SCOPE ZERO FOR OVER 1000 YRDS

One misconception I see sometimes is that setting your zero further out will allow more moa elevation in your scope. 100 yard zero is my choice

Yeah I hear it a lot too. Only way to increase useable up-elevation range is by altering how it is mounted to the rifle.
 
If you're worried about not having enough elevation range, pour the coals to it and throw a 40+ MOA base on the gun. If you don't have enough down adjustment to get point-of-impact down to point-of-aim at 100yds, then bottom the scope out, come up a minute off the hard stop, and let it group 5", 6", 10" high or wherever it falls, and then get it centered up for windage. Most ballistics calculators have an input for zero offset for this exact reason. You just want to be absolutely sure where your gun is impacting in a vacuum, and the closest you can get to that in our real world is 100 yds.

Don't confuse the Zero Height with Zero Offset! The height being how high your point of impact is above the bull and the offset being your point of impact to the left and or right of the bull.
 
100 yard sight-in and zero, but I only shoot to 1,400 yards with centerfire. The available adjustment in your scope may dictate whether or not you need an elevated base or not. Look at where you are performing the majority of your shooting, and use a base that allows you to look through the approximate middle of the optic at that range.
 
I would like to hear at what distance long range shooters are zeroing their scopes at. Additionally mention if and how much elevated rail you have, I currently shoot with a few of my rifles in the 850 to 1250 yrd range with a 300 yd. zero and no elevation rail. Thanks for your input.

An often asked question. Several factors.
1 how successful are you with your current set up?
2 do you intend to shoot past 1,250 yards at any time?
3 do you know the elevation limits of both you and your scope?

Answer these questions and you'll sole the original question.

I sight in at 200 yards but seldom shoot past 1,000. I'm in Tennessee and the ability here to shoot beyound that is near impossable.
 
I would like to hear at what distance long range shooters are zeroing their scopes at. Additionally mention if and how much elevated rail you have, I currently shoot with a few of my rifles in the 850 to 1250 yrd range with a 300 yd. zero and no elevation rail. Thanks for your input.
100 yard zero 20 moa rail and nightforce NXS scope
 
With RFs the concept of zeroing at 300 and "holding a bit low at 200" is really a bad idea. Most animal are shot at less than 200, so why not set up for that?

That said, I zero at 500 only on a windless day (always in the morning). This helps a bit with spindrift. At the same time, create a ballistic profile in my SIG 2400 for that rifle with a 200 yard zero but with a windage offset such that my windage impact at 500 with zero wind is perfect. I then note my drop in MOA on the SIG for 500, then set my scope turret such that it matches. For example, the last rifle I did this for was a 28 Nosler; at 500 it is 6.25 MOA low at 500, so I set the elevation turret to 6.25. When hunting, I turn it down to zero, so I am effectively zeroed at 200.
 
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100 yard zero. There's no reason to zero these types of rifles beyond that.

For really stretching the legs on these rifles, the main reason why you shouldn't zero past 100 yds is due to the environmental variables involved. At 100 yds, the zero is mostly reliant on the scope's ability to retain zero and your rifles ability to make bullets go where it's pointed. You might see wind or other factors affect its impact by 1/4MOA or so, but for the most part, at 100 yds, the bullet is going to go to zero regardless of what's happening around it, what the temperature is, what elevation you're at, what the ding-dongs in Seattle are doing, etc. When you zero at 300+ yards, you're letting all of that stuff in. Wind blows you around, air density starts to count, and if you don't keep perfect track of it then the basis of your ballistics calculator will be flawed because your zero moved for that day.

If you're worried about not having enough elevation range, pour the coals to it and throw a 40+ MOA base on the gun. If you don't have enough down adjustment to get point-of-impact down to point-of-aim at 100yds, then bottom the scope out, come up a minute off the hard stop, and let it group 5", 6", 10" high or wherever it falls, and then get it centered up for windage. Most ballistics calculators have an input for zero offset for this exact reason. You just want to be absolutely sure where your gun is impacting in a vacuum, and the closest you can get to that in our real world is 100 yds.
Another reason for 100yd zero......confirming zero after traveling or dumping your rifle......easier to find 100yds to zero than 300yds at most camps.
 
I am running an Athlon Eres ETR UHD 4.5-30X56. With a 20 MOA rail and 20.7 MIL of elevation I can do a 100 yard zero and dial to 1800-ish yards.

EDIT: Per Strelok I can get to 2100 yards with dial only if I use all the scopes adjustment. I don't condone that so really if I stick to 85% of the scopes adjustment I can get to about 2085 yards without hold over running my hot load.
 
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100yd zero with 20 MOA rail.

With my setup (Nikon FX1000 4-16x50SF) I could have probably still zeroed at 100yds with a 30 MOA rail; which would have given me more adjustment, but with 22 MRAD of adjustment, I should be able to get the 300 PRC to 2000yds and slightly beyond.
 
Crazy this thread popped up today. I'm sitting at the Dr office thinking about this exact subject.

I'm waiting on a 6mm ARC barrel for a AR that I plan to only shoot steel with. The range I shoot at has steel at 400 and 600 yards.

So I had been thinking to just zero it at 400 and skip having to dial up on range trips until I move over to 600 yards.

No plan to hunt with it so it would never be shot at anything less than 200 yards. I can always dial it for the short yardage if I felt I needed to. No zero stop in that scope.

Even if I was shooting at 200 I know my shots will hit high on a target...that's fine with me. I dont have to put my groups into a little red dot. I just need to know my group size.

My hunting rifle zero depends on the rifle. All of my AR's with night Vision capabilities are zero'd at 100 yards. My other AR's are the same as all my bolt guns. The range I shoot at is filled with weekend warriors at all the100 yard benches so I shoot only at 200 yards...thus my guns have a 200 yard zero.
 
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