223 zero question

[Art Eatman]

Generally, I've found that dead-on at 25 yards is within two to three inches of center at 100 yards. Left, right and high; never low. That's not good enough. That's held true over decades of having a bench rest on my front porch and doing decades of gun show trading and trying out the trade-ins as well as sight-ins of my own guns when I change scopes. Bolt guns, semi-autos, lever guns...

 

[RussellC]

Generally, I've found that dead-on at 25 yards is within two to three inches of center at 100 yards. Left, right and high; never low. That's not good enough. That's held true over decades of having a bench rest on my front porch and doing decades of gun show trading and trying out the trade-ins as well as sight-ins of my own guns when I change scopes. Bolt guns, semi-autos, lever guns...

This likely explains my preference for 100 yard zero, sounds like from your experience I am close enough at 25 yards!

I assume you are speaking to all calibers, here was focused on 55 grain .223. Interesting input from all concerning their zero preferences.

With my .223 AR guns, if I am on at 50, I am a little high at 100. Maybe I should back track and see where that leaves me at 25...never rechecked that! Sounds like I should.



Russellc

 

[Steve S.]

I would think that a +2” at 100 yards would cover 99% of all shooters needs for both hunting and target. The other 1% would be specialty stuff that requires all kinds of detail that I cannot speak to because I simply do not know.

 

[someguy2800]

You really need to know the height of the sights before recommending the 25 yard zero thing, and it should never be used for sighting in a gun without also verifying the zero at say 100 yards. I was just playing with the hornady ballistic calculator and a sight height of 1.5 inches which is typical of a bolt gun puts the trajectory at 200 yards as 1.9 inches high with a 25 yard zero. With a 2.6" sight height which is typical of an AR15 that puts it at 9.5 inches high at 200 yards. So without knowing what kind of gun is being talked about the only thing that should be recommend is sighting in at 100-200 yards.

 

[RussellC]

I am basically referring to scoped firearms. To me, a target shooter, 2 inches is a dismal fail. I think most target shooters are seeking sub MOA results. For red dots, 2 inches is usable of course at 100 yards. Iron sights for me are for back up purposes only. I would be lucky, or have to put much more practice with better irons to get MOA at 100 yards.

As stated, my red dot 300 black out and red dot carbine ARs are zeroed at 50 yards...just my preference, this may run counter to others preferences with their guns/optics/irons, what ever they may be.

No recommendations are being given by me, just stating how I do it, and what my preferences are that got me there. This works with my particular guns, my sighting systems and the fact that the majority of my shooting, unfortunately is limited to 100 yards. As I have already said, if I regularly had access to 300, 600, and beyond shooting, my preferences would likely change or at least re evaluated.

Russellc

 

[Axis II]

Savage axis 2 223rem with 55gr Hornady Vmax with 24gr Benchmark I fired at a woodchuck at a little over 250yards and missed so I adjusted to 2'' high with a 100yard zero and my next shot found its mark. Ive always been told inch and half high at 100 puts you on at 200yards. I would think those bullets you choose are flat shooting enough to shoot flat enough for the inch-inch half high. Check Nikon spot on and see what they have listed for that combo.

 

[Demi-human]

I find an accurate handload at one hundred, zero to that, put out large targets, laser the target distance (I had to borrow one.), find the drops and dial everything.

Of course, my targets don't move and I have all the time in the world!

 

[denton]

You really need to know the height of the sights before recommending the 25 yard zero thing, and it should never be used for sighting in a gun without also verifying the zero at say 100 yards. I was just playing with the hornady ballistic calculator and a sight height of 1.5 inches which is typical of a bolt gun puts the trajectory at 200 yards as 1.9 inches high with a 25 yard zero. With a 2.6" sight height which is typical of an AR15 that puts it at 9.5 inches high at 200 yards. So without knowing what kind of gun is being talked about the only thing that should be recommend is sighting in at 100-200 yards.

This is extremely important. If you don't know the distance from the center of the scope to the center of the bore, all talk of where you should be at 25 or 50 yards is pointless.

If you've got an AR, typically your scope will be much higher with respect to the bore than a bolt action will be (thanks to not having any drop at the heel of the stock). It makes a huge difference in trajectory. Without looking at my data, it's 2" low at 25, 1" low at 50, and right on at 75. Then it's a little high at 100.

With a bolt action, being right on at 25 is a good starting point.

 

[Art Eatman]

Zeroing at 25 yards guarantees being on the paper at 100 yards--except for an iron-sighted AR, of course, or any other with very high sights. Worked out okay for my AR flat-top with K-4 scope.

My usual routine, once on the paper, is to fire three-shot groups and then move the group centers as needed to wind up with a small group centered and about two inches high. That's as good as I've ever needed for hunting.