Shooting platform distance from target question

[shall1000]

I am building a shooting platform and wanted to see what everyone thought on my options for distance.

The max distance I can put the platform from the target is about 80-85 yards, however I was thinking that it may be better to place it at 75 yards to make sight adjustments easier. I would love to place it at 100 yards but that just gets too close to the road. I may be able to extend the distance in the future, but that would entail rebuilding my bullet trap (giant hill of dirt that I would rather not move).

What are your thought on distance? max distance possible or easy distance increment for sighting in.

 

[Hardtarget]

Soon you'll see that "more is better". For a long time we shot at a place that only offered 85 FEET. Ok for pistol(sort of) but even a .22 rifle can be fun with more distance.

That said, don't just "not bother" just because you don't have all the distance you want.

bullet trajectory crosses line of sight at around 27 yds. Therefore, a rifle sighted in @27 yd will be close at 100 yd. Not perfect, but close.

A fun challenge I do is shoot at a 1 inch square @82 feet. Five shots, standing... sling but no other support. That comes from Fred's (Appleseed) stuff. It is not easy...but fun.

Shootin' is shootin"! Get at it. Have fun.

Mark

ps: just noticed this is your first post! Welcome to THR! Hope you'll enjoy your stay.

 

[strambo]

Welcome! The most distance you can get. Just use free ballistic software like jbm http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi to calculate your zero offset for whatever distance you are at vs. where you want to be zeroed. Confirm and fine tune at your zero distance when you can.

 

[BCRider]

75 to 85 is not enough of a difference to matter unless you're seriously OCD. Either way you chose you'll still need to confirm your settings for other distances at a range eventually. The calculators are good but they aren't THAT good.