is a good distance to zero at for the rifle portion of the match? Thanks,

-mike-

[Jman]

100 yards

[uscbigdawg]

200 yards seems to work for everything. Your hold overs at 300+ are minimal. You're hold unders for <200 are pretty minimal too. Really depends on your scope and reticle. For "long range" 3-Gun matches, I run an old Sightron scope with a double diamond reticle. Frankly, it's awesome!

On a match where the longest shot is 300, I have my Meopta and zero it with the top of the dot at 100. Everything else is "in the dot".

Rich

Edited August 4, 2009 by uscbigdawg

[D.Hayden]

You're going to see a lot of variations here I think.

A lot of people like 100 yard zero, I think it gives a better 300 yd zero for them.

I do a 200 yard zero.

Depending on your ammunition, and optics/sight setups, know the crossnig point.. lost of people have a 40/200 or 50/200 yard zero.

[badassmcgraff]

100 yards

+ 1

[outerlimits]

lots of variables as well. irons or scope. depends on the scope as well (bdc or not). then, depends on the distances. did i mention the velocity as well? if every target was the same distance, you might want to change yer zero to avoid holdovers, etc. but most stages have targets of varying distances. and since it's easier to hold under than over, 250 is a good zero if the targets are say 325-400. YMMV, but it pays to know what multiple zero's will do with your setup.

[Charles Bond]

Best reply going to depend on the match. Once you have a 200 yard zero, keep track of your adjustments to bring it down to 100 yards. Then you can switch back and forth from a 200 to a 100 and back again depending on the match.

It also depends on what optic you are running. If you have marked ranging strata lines for certain distances, follow the scope directions and stay with a 100 yard zero. If you are running a Boone and Crocket reticle or other "traditional" reticles, you might want to be able to swap back and forth between the 200 to 100 as mentioned above. Elcans or Trijicons usually zero 100 yards and then you can read the lines from there.

If you are going to shoot a scope with only the dot visitble, Rich's idea of making the top of the dot your 100 yard zero is the way to go.

[Bill H]

I zero at 200 which is dead on at 50 and about 1 1/2 high at 100.

[Bear1142]

200 yd.

At 100 you'll be about 2" high and at 300 you'll be about 8" low.

From 25 to 200 put you crosshair on the target and you'll hit. At 300, take a 12 0'clock hold and you'll hit.

It's an easy zero to shoot fast.

Erik

[Jesse Tischauser]

I zero at 200 which is dead on at 50 and about 1 1/2 high at 100.

Why not just zero at 50 yards then? Is that the same thing?

[uscbigdawg]

My 50 yard zero is about 225, FWIW.

Rich

[Bill H]

You can zeo at 50 but I prefer to do it at 200 (actually my range is 200 meters) because sometimes you still need to fine tune your setting. A little off at 50 is 4 times worse at 200. If you go to 200 you can have confidence in your gun.

Edited August 5, 2009 by Bill H

[Jesse Tischauser]

You can zeo at 50 but I prefer to do it at 200 (actually my range is 200 meters) because sometimes you still need to fine tune your setting. A little off at 50 is 4 times worse at 200. If you go to 200 you can have confidence in your gun.

I am going to try this when I zero my new Firebird tonight. I will do my initial zero at 50 and then go out to 200 and dial it in tight. Thanks.

[uscbigdawg]

Jesse - Perfect way to do it. Doesn't hurt either to chrono your loads, develop a range card and then confirm the dope on hard distances. Yeah we're shooting "sniper" matches in 3-Gun, but having that knowledge = confidence and confidence = speed.

Rich

[DMAC]

I only have a 100 yard range, so I had to rely on what many on this board have said as well as this

Ballistics Calculator

Even though I had previously shot only to a distance of 100 yards, I was able to hit targets out to 400 yards at the BRM3G with the help of this calculator. I actually printed this page and took it with me. It can't substitute for actually shooting at those distances to confirm and build confidence, but when shooting at longer ranges is not an option until the competition, at least you've got some hope. Based on my data, I sighted in at 50 and I was 1.5" high at 100 which put should have put me dead on at 225. I used to remember where I was at at 300, 350 and 400, but I've forgotten since I haven't shot at that distance since BRM3G:D

Edited August 6, 2009 by DMAC

[jobob]

All the above is good advice (except 100 yards - I just can't see the reason for that. It doesn't take advantage of the trajectory of the cartridge).

Something I tried this year is to sight 4" high at 100 yards. This sounds excesive, but isn't if you know your trajectory and how to compensate for it. I used that sighting at this year's MGM Ironman and it worked pretty slick. You just use a 6 o'clock hold on everything out to 250 yards or so. It's dead on at approximately 275, just a couple low at 300. It's an especially good sighting for use with the Trijicon Accupoint scope with the triangle reticle. Just put the tip of the triangle on the bottom of 90% or the targets past 50 yards, and you've got a hit!

[warpspeed]

I like 200 but regardless of where you zero it, you must know where the bullet will hit at every distance. And not just where Exbal says it will but where it actually does.

I have it verified for 25 yds out to 350. I just wish I had more time to put it to use.

[CocoBolo]

The answer to this one is easy. You alwasy zero at a distance that will prevent mid range misses.

Ok 8" plate out to 300 yards. The ideal thing would be to find a zero that would allow you to aim at the center of a plate at any distance and still make a hit. Holding over at distance is what I call guessing, getting a hit with this method I call an accident.

First we would need to pick the right ammo. Here is a link to a ballistic chart for .223. While not stated it looks like everyone here is guessing an AR not an AK or Fal or M1A1.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/ballistics/223_remington.html

Once we have picked the correct ammo for the job its just a matter of a little math and then we don't have to do all that guessing. Its always good to test to make sure that you gun performs with the ammo as it is listed in the ballistics, and you did your math correctly.

[Doug H.]

I also like a 275 yard zero. I have a chart for my load that I made off of the JBM ballistic calculator. Lots of options for your charts or range cards and the ballistic coeffient for many bullets are already there.

http://www.jbmballistics.com/calculations/calculations.html

Doug

[TRUBL]

50 yard zero.....hold dead on from 10 yards out to 200 yards, aim top of plate on anything over 200 yards out to 300 yards. Which....for most matches in the US is the max distance you are shooting.

My 50 yard zero is also my 200 yard zero....within a 1/4"

Very simple.

Tim

Edited August 13, 2009 by TRUBL

[Franklin D Wolverton]

With my AR and 75gr MatchKings... I zero for 300 yards.

The highest the bullet goes over my sight line is 1 1/2 inches.

Frank

[P.E. Kelley]

I cheat!

As an iron sight shooter I will "click" elevation to suit the targets at hand.

Getting hits for me is more a matter of what I need to see over, around and through my front sight.

Targets with good definition I may want to put the front sight "in" the target. That may mean

at some distances the bullet is below the top of the front sight but still landing

within the target.

If targets are in shadow I may "click" up so I can hold below what I perceive to be the target.

In that case the bullets are landing well above my front sight.

Hell, I clicked between targets at last weekends Rocky Mtn 3 Gun!

I generally start with a 300 yard zero, where the bullet lands at the tip of the

front sight.

It was funny, at the RM3G one of the competitors on my squad told me in jest that

he was considering "upping" the power range on his next scope for the loner range

targets but changed his mind considering that my M1A just whacked them without

issue.

Patrick

Edited August 13, 2009 by P.E. Kelley

[Merlin Orr]

200 yd.

At 100 you'll be about 2" high and at 300 you'll be about 8" low.

From 25 to 200 put you crosshair on the target and you'll hit. At 300, take a 12 0'clock hold and you'll hit.

It's an easy zero to shoot fast.

Erik

My plan exactly.

[bigbrowndog]

I cheat even more than Pat,

On my AR's I use an A1 aperture, this allows me to have a 250yd zero and with a simple flip of the peep, a 350yd zero for long stuff. Anything over that gets clicked up to, but other than RM3G it rarely happens, and normally the 250 yd. zero gets used for 95% of the targets.

Sadly for my M1A, I do not have that ability so I'm still trying to figure out how I want to play, at RM3G I went with a 300yd zero and clicked up for the 400ish targets and the 600ish bonus.

When shooting irons, since you really can't judge 2moa very well once you get past 200yds, having your rounds impact at the tip of the post no matter what the distance is, is an advantage in my opinion.

Trapr

[mpeltier]

Jesse - Perfect way to do it. Doesn't hurt either to chrono your loads, develop a range card and then confirm the dope on hard distances. Yeah we're shooting "sniper" matches in 3-Gun, but having that knowledge = confidence and confidence = speed.

Rich

+1

I use a starting zero of 200 yds and a ballistic calculator called "Bullet Flight" (in my Itouch/Iphone) to calculate a better zero and dial it in by stage. It works incredibly well. For instance if a stage has 3 rifle targets of 275yds and 1 at 400 I will dial in a 300 yd zero, check my hold over/unders and shoot the stage by that info. What this does is allow me to hold under very slightly on the close targets and about 10" over on the far, as opposed to several feet on the far target. Much eisier to judge a 10" holdover on a 10" target then 36". Of course a surging gust of wind in the 14-20mph range adds another element i have yet to master.