Sighting in Your Rifle

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StrawHat

StrawHat

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I recently sighted in one of my rifles. Well, I had sighted it in years ago but got forty rounds of factory ammunition so I shot 4 to see if it was compatible with my sights. I use an 8” cardboard disk for aiming. This one was about 125 yards from where I was firing. The first shot is in the center. The whole group can be covered with a 3x5 index card.
upload_2021-11-11_6-27-34.jpeg

Not the best group I have ever fired but not terrible.

Kevin
 
You will eat deer this winter. I usually sight mine in at around 100 yards, the old '06 doesn't take much holdover on out to 200-250.
 
I sight my Hunting rifles and Varmint rifles in at 100 yards. Then I shoot them out to whatever the max distance that I expect to use them at and make an index card. Most of mine being dead on at 100 will be 1.5-2 inches low at 200 and 9-10 inches low at 300 yards. After that the drop goes to feet.
 
Bullet drop?

I find many rifle shooters - especially new hunters - fail to recognize any game animal has an 'area' aiming point, rather than a 'point' aiming point. Any place on that eight inch cardboard disk would be a "10 ring" hit on a deer.
So, hold over for bullet drop does not matter out to a certain point, depending on muzzle velocity. An '0-6' has something like a six inch top to bottom drop from the muzzle to somewhere around 300-400 yards. .45-70 has more drop and therefore, less [not fiddling with the sights] range.

Six hundred yard shots are what one reads in the magazines. Yes, they do happen. No, they are not common. Most folks would not even notice game at six hundred yards, let alone take a shot.
 
I tend to like 100 yard zero also.

yet I find the ballistic advantage to be at approximately 140.

Tho still a good 100, it’s a tad high

Helps with the longer shots, iF you are needing them
 
Take the time to down load the ballistic chart found on the Hornady web site. It lists just about every popular cartridge for the last 100 years.

There are a lot of variables but as a general rule it is pretty good for a scoped rifle with a reticle about 2"'s above the bore. Sighted in "O" at around 25 yards most rounds will be about 1" high at 100 yards and back to "O" at around 200 yards and 6-8" low at 300 yards. With a wound channel of about 4" diameter. As mentioned above anywhere on an 8" plate in the "engine room" will anchor a deer sized animal!

Good luck!
 
Don’t forget the horizontal aim point. I read an article years ago about hunters instinctively aiming at the middle of an animal because we are conditioned to hit the center of the bullseye. I believe it. It explains a lot of gut-shot deer. Put that circle in line with the front leg and your target won’t run far.
 
South Prairie Jim said:
Why not just zero at 200 to start with ?
Click to expand...

I think a lot of guys use the 100yd with 200 yd offset is due to a lack of 200yd ranges. Here all the public ranges are limited to 100yds.

I chrono, enter data in Strelok, compute the 100yd offset for a 200 yd zero, zero at 100 using the offset, then confirm at 200 (actually 220 cause that's my backstop from bench distance). The reason is at 200 (sometimes at 100) I start to see the effects of wind on the horizontal and vertical.
 
Archie said:
Bullet drop?

I find many rifle shooters - especially new hunters - fail to recognize any game animal has an 'area' aiming point, rather than a 'point' aiming point. Any place on that eight inch cardboard disk would be a "10 ring" hit on a deer.
So, hold over for bullet drop does not matter out to a certain point, depending on muzzle velocity. An '0-6' has something like a six inch top to bottom drop from the muzzle to somewhere around 300-400 yards. .45-70 has more drop and therefore, less [not fiddling with the sights] range.

Six hundred yard shots are what one reads in the magazines. Yes, they do happen. No, they are not common. Most folks would not even notice game at six hundred yards, let alone take a shot.
Click to expand...
Called "Pie Plate" marksmen. This is why so many game animals get ruined, mutilated and lost. Area aimers.
 
South Prairie Jim said:
Why not just zero at 200 to start with ?
Click to expand...


Closest range to me, where I do the majority of sighting in and load development, only has 100 yard range.

Looking at ballistics tables, point blank zero can be determined. I had my 7mag zeroed (IIRC) dead-on at 250. Putting the crosshairs on a 6" gong, from 25 - 350 yards, 100% hits. No thought on distance,
 
AK Hunter said:
A deer's heart is about the size of your fist, so if your can cover your group with a closed fist. You are good to go.
Click to expand...

And know where to aim for the heart.

I have seen too many around deer camps that shot too far back and high. Center mass, instead of shoulder.

When my son turned 12, i bought a M96 Mauser 7x57 for him

I took archery targets of full sized deer, with organs printed on the target. He learned where to shoot based on the heart location, not center of target.

Several shooters commented on those targets, having no clue the heart was not center of ribs.
 
AK Hunter said:
A deer's heart is about the size of your fist, so if your can cover your group with a closed fist. You are good to go.
Click to expand...

Sure the heart is a good target. But I have had many deer drop quickly after the bullet missed the heart. Lungs, aorta, pulmonary blood vessels, and spine hits kill quickly also. Hemorrhage, pneumothorax with collapsed lungs, and paralysis from spinal cord damage all put venison in the freezer. Aiming for the heart and front leg brings all these into play. Unlike a paper disc, the deer may move!
 
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Seedy Character said:
And know where to aim for the heart.

I have seen too many around deer camps that shot too far back and high. Center mass, instead of shoulder.

When my son turned 12, i bought a M96 Mauser 7x57 for him

I took archery targets of full sized deer, with organs printed on the target. He learned where to shoot based on the heart location, not center of target.

Several shooters commented on those targets, having no clue the heart was not center of ribs.
Click to expand...
How interesting! All that information out there already. Just read and study the pictures. Too bad so many don't bother.

And good for teaching your son right.
 
Strawhat - you don't mention the type of rifle, the caliber, or the ammunition you were using in your OP. Also, were you using the iron sights or some kind of optic?
I ask as, many years ago, I bought a used Rem. 700 bolt action in .243. When I first tested it with Federal, Remington, and Winchester factory loads at 200 yds, they were all over the paper. And I was using a 3x9X scope set at 9X but I was shooting on sandbags and my sight picture changed at every shot. However, when I came back later with reloads I worked up, I was able to fire a 7-shot group that resulted in an arc 1.5" wide by 2.5" high, all while laying the rifle down between shots on the sandbags. And one of those shots was a "flyer" that made the group that large.
So, optics, rifle type, caliber, and type of ammo do matter.
 
For most modern cartridges, sighting in about 1.5” high at 100 gets you zeroed about 200. Really flat shooting rounds might be 1.3” high at 100 and slower rounds might be 1.75” to get a 200 yd zero. Zeroing dead In at 100 often just means you will hit low almost to 100 yds then you will be hitting low again very shortly after 100.

Edited to add: The above is true for scoped rifles with “normal” height rings. ARs with the scope 3+” above the bore and iron sighted rifles are different.
 
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Seedy Character said:
And know where to aim for the heart.

I have seen too many around deer camps that shot too far back and high. Center mass, instead of shoulder.
When my son turned 12, i bought a M96 Mauser 7x57 for him
I took archery targets of full sized deer, with organs printed on the target. He learned where to shoot based on the heart location, not center of target.
Several shooters commented on those targets, having no clue the heart was not center of ribs.
Click to expand...

I tell others about those 3D targets. If someone trains to shoot deer where the heart is on them, they will miss the heart every time.

J-Bar said:
Sure the heart is a good target. But I have had many deer drop quickly after the bullet missed the heart. Lungs, aorta, pulmonary blood vessels, and spine hits kill quickly also. Hemorrhage, pneumothorax with collapsed lungs, and paralysis from spinal cord damage all put venison in the freezer. Aiming for the heart and front leg brings all these into play. Unlike a paper disc, the deer may move!
Click to expand...

Yes deer move & that's the best way to practice on something moving. I try to get them to stop but they don't always do what I want. So I can hit them on the move. There has only been one deer that has stood perfectly still for me. Some have been in a dead run when I dropped them. I have yet to miss one, if I pull the trigger a deer is going down. Last seasons doe was chased out by other hunters & was in a hard trot. I dropped her with a double lung heart shot.
2020-350-Legend-doe.jpg
 
ericuda said:
Strawhat if that is open sights I am jealous. What ya shooting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking, a 405 WCF. The factory loads are 300 grain JSP, Hornady Interlock at 2200 fps. Here is the rifle.

AEEDBEBE-5301-4534-8FBF-3A4624ACB5D8.jpeg

That is a Lyman receiver sight. The shots were taken as follows. The cardboard disk was nailed to a tree roughly 125 yards out, in the shade. When I got back to the rifle, I used small sapling to provide a rested field position. After the first shot, I glassed the target and was pleased. The rest of the magazine was purely offhand.
As I mentioned, I am pleased with the Target and my shooting.


Kevin
 
Good rifle for hunting over a feed pile or the such, even acorns but for the rut, you aren't
going to get many standing or slow walking shots. At least we don't get that around here
very often, maybe him standing beside a resting doe or sneaking along.
Love the rifle, makes me jealous, even the group is good but add a hurry up to it and a
trotting buck, I would have to let it go, I would choose another rifle but that is just me.
And remember just because you are successful once don't count out the obvious possible
conditions that it would be a failure or wounded deer, even scoped 308 AR has limits.
But tell my best friend this who hunts alongside me with a flintlock he built himself and
still gets it done every year, yet has to know his limits and he does now after some
previous events which have made him VERY good.
Once again that is a good group for the positions and open sights, plus a magnificent
rifle.
 
ACES&8S said:
Good rifle for hunting over a feed pile or the such, even acorns but for the rut, you aren't
going to get many standing or slow walking shots. At least we don't get that around here
very often, maybe him standing beside a resting doe or sneaking along.
Love the rifle, makes me jealous, even the group is good but add a hurry up to it and a
trotting buck, I would have to let it go, I would choose another rifle but that is just me.
And remember just because you are successful once don't count out the obvious possible
conditions that it would be a failure or wounded deer, even scoped 308 AR has limits.
But tell my best friend this who hunts alongside me with a flintlock he built himself and
still gets it done every year, yet has to know his limits and he does now after some
previous events which have made him VERY good.
Once again that is a good group for the positions and open sights, plus a magnificent
rifle.
Click to expand...

I still take the 58 flintlock out for ML season. I no longer hunt for antlers, a nice fat doe is better eating. Nor do I take shots at running game. Even if you hit them, they are moving and that is a longer distance to drag them. I “still hunt” and have probably never taken a shot over 125 yards usually about 1/2 that. And I have passed up shots that were iffy and will continue to do so. For me hunting is fun! Just being outdoors and spotting game is a blast. Stalking close is hard work, anyone can snipe from a stand. If I wanted to do that, I would shoot them from my deck.
Kevin
 
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