Scope sighting question

V

veamon

New member
I'm looking at picking up a scope in the next few weeks for one of my rifles, and have a question about sighting it.

Do you sight it at 50 yds, then 100 yds, and have to adjust? Or if I sight it at 100 (or more), what affect does that have on accuracy? I'm looking at having it down to where I can pick it up and be accurate for most of those ranges, within reason. It's most likely going on my mini 14.
 
Yes!

Let me explain.

Sight in for the most likely distance you'll be shooting it at & calculate an offset for all other ranges. Do be aware though that many scopes are set (collimated) for a specific distance unless it has an adjustable Objective lens so you might encounter Parallax problems if the collimated at the factory distance & zeroing distance is not the same.
 
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Most RF rifles have a similar trajectory & most CF rifles have a nearly (but not exactly) similar trajectory.

The CF rifle's projectile usually crosses the line-of-sight twice: the first time (on the way "up") @ about 25yds; the second time (on the way "down") @ about 100yds.

Similarly, the .22LR does the trick @ about 20 & 75 yds.

(The distances can be +/-, due to differing bbl lengths/boolit velocity & ammo/chamberings)

Sooooo, I found that if I first zero @ the shorter distance, before checking (and possibly re-zeroing with a slight correction) @ the longer distance, the zeroing goes quicker, with less expenditure of ammo.



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Do you mark your scopes or anything for certain distances, so you can quickly sight it again without having to actually sight it?
 
I zeroed my Minis for about two inches high at 100 yards, which is close to dead on at 200 yards.

Worked plenty good for coyotes and jackrabbits and the occasional plinking session.
 
sight in

Here's my normal drill for centerfires.

Mount scope (there is a right and wrong way, separate topic). Bench and shoot and adjust till I get "on" at 25 yds. Move to 100. At 100, I select a "zero" according to model, use and caliber. For a scoped high power in .223 and up class, I go +2" at 100 yds. I can hold "on" to about 250 or so and get a good hit, the bullet coming in a tad high under 200+/- and a tad low beyond that to 250. I don't worry to much about holding on or off on deer size targets with that zero within those ranges. The old sages of years ago advised +3" at 100, but that puts the slug a bit too high for me at midrange to be happy.

For .22 rimfire, I shoot at 25 to get close, and put the rifles on a 50.

Two exceptions to all that. I have a very accurate .22 lr heavy barrel that is zeroed on at 100, and I toy with long range shooting with it, 100 and out. Very interesting. The other is a 5mm Rimfire Mag of years ago, which gets the same zero, on at 100, and is good on critters to about 150 or so w/o hold over.

It sounds to me like the OP may not be quite as familiar with the external ballistics of his .223 ctg. The things shoots flatter than many realize. A 100 yard zero a bit high, will put one on target, or close enough, farther than most of us can shoot well. Especially with a mini
 
Yea I haven't shot my mini in years, having lived in a small apartment for awhile and my folks have been keeping it in their gun locker. Now that I've bought a house and have somewhere to put my rifles, I'm having to relearn some things.
 
I sight in initially at 25yds, then I zero again at 100. It usually takes fewer rounds downrange when I do it that way.
 
I sight in a 25 yards and see where that puts me at my target range.

For instance, My rifle puts 150 gr JSPs out at 2800 FPS. The chart says that puts me roughly 3" high at 150 yds and 6" low at 300yds. I zero 'til I get a nice group at 25 yds then I test and adjust at 100 yds (2.7" high@100) and then again at 200 yds (1.5" high @ 200yds). I do the same for a mildot scope. I use a reticle calculator to break down the BDC with the 25 yds zero. This way, when I'm hunting I nearly always just put the cross hairs in the vitals and shoot. If its a long shot (@250-300), then I raise POI to the shoulder. If its really long, I break out the range finder and the dope card.

Also,.. I tweak zero as I play at the range.
 
Thanks all, I'll be going through all of this in the next few weeks.

Last question about a scope, do you prefer ones with the crosshairs, or the red-dot ones, and why? My only issue with the red-dot would be the need for batteries.
 
I generally use a 200 yard zero. This will normally put you within a few inches either way from 0-300 yards. For instance, my 6.8SPC zeroed at 200 will be 0" at 50, 1.3" high at 100, 1.4" high at 150, zero at 200, 3" low at 250 and 7.9" low at 300. In other words, any distance I shoot at for deer size game I can use dead on hold and be within an inch or so except 300 where I would aim for the top of the back and bullet should drop into vitals.
A good ballistic calculator comes in very handy when deciding what distance to zero. http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/ballistics-calculator

I prefer a crosshair for hunting purposes. A red dot is fine for a battle style rifle and is ok for hunting as well as long as you keep it to about a 2 MOA dot. Anything bigger it tends to cover up too much of the target for my taste.
 
I've been using duplex cross hairs since they were invented. I'm content with those. :)

After bore-sighting, it usually takes takes me maybe three shots to get dead-on at 25 yards. Generally, that gets me about three-ish inches high at 100, and within an inch or two, sidewise. Then it's the old three-shot group deal in sight-in until I get my usual 2" high for my 200-yard zero.

That works for most deer cartridges outside of the Swift-type .22s and the magnum family, as well as the .223.
 
In response to your OP I may have misunderstood. Let me clarify a bit.

I do an initial setup & 25 Yds, including bore-sighting. Then I go to my most likely to be used distance & set a "zero", not a sight in, but a zero distance. All other distances are offset "sight ins", either by aiming off or by "clicking" the turrets to a new sight in distance from this zero.

My preference is for a reticule with either a post & flat (German-type) like this, or a cross reticule.

fsdu.jpg


Why?

Simple the flat (horizontal "hair") gives me an instant anti-cant check which a red dot doesn't do even some of the illuminated "red-dots" that go beyond a simple "dot" don't give an instant visual feedback of canting.

rl25.jpg
 
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On the other hand, I prefer a more conventional reticle. The one I'm using now looks like this.

reticle%2B02.jpg


The A point is the zero at 200 yards and the D point is the hold-over at 500 yards. In my particular case, I don't zero at 200 yards, so I've zero'd at 100, and through field work, figured the hold-over for 200 and 300 yards. I'm not going to pull the trigger on a game animal past 300 yards, but if I needed to, I'd do the field work and get the yardage down pat on my reticle. I do not intend to ever start clicking a scope turret while I'm looking at a game animal.
 
Zeroing in at a 25 yards is just a way to make sure you'll be on the target with your initial shots when you then choose to shoot at 100 yards.

It really depends what you're purposes are. If you're doing hunting at 200 yards you'll need to zero out further. But I like to keep mine zeroed at 100 as a 'general' distance.

bhammell
http://bestar15scopes.com
 
I have an advantage so I don't need to "get on paper" at 25 yards at all. Having access to huge surplus pieces of cardboard as scrap from work, I can set up at distance then take my first shot. It's big enough to catch that first hole. I think it saves a few rounds and that can mean something out of a box of 20. Especially when some can be costly.
 
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