Why would you not sight in at 100 yards?

[26Reload]

Here is another way of shooting using your reticle....2506....
I knew deer traveled a certain spot on a hillside across a large draw...up there one day i decided to shoot a spot on a large rock...i hit the rock maybe 10" low of the poa....i adjusted the scope power..holding the crosshair on the poa and the larger bottom post came to the poi.....it was 8 power i think....
Next time i went up that canyon and glassed over there the buck was standing within 10 yards of the rock...turned the power selector and shot..twice...the deer was dead on its feet...the second shot hit about 2" from first......rifle was sighted for 250 yards...the deer was standing at 450 yards...before he fell and slide down the hillside to the creek....made for a nice pack out.....
So while out shooting try some power selector changes to meet your range and you won't need the adj. turret.........although the further the target the less power of the scope to compensate for distance between poa and poi....
Kid shot at a rock with the 223 ar....hit a few inches low...told him to turn power selector to match the two points.....he blew that rock to pieces..time after time after time.....yes he shot a lot....that rock was 525 yards...7 power...top of bottom post....

 

[Pieter Willem Vorster]

I zero and sight in my rifle at 100 meters because it is much easier to be accurate at 100 than at 200 or 300. Then, by dialling up 2 minutes (8 clicks), my rifle is zeroed at 200 meters and by dialling up 4 minutes + 2 clicks, my rifle is zeroed at 300 meters. That is why a like a scope with a turret!!

 

[Gcan]

There are a lot of reasons. Here's just one. Its called point-blank.

Ive used two basic methods. Full and half sized kill zones.

The pictures below are for the same gun. Same load with a 100 yrd zero, a 250 yard, a 300 zero and a 327 zero and a 7" kill zone. (The point blank changes with different cartridges/speeds/and the animal being hunted)

Look at the photos.

With a 100 yard zero I can hold center of my target out to 253 yards. I can aim slightly high or low in that zone depending on distance.

But with same gun zeroed at 250 yards my point blank is 323 yards.

A 300 yard zero and my point blank becomes 360 yards.

A 327 zero and I'm point blank to 381 yards. No
No Muss. No fuss. No worries.

I'm not thinking of ups/downs till I'm past my point blank distances. I'm simply ensuring Im within my free fire zone. If you hunt animals that move a lot you can find yourself dithering with a laser and turrets when you should be shooting.

The flatter your gun or the larger your kill zone the farther you can set zero.

The trick is to find the point in your arc where your bullet is the same distance above the line of sight (high) as the kill zone. In this case its 327.
So at 200 yards I'm holding low in the kill zone. At 381 I'm holding top of my 7" circle.
View attachment 133384

View attachment 133385

View attachment 133386

View attachment 133387

Some people use the above method and hold high or low in the kill area.

Some use the half kill zone method.
Divide the zone by 2.

Now assume you are hunting moose. And you have a 14" kill zone. Using the 7" point blank you can hold center mass out to 381 yards and have a killing shot without thinking.

If you ever find yourself shooting at other than animal situation knowing your point blank distances might work well for you.

What cartridge/chambering are you using? Just curious.[/QUOTE]

Those tables were for a 308-168 gr-2650fps.

 

[charliewhisky]

Something that has always perplexed me is why guys will sight in their rifles at 150, 200, 300, etc yards. Why would you not just sight in for 100 yards and learn your drops/elevation adjustments for anything beyond that? In my head, if I sight in for 300 yards I need to remember hold-overs for anything past 300 and hold-unders for anything inside 300 which is seems overly complicated. I'm a sight in at 100 yard guy but I want to understand why you would sight in at a different distance as I feel like I am missing something here.

The bad part about these threads is that you have to read everything just to find out if you are saying something new. So, if you have heard this, sorry.

My 30-06 is shooting flat enough if sighted in at 100 yds that any shot on target, to or beyond that point, will never hit above the aim point on the target. Half of a 6-inch kill zone is never in play with this zero.

This means that every shot beyond 100 yds is either a scope correction or a hold over if there is any chance that the drop of the bullet will be greater than ½ of the kill diameter for the game you are shooting. In the case of my 30-06 with a 200gr ELD-x and a 6-inch kill zone, this means that I will have a 3-inch drop at 190 yds and then I am out of the kill zone. True, I can hold the topline of a six-inch kill zone and reach out to 233 yds without correction.

If I sight in for a 225 yd zero, I have a no brainer +2.72 inches at 130 yds and -2.97 inches at 273 yds shooting the center of the kill zone.

With this 225 yd zero I can hold the top of the kill zone and shoot to 300 yds without thinking about it.

Shots on smaller targets may require some compensation but the allowable error is known in advance.

In my case, memorizing the drops for probable ranges out to about 500 yds is also easier because you are only working with about 33 inches of drop beyond 300 yards.

 

[Gcan]

Cranking v Shooting.


Case in point: Many years ago I was hunting a nice moose in Nuffy. My gun was probably zeroed for 300 yards at the time. The moose was constantly moving thru scrub between 250 and 400. We were moving as fast as we could but he was nose into the wind and was farther away every time we saw him. The quick glimpses did not give me much time to set up a shot. And he was far enough out that a rest was required. I was using sticks, which setting up on a bog is a challenge of its own.


The Moose finally stepped out into a clearing about 400 yards out that we hadn't noticed but it was 20 yards wide. I had just enough time to know he was within the 300WM's point blank range. High center hold and done.


Yes, I turn a lot of turrets for tactical shoots and also when I hunted truly long range. Im reading all the comments on turning turrets as the best method, but there are some important real world considerations missing in the discourse.


Generally, if we are shooting 500 plus or at very small spots then turret cranking is a must, however I'm assuming we are discussing hunting situations here. And most of those are under 500 yards.


So lets dissect a typical shot scenario.


You spot the animal. You glass the animal. You determine to shoot the animal. If the critter has read the script he stands perfectly still for you while you range him and start turning your Elv Turret. Right? Not! This is what everyone is leaving out and why I set zeros at long distances. You must also find the time to get into a shooting position, find or build a rest and settle in, check the wind. After all if you are going to crank in the exact elevation you must also then dial in the windage right? No? Then why bother with the elevation? And then, if the animal is still on script and stationary you must make the shot. You wonder if you dialed in the correct dope. And animals seldom read the script. They are seldom stationary for more than a few seconds.

The vast vast majority of my trophy animals were stumble on or animals I saw and stalked. I can only imagine how many I would not have harvested if Id taken all the time to do all of the above.


Instead I ranged them, checked the wind, found a rest and shot them if they were within my point blank distance. I wasn't worried bout whether or not I hit my dope numbers or messed up my clicks. The only thing in my mind was the shot. I hadn't introduced any doubts into my mind. I knew the zero. And I made the shot.

You want to shoot paper or steel crank away. But there is a reason Horus type reticles are becoming so popular. They are faster. Period. Spend $10,000 on a hunt and tell me set up time or shot window doesn't matter.


Practice Practice Practice.


Know the zero for every hash/stadia mark. You might find that with a 300 yard zero your hash zeros at 15x are 333-378-402-447-489-522 etc.


This knowledge even sometimes allows you to use a bracket method where you can often have two hash marks on the target at the same time. You know the bullet will impact between the two.


The point is there are lots of ways to use your scope in real-world (not theoretical) situations that are just as accurate as cranking away. They are light years faster and don't require moving turrets and don't introduce any subconscious self-doubt.


Know your equipment and Practice Practice Practice.

 

[SavageHunter11]

Cranking v Shooting.


Case in point: Many years ago I was hunting a nice moose in Nuffy. My gun was probably zeroed for 300 yards at the time. The moose was constantly moving thru scrub between 250 and 400. We were moving as fast as we could but he was nose into the wind and was farther away every time we saw him. The quick glimpses did not give me much time to set up a shot. And he was far enough out that a rest was required. I was using sticks, which setting up on a bog is a challenge of its own.


The Moose finally stepped out into a clearing about 400 yards out that we hadn't noticed but it was 20 yards wide. I had just enough time to know he was within the 300WM's point blank range. High center hold and done.


Yes, I turn a lot of turrets for tactical shoots and also when I hunted truly long range. Im reading all the comments on turning turrets as the best method, but there are some important real world considerations missing in the discourse.


Generally, if we are shooting 500 plus or at very small spots then turret cranking is a must, however I'm assuming we are discussing hunting situations here. And most of those are under 500 yards.


So lets dissect a typical shot scenario.


You spot the animal. You glass the animal. You determine to shoot the animal. If the critter has read the script he stands perfectly still for you while you range him and start turning your Elv Turret. Right? Not! This is what everyone is leaving out and why I set zeros at long distances. You must also find the time to get into a shooting position, find or build a rest and settle in, check the wind. After all if you are going to crank in the exact elevation you must also then dial in the windage right? No? Then why bother with the elevation? And then, if the animal is still on script and stationary you must make the shot. You wonder if you dialed in the correct dope. And animals seldom read the script. They are seldom stationary for more than a few seconds.

The vast vast majority of my trophy animals were stumble on or animals I saw and stalked. I can only imagine how many I would not have harvested if Id taken all the time to do all of the above.


Instead I ranged them, checked the wind, found a rest and shot them if they were within my point blank distance. I wasn't worried bout whether or not I hit my dope numbers or messed up my clicks. The only thing in my mind was the shot. I hadn't introduced any doubts into my mind. I knew the zero. And I made the shot.

You want to shoot paper or steel crank away. But there is a reason Horus type reticles are becoming so popular. They are faster. Period. Spend $10,000 on a hunt and tell me set up time or shot window doesn't matter.


Practice Practice Practice.


Know the zero for every hash/stadia mark. You might find that with a 300 yard zero your hash zeros at 15x are 333-378-402-447-489-522 etc.


This knowledge even sometimes allows you to use a bracket method where you can often have two hash marks on the target at the same time. You know the bullet will impact between the two.


The point is there are lots of ways to use your scope in real-world (not theoretical) situations that are just as accurate as cranking away. They are light years faster and don't require moving turrets and don't introduce any subconscious self-doubt.


Know your equipment and Practice Practice Practice.

That is some solid advice (great advice from everyone). It's funny you mention the H59 style reticle and maybe I should have mentioned this initially but my scope on my hunting rifle has a Leupold CCH reticle which is very H59-ish. I agree with you that animals rarely read their script to stand still long enough to range, set-up, and shoot which is part of the reason I picked the scope I did. I bow hunt and have spent plenty of time splitting the pins because animals are never at their scripted 10 yard increments and I use my scope in a similar fashion. I currently zero at 100 yards but then practice with my scope's reticle out to 600 yards (longest local range) and regularly have to split my hash marks. I have the turret to crank if the situation allows but I almost always end up holding into my reticles grid system. I suppose in a way it's a hybrid of a 100 yard zero and a MPBR zero (at least in my head) and your post kinda tied that all together. I'm going to play around this summer with a scope set for MPBR on a different rifle to try it out regardless.

 

[Zen Archery]

Cuz I'm going Prairie Dog hunting and a 300 yard zero with moderate hold under and overs make more sense.

 

[Gcan]

This is is true for those dialing scopes. A 200+ yard zero can change day to day and has to be compensated for. The environmental conditions change and so does the zero when the atmosphere changes.
The time of flight on a 100 yard zero is generally so fast that there is no noticeable effect on zero from weather. (Your cheap Tupperware stock could effect it at 100)

If your 200 yard zero is off at 200 yards it will be magnified at 1000.

The maximum point blank range is fine to a point but your accurate range will be reduced for humane shots.

If you read the post I'm pretty clear that beyond my point blank distances I'm dialing my scope or using hash marks.

I've never owned a Tupperware stock.

And I submit that any thermal/elevation effect on my 200 or 400 yard zero doesn't go away because I turn my turrets. If my 300 yard zero is off for some external reason then so is my or your yard 100 zero at 300 yards or 1000.

 

[Gcan]

Cuz I'm going Prairie Dog hunting and a 300 yard zero with moderate hold under and overs make more sense.

22-250 4500 fps 50 Z-max 275 zero
5" kill zone

 

[Gcan]

22-250 4500 fps 50 Z-max 275 zero
5" kill zone

Cuz I'm going Prairie Dog hunting and a 300 yard zero with moderate hold under and overs make more sense.

View attachment 133444

My bad. Used 4500. Cant

Cuz I'm going Prairie Dog hunting and a 300 yard zero with moderate hold under and overs make more sense.

 

[Gcan]

 

[greenejc]

I zero and sight in my rifle at 100 meters because it is much easier to be accurate at 100 than at 200 or 300. Then, by dialling up 2 minutes (8 clicks), my rifle is zeroed at 200 meters and by dialling up 4 minutes + 2 clicks, my rifle is zeroed at 300 meters. That is why a like a scope with a turret!!

I use a Shepherd scope with aim points/rangefinding stadia calibrated for my muzzle velocity and bullet BC. I sight for 100 yards just as you do, but since the Ranging reticle is in the front focal plane, I just verify the impact out to 600 yards. It works well on both my 30-06s, my 35 Whelen, and my two 300 winmags. I can ring steel 18 inch circles on still days just by using the 600 yard circle.

 

[jlreff]

I adhere to the jack O'Connor's school of thought. Which is to sight in for max point blank range. I use a six inch kill zone that works well for the c o u e s deer that I hunt. Why hamper your rifles trajectory. With a three inch high zero at 100 put me on all the way to 320.

 

[greenejc]

My last antelope was taken this fall, about 4 months after a left knee replacement. I used my Ruger 30-06 with a 180grain Sierra Prohunter. I held on the antelope with the 300 yard circle on my Shepherd scope, and the bullet impact was exactly to point of aim. There was no guess work. The bullet hit mid-chest just behind the shoulder in a slightly quartering shot and exited the neck in front of the opposite shoulder. I zeroed for the scope, which has bullet drop compensation built into the reticle.