Help zeroing a Stevens 200 .223

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Hi all, this is my first post, but I'm not new to forums
or firearms. I've owned many guns over the years mosins,
mausers, a few 22's, a 17 HMR, several shotguns and various
other weapons. The Savage 200 I speak of however is my
first scoped center fire rifle. I've had no issues sighting in my
various rimfire rifles over the years. My current setup is the
Stevens 200 in .223 with a Bushnell Banner 40 mm 4-16x
scope making use of a bipod for stabilization. I bore sighted the
weapon to get it on paper at 25 yards then dialed it in to shoot 1.5"
high at that distance. At 100 yards however, I'm way high, not even on the
paper (12"x12" target). What gives?
 
I boresight on paper at 50 then sight in POA=POI at 50 then take it to 100.

I think your problem is trying to sight high at 25.
 
What gives? External Ballistics.

Your sight glass is about 1.5 inches above the bore and you've sighted it to place the bullet 1.5 inches high at 25 yards, so the bullet is climbing relative to your visual plane. (Yeah, yeah, I know, the bullet starts dropping immediately when it leave the barrel, but everything is relative and your visual plane has the bullet starting high).

That bullet is traveling pretty fast and by the time it gets to 100 yards it's not yet at the highest point of its ballistic arc. It's still climbing and will start to descend when it gets to some point downrange.

I'd recommend that you sight the rifle in at the range you want to use, whatever that might be. Whether 100, 200, or some farther range. Some marksmen find it useful to get the rifle sighted dead-on at 25 yards then move out to the farther ranges to fine-tune the zero.
 
Save yourself some time and frustration. Sight in dead center at 25. Move to 50 sight in dead center. Then move to 100. If you have someone that can help you... fire one shot at 25, hold rifle/scope centered on bulls eye, have friend dial scope to where bullet hit. That brings POA to POI. Fire another shot. Should be bulls eye or very close. Move to 50 and do same. At 100 it will definitely be on paper and close. Should only take a little tweaking to get centered.

I don't even bore sight. My first shot is at 15 yards and center the cross-hairs. One shot! Then 25, one shot, 50, one shot, then 100. Five shots puts me where I can start really tweaking.
 
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The center of the bore is 1.5-2" lower than the crosshairs of the scope. The muzzle is pointed slightly upward and the bullet leaves traveling at a slight upward angle and will cross your line of sight somewhere around 25-50 yards. It will then reach its apex and start dropping down. Where it crosses your line of sight the 2nd time is the range you have the gun zeroed. If you are off the paper high at 100 yards you probably have a 300-400 yard zero.

You only shoot at close range to get the bullet on the paper at 100 yards. Don't waste time of ammo zeroing at closer than 100 yards with a modern centerfire and scope. Simply adjust your sights until it is hitting the bull at 100, 200, or whatever range you want to shoot.

I prefer a 100 yard zero. That way you are no more than 1" high or low between about 50 yards and 150 yards with most chamberings. If you zero at 25 yards or closer your bullet is still traveling upward andmay be very high at the ranges you will likely shoot. Zeroing at longer ranges complicates shooting at closer ranges where you are actually most likely to shoot.
 
When using that method, I sight my centerfires a tad LOW at 25yds. Gets me pretty close at 100. High at 25 usually is way high at 100.
 
I've always bore sighted at 100; always been on paper first shot. Hard not to be. Try it further out the first time around. You won't have to guess anymore.
 
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