How do YOU zero your BG rifle?

[Chuck R.]

Not the mechanics, but which zero do you prefer and why?

IE. 100yd, 200yd MPBR etc? For the "why" please elaborate on your conditions.

I've gone to all 200yd zeros to keep my drops somewhat constant. Also for my shorter range rigs, the standard Leupold Duplex gives me a 300yd hold using the duplex junction roughly a 7" drop going from 200 to 300. My longer range rigs all have CDS dials and BDC reticles. Images courtesy of Strelok Pro:

Standard Duplex:



one of my BDCs:

 

[courtgreene]

I usually use 100 because I have a 100 yard range near me to do a reality check on where things are hitting. For some of my rifles, I have had time to go to a longer range. For those, I use a 200 yard zero, because it gives me a very good MPBR.

 

[FL-NC]

100 yards. Works fine for anything that I'm shooting around here. Cause Florida.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Scope rifles, 100(ish) yards from the back porch slab.
Iron sight rifles, 50 and then sometimes 75 yards cause that's the max my old eyes can reliably be trusted with iron sights.

 

[jak67429]

I voted 200 because that is what I use mostly. but it really depends on the rifle and game I'm hunting. My 270 is sighted 1.5" high at 100, witch is pretty much point blank for where I hunt deer. my 6.5 has a 100 zero stop on the scope but a range card for wind and elevation out to 600.

 

[gwpercle]

This is how I sight my rifle in ...
First I use a bore sighter ...
Then 25 yards at the range ... then 50 yards ... then 75 yards and then ... 100 yards !
I like to fire 5 shots but sometimes 3 shots will tell the tale .

100 yards is the distance I sight it in for , I don't shoot long in the Louisiana Swampy bottom lands ...too much cover and underbrush .
Gary

 

[stillquietvoice]

I use a 200 yd zero, on all my rifles keeps trajectory close even with bdc reticle.

 

[daniel craig]

100 yards. I'm shooting a...mosin I'm shooting a mosin...damn Autocorrect and realistically that's about as far as I'm going to get a shot off based on where I hunt.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I zero to theoretical MPBR at 100 yds. Most of my shots are under 100 yds…

 

[Seedy Character]

For 20 years, I hunted a high line right-of-way. Stand on top of sandy hill, creek at the bottom of the hill, 450 yards.

My 7mmRemMag with 140gr Hornady, zeroed at 280 yards, shot Minute of Deer from point blank to 450 yards. Close shot, I aim low heart. Mid range, point of shoulder. Long shots put crossbars top of back. 17 deer, 1 shot each. Didn't have to judge yardage. Stand was next to pole, poles were 100 yards apart.

 

[Chuck R.]

For 20 years, I hunted a high line right-of-way. Stand on top of sandy hill, creek at the bottom of the hill, 450 yards.

My 7mmRemMag with 140gr Hornady, zeroed at 280 yards, shot Minute of Deer from point blank to 450 yards. Close shot, I aim low heart. Mid range, point of shoulder. Long shots put crossbars top of back. 17 deer, 1 shot each. Didn't have to judge yardage. Stand was next to pole, poles were 100 yards apart.

That's the main reason I asked the question, I was curious how many guys were still using the concept.

For years I used the MPBR zero and it worked well. Back then lasers were non-existent as were most BDCs and MOA/MIL reticles. You could do "subtense" using the Leupold duplex reticle and the magnification ring, which is fairly quick and reasonably accurate out to normal distances. The MPBR enabled me to "point and click" out to the range I was shooting 99% of the animals I took, and it was fast.

Now with the addition of technology, I've gone to the 200yd and rely on a laser and the reticle. When sitting in overwatch I'll laser in some terrain feature and create a little range card.

 

[Seedy Character]

Our local range had target stands at 50, 100, 200 and 300 yards. There was a 8" steel gong at 300 yards, also. 99% of my rifle time, before deer season, was offhand shots at that gong.

Sold that 7mag to a good friend. No regrets, I have no plans and little desire to shoot anything over 400 yards. 200 is about the limit, where I am now. .30-06 and .260 Rem
are sighted 240 and 225 yards.

Worked forever and Old guys don't change easy.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I like MPBR because of simplicity and no excess gadgets in the form of rangefinders and/or busy scope reticle and/or fussing with turrets.

That said, I fully acknowledge my uses for my rifles are purely for hunting and very little target shooting and none of it would be long range. My hunting area just doesn’t allow shots over 300 yds and even those areas are not in my neck of the hunting woods. They are only possibilities for me. That is my level of skill and interest in shooting rifles.

For those who shoot longer range, there are better plans than a plain duplex reticle without turrets.

 

[Random 8]

Wait for the forward observer to call for a fire correction or call fire for effect. Did you mean big game rifle? Depends. I generally follow a form of MPBR, but mine is modified for a tighter hold at slightly closer ranges. My deer woods end at 200 yards, so I average the high/low for 200 yards. With my .280 Rem that lands around 1.2" high at 100 yards, 1.2 low at 200. With my .300 savage it's a few ticks higher.

 

[Laphroaig]

It depends. For western hunting where shots could be long, I sight 3" high at 100. With my 30-06 and 180 Partitions that puts me 3" low at about 275 yds. That is Jack O'C wisdom BTW.

200 yds. is my other favorite for the PA woods. That works well with my BDC scopes as well.

 

[22250Rem]

Depends on which big game rifle. My 30-30 is zeroed at 100 yds. and is almost the same at 50. Where I use it would rarely require shooting over 100 yds. Last Friday I checked zero on my 300 WSM Savage Mod. 10 in preparation for an upcoming hunt. It's an inch or so high at 100 yds. and just a hair low at 200. That's a 150 gr. Nosler Accubond bullet launched at an average 3207 fps. To quote Laphroaig; "It depends". On what cartridge and the distances that you may have to shoot at. Stuff like muzzle velocity and the ballistic coefficient of the bullet all play a part in it when a computer ballistic program is spitting out the data but in the real world there's no substitute for actually shooting at those distances. Besides; it's also good practice.

 

[uuolf]

100 is good... I even use 50 sometimes... But for final adjustments I use 200 yards... Some projectiles need a little extra distance to settle down and get the spin stabilized... I'm a computer geek so I also have an app (calibrated to each actual load) on hand to tell me the drop and drift with "clicks"... It's my first person shooter game in real life... In the old days you could tape a limited amount of info to your stock (and I still do)... Now it's so much easier (and accurate with changing conditions) to dial it in with a hand held... If you calibrate the actual ballistic coefficient and velocity using the app then you'd be amazed at how accurate the results are...

 

[Scout21]

100 yards simply because that's the longest shot I have at the local range. The MPBR of my rifle is 250 yards, but I'm still playing with loads and the opportunities to sight in further than 100 are few and far between, so I keep to 100 yards. Ideally, I'd like to sight in at MPBR.

I ran some numbers a while back and it seems that I get a 6 inch MPBR of 250 yards when sighting in at 25 yards. I'd like to test it out at some point. Being able to sight in at 25 yards would be great considering my shooting range limitations.

 

[jmr40]

I zero at 100. Most shots will be under 100, but 200+ is always a possibility. My go-to rifle is in 308, but I occasionally hunt with a 6.5 CM. With a 100 yard zero the path of the bullet will be no more than 1" above or below my line of sight from the muzzle out to 130ish yards and no more than 2" low at 200.

IMO that flat trajectory is a huge plus to get shots through openings in brush at the ranges I'm most likely to shoot. With a 200 yard zero the bullets path will be more arched at the ranges I'm most likely to shoot. Even if a 300 yard shot comes up there isn't enough drop to be a major concern. If I can see a sliver of daylight between a deer's back and the horizontal crosshair the bullet is going to hit in the kill zone.

It is only beyond 300 yards where bullet drop starts to be a concern. And most of my rifles have scopes with either multiple aiming points or dials I can twist for anything longer than 300. But while those are fun to play with at the range, the odds of actually needing them when hunting are slim.

If I hunted in more open terrain where 200 yard shots were the norm then I could see zeroing at 200 yards.

 

[troy fairweather]

2" high at 100 yards.

 

[LoonWulf]

None of the above because I..... Actually, I use all of the distances/methods depending on the rifle.

Rifles with reasonably easily adjusted turrets are zeroed @ 100, and Ill make adjustments as needed in the field.

Rifles chambered for fast cartridges without easily adjustable turrets will be MPBR, which is usually 1.5-3" high at 100.
.
Rifles with lower energy cartridges that I expect to be maxed by their effectiveness as opposed to the ease of hitting with, will be zeroed at 150-200yds.
I also use MPBR for moderately slow chamberings, but they often simply turn into 150-200yd zeros and I dont shoot any farther than that

Slow loopy rounds will be zeroed at 100yds and not used much outside of that (ive had very few of these)

My heavy airgun, or a PCC using heavy bullets will be zero'd at 50yds and not used much outside of that.

 

[mavracer]

Other than a couple vintage setups everything I own has some form of ranging reticle so pretty much everything gets zeroed at 100 and they're all loaded in Streloc. The long range guns with exposed turrets are usually left dialed for 300 yards so I guess you could consider them MPBR zero.

 

[Patocazador]

Military-type scopes are useless for me since all of my hunting is in thick growth. It's rare to have a shot over 150 yards so that's where "zero" is on my scopes. I don't have to calculate anything, just put the crosshairs on it and fire.

 

[tominboise]

I site in at 100 yards, generally 2" high. This is with cartridges like the 270 Win and 7mm Rem Mag, etc. I will then shoot at 200 yards, to verify the POI is zero and adjust as required. Sometimes I will shoot targets at 300 yards, just to see what the actual drop is. Gold standard for me is a three inch group at 300, but that's pretty rare.

 

[jmorris]

I need an all of the above. Depends on what I am doing and where, as to what one I pick.