Sighting 30-06 4" high at 100 or 320 yard zero for deer

I like 1.5 to 2'' high for a deer rifle.

~+2"@100yds is an approximate 200yd zero. +4"@100yds sounds about right for 300-325yds.

I've also heard it stated as a 50/200yd zero vs a 25/250 or 25/300 zero.

Which cartridge are we talking? My .243 is dead-on at 50yds to be a couple of inches high at 100yds. In my part of the country, mostly, 200yds is considered a long shot.

Stevel said:

I was wondering if anyone sights in high for deer. With my load 4" at 100, it has maximum rise of 5.7" at 190 and zero's just shy of 320 yards.

The theory is you can aim at the heart for shots out to 320 yards and place it in the vitals. Similar to Maximum Point Blank Range, but allowing greater distance with dead on hold with smaller vital zone variance.

Click to expand...

Have you shot it at those distances to KNOW that?

No, I do not deliberately set my cross hairs high based on some theoretical calculation I've never test to try for the first time ever on a deer in the field.

Jack Ryan said:

Have you shot it at those distances to KNOW that?

No, I do not deliberately set my cross hairs high based on some theoretical calculation I've never test to try for the first time ever on a deer in the field.

Click to expand...

I agree one should know where bullets will land at any distance they expect to make a shot, but unless he's shooting a wierd handload, those numbers should be pretty close.
Personally for scopes that don't have secondary aiming points, and I won't be dialing, I use 3" high zero.
I'm actually much more comfortable with that when I don't have a range finder.
I also don't care for more than 3-4" in divergence from los, so that reduces my mpbr a bit.

Need to remember too that if you are using a multi power scope you should sight it at the power you will use for those long shots. Run the numbers on a sight distance magnification POA computer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAYegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw0MqJkpoo1k72Z5DWBPVHAG

If you're 4" high at 100 and hold center shoulder, you only have approximately 2" error for a good shot.
I use a 200 yard zero. That gives me no holdover to 250. At 300 I hold just inside the hairline.
My opinion is; If it's close, I want to be able to pull up and shoot offhand with as much room for error as possible.
As the range gets longer, either I have time to calculate, or I pass on the shot.
I used to know people who used that zero and they missed a lot of deer.

4" high at 100 yards shooting a 150-165gr bullet, 59f, 1000ft altitude at 12x works out to first mil dot for POA at 300 yards.

I zero for 200, since the majority of the animals I've taken are under that distance, even here in KS.

With a standard Leupold duplex the lower transition point between the heavy and thin lines is just about a perfect 300 yard aim-point. For a couple rifles that I set up for potentially longer shots I've gone to CDS turrets and BDC reticles.

I zero all of my rifles for 100 yards. That way the bullet will never be more than 1" above, or below line of sight between the muzzle and about 130-150 yards depending on the cartridge, bullet and load. No more than 2-3" low at 200 yards, and I can still hit any big game animal in the kill zone at 300 yards without holding over. If I estimate the animal to be over 200 yards, but under 300 I can simply hold on the top of the back. Even in the wide open west most shots are under 200 yards and it is a lot easier to hold over at long range than to remember to hold low at closer ranges.

Zeroing several inches high at 100 yards adds very little to the maximum effective range, but having bullets 4-6" high at closer ranges increases the odds of the bullet striking unseen brush between me and the animal. Many of my shots are in thick brush where I have a softball size opening to place the bullet through. I'd much rather have the laser flat trajectory for the 1st 200 yards (where I'm most likely to shoot) than add only 20-30 yards to the effective range (where I'm highly unlikely to get a shot).

Most of my scopes have multiple aiming points anyway. They are designed to be used with a 100 yard zero with aiming points for 200,300,400, and 500 yards. Out to 300 yards it isn't hard to make hits with most any modern cartridge with pointed bullets. Beyond 300 yards bullet drop is enough with even the flattest shooting loads that you really need a range finder and either multiple aiming points or a scope with turrets.

I keep it "simple". Some type of ballistic reticle on a scope, zero at 100 yards, confirm to maximum range I am comfortable with for that rifle with live fire on 8" steel plates.

With my 30-06 I like to sight in at 200yrds, then I am 2" high at 100yrds and 3" low at 300yrds using 3" steel targets. Most of my shots in North Georgia are less than 100yrds and the longer range is for coyotes.

LoonWulf said:

I agree one should know where bullets will land at any distance they expect to make a shot, but unless he's shooting a wierd handload, those numbers should be pretty close.
Personally for scopes that don't have secondary aiming points, and I won't be dialing, I use 3" high zero.
I'm actually much more comfortable with that when I don't have a range finder.
I also don't care for more than 3-4" in divergence from los, so that reduces my mpbr a bit.[/"QUOTE].

Click to expand...

Pretty close is for people who hunt pie plates and like to blood trail stuff

I have my 30-06 zeroed at 200 yards and that's about ideal for my purposes. The deer I got a couple of weeks ago was shot at 225 yards, and that's a little longer than my average shot but not by a whole lot. Zeroing at 200 seems to work out pretty well on this cartridge in terms of not printing too high along the way while still maintaining a reasonable drop at longer distances. I carry around a rangefinder when I hunt and it's actually pretty handy to have. Sometimes it can be hard to eyeball distances, especially over open draws.

Back in the day when I hunted out west I sighted my 270 with 130 gr like my idol, Uncle Jack O'Connor, suggested. He and Bob Hagel touted a sight-in 3" high at 100 yards. Many calibers like 243, 270, 30-06 7mm Mag and even 300 Mag all benefited with this sight-in. You would be 3" high at 100 yds, 4" at 200, dead on at 250-275, and 12-14" low at 400. This was with medium weight bullets for each caliber. Your dead-on hold was approx. 350 yards. I have used it to take deer and pronghorns from 25 yds to over 400. I played with a 257 Weatherby with this sight-in and found it to be only about 7" low at 400. What's not to like?

Now my long range rifle wears a Vortex. My load matches their BDC. If I have a rangefinder I can keep rounds in a 6" plate out to 500 yards, but all of my other rifles are on at 100yds.

I sight in high at 100. I also fire targets out to 300 yards to see where I'm actually hitting. I never just put it a few inches high, and then trust that it'll do what I read about in an article. Always test it, always know.

I also check to see where that thing is gonna hit at 5 to 10 yards, while shooting down from my tree stand. The last thing you want is to have a deer step out right in front of you, and have to play a guessing game of "I'm 2 inches high at 100, so where am I at 10 yards? And I'm aiming downward at a huge angle...does that change anything?" It happens. Know before you go.

Jack Ryan said:

Pretty close is for people who hunt pie plates and like to blood trail stuff

Click to expand...

Ive never had that issue...wierd.
Again, I tend to plink a lot tho, so I get quite a bit of practice in unknown yardage...
I've also only shot maybe a dozen animals, archery included, that I had an exact distance for.

LoonWulf said:

Ive never had that issue...wierd.
Again, I tend to plink a lot tho, so I get quite a bit of practice in unknown yardage...
I've also only shot maybe a dozen animals, archery included, that I had an exact distance for.

Click to expand...

I think he's getting at the idea that it'll drop close to x" and the target is at close to y yards can add up to wounded game.
You may be lucky and the tolerances balance out or you may be stacking them.
Like you I do a lot of UKD plinking and got good at the "I'll hold about there" shooting with my rifle. But I know the drop for each distance too my max yardage. Not a hypothetical.

Bfh_auto said:

I think he's getting at the idea that it'll drop close to x" and the target is at close to y yards can add up to wounded game.
You may be lucky and the tolerances balance out or you may be stacking them.
Like you I do a lot of UKD plinking and got good at the "I'll hold about there" shooting with my rifle. But I know the drop for each distance too my max yardage. Not a hypothetical.

Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing, you should always shoot your dope, even if it's not useful all the time.
Part of the point of using mpbr is that instead of having to know an actual distance you simply have to know too far, or in range.
if anything looks like it's too far you simply have to get closer.

in my experience if I have to start figuring drop Ill alao needed to start figuring windage as well and that's much harder to judge than simply hold over or dialing up

I think some guys give there selfs to much credit on how they can range a animal. My deer I have shot there's no time range find any no time to dial some drop or wind, so the mpdr gives you some safety net.

200 yard zero here for big game rifle.

For me 5.7" high is not in my MPBR.

2.5" high, to 2.5" low is what I consider MPBR.

But I consider how close I shot it from to be much more important than how far I shot it from.

It is too simplistic to say, you have to check your zero's at range, and with the ammunition you plan to use.

I spend plenty of time setting my 100 yard zero



Then zero at 200 yards



Then 300 yards




Here is an example of what happens when you change ammunition







What I have found is that scope clicks vary. The 1970's Burris scope (hey, I had it and I used it, and at the time, in 1970, I thought 1970 was modernity, not as it is viewed today, ancient times) is actually a 1/3 MOA per click scope. That was a bit of a surprise and the clicks per MOA dropped out once I started counting clicks.

If you don't have access to a 300 yard range the best you can do is book estimates. But I have found, in the real world, that book values are only approximate. In the real world, little differences in bullet trajectories, stock weld, scope height, recoil, shooting position, show up on target.

Book estimates will be close, you should be "in the black", but to get the bullets in the center, you have to test the rifle, scope, cartridge at distance.

Jack Ryan said:

Have you shot it at those distances to KNOW that?

Click to expand...

You made a point. My favorite deer rifle was a Marlin 336C in 35 Rem. It is sighted in at 100 yards. In MD and PA, I never shot a deer at 100 yards; it was always less and a lot less.

I have always zero'd at 100 or maybe a scoshe high at 100.

I dont believe I have ever killed a deer much over 100 yards and most have been between 25 and 50 yards..