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200yrd. zero question

gkempf

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2014
Messages
129
Location
west central Indiana
I live in west central Indiana, elevation 597. I run ballistics AE. So when I go out west and hunt at say 6000' elevation do I need to rezero at 200 yards. to to adjust for elevation.
 
Don't think you'll see much change at 200 yds, but there will be a huge difference at 500 and beyond.
 
Well correct me if I'm wrong but that is where my ballistics program takes over. So my turret that I use here will not work at 6000. That being said I just program in the elevation and go by clicks. Is that correct? Forgive me for being a flatlander. Lol
 
Definitely check zero and either re-zero or correct your program to where you are actually zeroed at.
 
Im not a fan of turrets that are labelled in yardages for your exact situation. Also when you really stretch your rifles legs a difference in pressure and temp from the conditions your turret is designed for can be a miss.

I would zero your rifle at 100 yards and use moa or mils markings on your turret. If you know your going to hunt exclusively at 6000' then it's not as big of a deal but if your mountain hunting where you may have shots from say 2500 to 6000 then the difference in the point of impact If zeroed at 100 will not be as much as if you zeroed at 200. As your start to reach out in distance the error in your shooting solutions will be less if say you zeroed at 2500' at shot at 6000' when compared to a 200 zero using the same conditions.
 
Im not a fan of turrets that are labelled in yardages for your exact situation. Also when you really stretch your rifles legs a difference in pressure and temp from the conditions your turret is designed for can be a miss.

I would zero your rifle at 100 yards and use moa or mils markings on your turret. If you know your going to hunt exclusively at 6000' then it's not as big of a deal but if your mountain hunting where you may have shots from say 2500 to 6000 then the difference in the point of impact If zeroed at 100 will not be as much as if you zeroed at 200. As your start to reach out in distance the error in your shooting solutions will be less if say you zeroed at 2500' at shot at 6000' when compared to a 200 zero using the same conditions.
I don't see the math working in support of this.

No matter what your zero range if your inputs to your ballistic calculator are correct your corrections will be correct.
 
I live in west central Indiana, elevation 597. I run ballistics AE. So when I go out west and hunt at say 6000' elevation do I need to rezero at 200 yards. to to adjust for elevation.

There are two separate factors that I think could be getting confused in this thread. The first is the question of the rifles zero. For the purpose of this question, it makes little difference whether you zero at 100 or 200 yards. While the zero can be effected by a change in atmospheric conditions, as well as other factors like rough handling when traveling, once the rifle zero is confirmed and reset( if it had changed at all), you THEN take into consideration any change in atmospheric conditions and compensate for it by either entering your new conditions into your calculator(if using MOA or MILS), or by changing the yardage turret. There is no way for your calculator or turret to determine a change in you rifles zero. You must confirm it if a change is suspect.
 
I don't see the math working in support of this.

No matter what your zero range if your inputs to your ballistic calculator are correct your corrections will be correct.

Well if you zero your rifle at sea level and then shoot at 6000' using a solution obtained by from telling your solver that you have a 200 yard zero and you do not how can the solution be right?

The difference in pressure from sea level to 6000' is enough to not have a 200 yard zero at 6000' anymore. Correct?

There would be less of an error in the zero point from sea level to 6000' if you had a 100 yard zero would there not?

Therefor your solutions would have less error if one used a 100 yard zero versus a 200 yard zero when taking long range shots at various different altitudes

The math works perfectly but people do not realize ballistic solvers do not adjust for point of impact shifts to their zero when moving to much different elevations (pressures).
 
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There are two separate factors that I think could be getting confused in this thread. The first is the question of the rifles zero. For the purpose of this question, it makes little difference whether you zero at 100 or 200 yards. While the zero can be effected by a change in atmospheric conditions, as well as other factors like rough handling when traveling, once the rifle zero is confirmed and reset( if it had changed at all), you THEN take into consideration any change in atmospheric conditions and compensate for it by either entering your new conditions into your calculator(if using MOA or MILS), or by changing the yardage turret. There is no way for your calculator or turret to determine a change in you rifles zero. You must confirm it if a change is suspect.

Yep! Reconfirm zero and apply new variables to solution, for most accurate compensation.
 
I don't know what caliber your shooting, but most fast shooting calibers can be sighted in at 250 yards and then from 0 to 300 yards you just aim dead on and pull the trigger. Elevation doesn't make enough difference to matter.
Although sighting in at the elevation your hunting at is a good idea because of dialing for longer distances. With this method you don't need to dial until your past 300 yard and even further if you have some kind of graduations below the cross hairs on your scope.
 
There would be less of an error in the zero point from sea level to 6000' if you had a 100 yard zero would there not?

Therefor your solutions would have less error if one used a 100 yard zero versus a 200 yard zero when taking long range shots at various different altitudes

Your trajectory is going to change from sea level to 6000' but it makes no difference if your have your rifle zeroed at 100 vs. 200 yds. You seem to be under the impression that a 100 yd zero will somehow give you less change and that's not true.

No matter where your zero is set, you'll need to reconfirm that zero at the new elevation then apply the corrected data for that elevation if you're twisting turrets.
 
...The math works perfectly but people do not realize ballistic solvers do not adjust for point of impact shifts to their zero when moving to much different elevations (pressures).
Not true for Ballistic. I use it for work and play. Very handy app. It handles this problem really well.

The OP simply needs to enter his zero met data into the Zero Atmosphere fields, and the current met data into the Current Atmosphere fields. Ballistic calculates the correct ballistic profile at the current elevation, including the shift in zero. He can then dial clicks or whatever elevation units he wants.
 
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