Problems Zeroing My Rifles

N

Nightcrawler

New member
I've run into this more than once. See, we don't go to an actual rifle range, doing most of my shooting at a sandpit surrounded by ridges just outside of town. Oftentimes, we don't have anything that resembles a paper target, so getting an idea of groupings or even making adjustments can be difficult.

Suggestions for sighting in a rifle under these circumstances? Should I buy a target and jury-rig something to hold it up? What range should I be at when I sight in?
 
You need paper, or equivalent, when sighting in so you have a record of your hits.

Here's what I do. Get something to hold your paper. A piece of plywood and a stick for a brace to hold it up work fine. It needs be be stable enough to stay up for 3-5 "hits" at least.

Attach the paper target to that with tape or stapler.

If the terrain is flat enough, you can staple the target to a box.

If you don't have a target, there are several places you can download and print on your printer (there is a thread here somewhere where you can download a bin Laden target)

Pace off the distance to the target, so you have some kind of accurate guess at your distance.

Where do you want your zero? Convention is, flat shooting rifles (.223, .308/.30-06, 7mm, etc) zero at 200 yards. Then they're 2-3" or so high at 100 yards, and 6" or so low at 250 yards.

Big & Slow rifles (.45-70, .44mag, .30-30) tend to zero at 100 yards since you won't be shooting them at 250 yards under normal circumstance.

But you choose the distance, based on where you expect to shoot. If you are always shooting at beanfield distances, you may want to zero at 300 yards. But know your trajectory so you know how high you'll be at 100 and 200 yards.

I always save all my paper targets except when plinking. For some reason, when I look at them all together at home, I catch things that I didn't catch at the range.
 
If you really want to zero, you're going to need a target. Try nailing/stapling some stiff poster board to two stakes--one on each side. Drive the stakes in securely with a hammer. If you stake in the middle of the poster board, your shot will likely hit the stake and knock it over or blow it to smithereens. Tape a good sight-in target to the poster board. The better targets have grids in either quarter-inch or half-inch blocks. These are handy when you need to know how much to adjust the scope.

Bullets of course rise slightly before dropping off. Most folks sight in dead on at 200 yards. That way, at any distance out to 200 and a little beyond, your bullet is going to stay within a 2 to 4 inch range from point of aim--an acceptable margin for most big game hunting.

It'll help then to be able to accurately step off 100 or 200 yards. Laser range finders are quite handy here. Also, Guns&Ammo yearly buyer's guide has a pretty good chart in back that gives you ballistics info for most commercial loads. If you're sighting in at 100 yards, you need to know how much rise is typical for a given load. You can usually get this info off the maker's web site as well.

Editor's note: Dave and I posted at nearly the same time, so there's a lot of the same info here. I feel like an echo.
 
My pace count is 62 paces per 100 meters, so I suppose I could sight my VEPR II .308 in at 200 meters when I get it.

However, since the AK-style tangent sight it ticked off in hundreds of meters, couldn't I set the tanget to zero (the notch below 100 meters) and zero it in at, say, 100 feet? While my shootin' hole is big enough to count out 100 or 200 meters, the unevenness of the terrain may make seeing anything but a man-sized target a bit difficut. I'll have to see. Might not even get to do it this year...snow will be flying in a couple weeks.

Something I don't get. Regardless of trajectory, can't I zero the rifle to hit point-of-aim at any range I want? (within the range of adjustment for the sights/scope, obviously). I don't, in practice, do a lot of long range shooting, and Kentucky elevation isn't difficult for me.
 
Dave and I assumed you'd be scoping the rifle. Little different story with AK iron sights.

You could try sighting in at a close range (25 yards) and adjust the front sight with a front sight tool to hit precisely at POA. However, I'd still want to test my rifle to see if the rear sight ticks are accurate. I'd try both 100m and 200m and find out if the rear sight reflects what a given load is/should be doing.

The trajectory will vary slightly from load to load depending on powder charge and bullet weight. Since I assume you'll be using a lot of .308 milsurp ammo, ballistic info won't be as readily available, so it's a good idea to test various loads to see how they shoot.

BTW, that Hirtenberger stuff is fine ammo, and it's boxer primed.
 
Ammo

I've got a thousand rounds of South African 150gr FMJ at home, just waiting the arrival of the rifle. I've got the front sight tool as well, and will try to sight in at 25 yards. Perhaps I'll do pace counts out to 100 and 200 meters, and see just how close those tick marks on the tangent sight really are.

Be forewarned, though, I'm not exactly the greatest shot in the world. :D
 
Something not yet mentioned is a steady rest. Very handy to have your rifle as stable as possible when either testing new ammo or sighting in.

With a stable rifle, any variance in POI can be contributed to rifle or ammo. You want to eliminate the "you" from the equation as much as possible.

Since you shoot at a sand pit, it shouldn't be too tough to come up with something "sand bag like." Fill it up there & dump it when you leave.
 
Do I understand it correctly? We're talking the 7.62X39?

Nightcrawler, the only difference between high-velocity trajectories and medium-velocity stuff is the arc of the curve. Faster is flatter.

So, yes, you can zero for any distance you want.

The idea is to create an optimum "point it and pull" sight-in. That is, the bullet won't be enough above or below the line of sight such that you miss. (This ties in with Guyon's and DaveR's comments.)

I often just take a cardboard box and tape a sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 notepaper to it, with a Magic Marker horizontal line across the middle and three vertical lines spaced across. Paper sideways; a "triple cross".

So, you could zero at 25 yards. Then, move the box out to 50 yards. Hold the same sight picture and try again and see where you are. Ditto for 75 yards, or whatever.

I just use 3/4" or 1" masking tape to cover the holes.

Arbitrarily, if you hit dead on at 75 yards, and are around 1" high at 25 yards and 50 yards, you'd be no more than an inch low at 100 yards. That would pretty well fit your sights' and cartridge's capabilities, and give you a "point blank" setup.

Approximately.

:), Art
 
thanks

My VEPR II will be in .308. I plan on sending it to Kreb's Custom and having it converted to M14 magazines for $120.00 as well.

Can't wait!

Thanks for the tips everybody!
 
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