100 or 200 Zero?

Do you Zero for 100 or 200 yards?

  • I zero at 100yds.

    Votes: 46 35.7%

  • I zero at 200yds.

    Votes: 80 62.0%

  • I grin down all the animals I take, just like Davy.

    Votes: 3 2.3%
  • Total voters
    129
3"-3.5" high at 100 yards.

With my .270 Win, it gives me an MPBR of 270-300 yards. (Depends on the load.) It works out to about a 275 yard zero for the 300 yard MPBR.

With my .30-06, it should give me an MPBR of about 300 yards with 165-168gr boat tail spitzers. This works out to about a 250 yard zero.


But I don't need to shoot. After I spend few days in the same cloths, they die from the noxious fumes.


*Maximum Point-Blank Range. (Sea level, 60 degrees F. At normal Antelope hunt temperatures of 85-95 degrees and an altitude of 5,600-6,800' a.s.l., the MPBR increases up to 20 yards. At deer hunting temperatures of 30-45 degrees and an altitude of 8,000-10,500' a.s.l., the MPBR doesn't decrease too much.)
 
I zero for MPBR with a 3" radius, then hold over if necessary. That puts me 3" high at 100, dead on at about 250 yds, in the meat to 300 or so. Works pretty well.
 
I answered with out reading your post. I ASSUMED you were talking about where I zero. Since I use a slug gun as it is pretty much all that is legal, I zero at 100. With a 270 I would certainly be zeroing farther out than that.
 
A generality about "deer cartridges" with higher velocity than a .30-30 but not quite up to a .300 Win Mag. No magnums.

Two inches high at 100 generally is about dead on at 200 and about six inches low at 300. Beyond that, lotsa variables.

Everything I've ever read says that the vast majority of all deer are shot within 200 yards. Hard to argue with that; I got one buck at 350 and one at 450, but most of the others were somewhere in the 75-yard to 150-yard range. Maybe three or thereabouts in the sorta "up close and personal" distance of only 30 or 40 yards.
 
Depending on how high the scope is mounted, which bullet is used, and how fast it's pushed, +1.5" zero at 100 yards will put you dead on at 200-225 yards with a .270. At 300 yards, you'll be around 5-6" low.

That said, as long as you know where your bullet will hit in corrolation to your aim, it doesn't matter how you sight in. The sights on a gun are just a reference to use to put the bullet where you want it to hit at any given range.

Daryl
 
If you have the time and room, shoot the rifle with the cartridge you intend to hunt with at 100, 200, and 300 yards and see what you have.

I think you will find that Daryl is correct, but you will know for sure and therefore have more confidence.
 
Where are you hunting? Here in GA 99% of my shots are going to be under 100 yards. I zero at 100 and know exactly where I will hit at any range between 25 yards and 300 because I practice at those ranges. At 300 yards there is quite a bit of drop with a 100 yard zero, but I can still make hits on a deer size animal by holding on hair at any range out to 300.

If I went to a 200 yard zero it would take any guesswork out of the 300 yard shots and make 400 easier. But it would lead to a bullet striking 2-3" higher than POA at 50 yards. Not a problem out in the open, but could cause the bullet to hit brush while trying to shoot through a 3" opening in the brush at closer ranges.

I'm going to Western Colorado in October. My rifle will be zeroed at at least 200 yards for those conditions, maybe 250. I'll see how my practice sessions go this summer as I prepare for the hunt.
 
Not totally certain about ranges since I have not been there to hunt before.
I am presuming relatively open areas though. Fields etc.
 
In PA I've shot only two deer over 200 yds in 20+ years of hunting there. One 213 yds range finder, other 250 stepped off. 20+ deer have been shot at 75 yds or less.

I zero rifles in at 200 yds. The rifles I used '06, 270, 7mm-08 plus others all are less then 2" high at 100". So I can aim dead on out to 200 yds.

When hunting you're not shooting a target. An inch either way can't really be seen on that patch of brown you're lining up on. So I put crosshairs right on shoulder and fire. Never had to tracked a deer more then 50 yards. Of course shooting them at 75 yds sure helps.
 
I go against the grain in my neck of the woods and zero at 100. Most hunters I know zero at 200 but I don't see the point for the kind of hunting I do.
 
My 270 is sighted for 250 yard zero. Shot an antelope fawn at a bit over 350 paces last year. Dead center on the old boiler room. I aimed just a bit high cause she was a long ways off.

I shoot prairie doggies quite a bit, and even though I fiddle with the adjustable objective and try to figure out distance to targeted animals, it seems to be too difficult to get very good at it.The most common cause of my missed shots other than a chronic flinch with the 22-250, is the inability to gauge trajectory and distances.

For deer and antelope hunting, Maximum Point Blank Range is the best for me. If you go to http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi you can figure out what MPBR is for your given caliber and bullet.
 
Were I hunt very few shots are over 100 yards. Most are more like 50 or so. So I zero for 100 yard, and know were it shots pass that. My scope has the dot system. I got to admit last year I did shot to farther out than I ever have. I think a 200 yard zero is perfect. Half the shooters I see though have a 200 yard zero, and can't hit nothing past 50 yards free arm. Just my opinion if you can't hit what your shooting at 100 yards a zero for 200 wont matter.
 
I zero bottleneck rifle cartridges at 200, including the 30-30. The procedure has made me some meat I might otherwise have let walk.
 
I didnt read all of page 1 posts.

Im surprised no one asked where in the US are you hunting. Where I hunt it is seldom that you can see a deer at 200 and about never at 300 unless along the powerline.

In the swamp 50 yards-dead on is better asnd you will still be dead on to 75 or 80 yds.
 
Im surprised no one asked where in the US are you hunting.
Click to expand...

I am hunting in NC. There is a guy with A LOT of land that is going to take me out some this season. He does some farming and other things. I have not been to the land so I am not sure how far the shots will be, but I have seen stands over fields around here that could overlook some pretty long shots.

I think I am going to go with the MPBR since I would not feel comfortable with my abilities past 287 yds anyway.
 
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