Sighting in question

[CMR]

If a rifle is sighted in at 50rds and then shot at 100yrds...would the shot placement be high? If so, then sighting a rifle at 50yrds could also be used to sight in a rifle for 200yrds?
Asking this because a few guys at the range were talking about this.

 

[1911A1 fan]

CMR, your best bet would be to zero at 25 yrds then you should be on at 300, but it will depend on what gun you shoot. The best thing to do is to shoot at different ranges to see what YOUR gun will do because the important thing is to get as much trigger time as you can and that is what makes you a better shooter.

 

[Art Eatman]

Most modern centerfire rifles have the bullet still rising above the line of sight if zeroed at 50 yards. The effect is greater for a scoped rifle than for one with iron sights--the line of sight is farther above the centerline of the bore.

Roughly, for non-magnums, most cartridges from .223 through .30-'06 have reasonably similar trajectories. Two inches high at 100 yards is pretty much dead on at 200 yards and roughly six inches low at 300 yards. (I'm ignoring the 1/2" to 1" variations among this range of cartridges, as well as similar variations due to bullet weights. )

But all this exterior ballistics stuff is in your Sierra reloading-data handbook.

Art

 

[Dan Morris]

I totally agree with Art. You still should check for varients with your actual rifle. Good hunting.
Dan