What zero do you use?

[onesonek]

It varies,,,I sight with a PBR on 5-6 inches on most big game rigs. Sometimes smaller as low as 3" but seldom anything over 7".

Dave

 

[bullet]

There is no time on a Gas lines where we have 400-600yd shots down south for a man to work the clicks on a scope. You had better have your rifle sighted in anywhere from 3 inches to 5 inches above or be low line of sight and know at what distance on the gas line to hold the cross hairs on top the shoulder if need be or you can forget that big buck. They very, very seldom come out on a gas line from thick woods and just stand there for you to range and then take the time to put in the correct clicks.

Even out west in Arizona with hunting black bear and they are moving to find shade or lay up for the day, you need to be able to take a fairly quick shot and I keep mine on black bear to 450yds max. When shooting a group of coyotes in a field, I do not have time to range them, because they will more than likely be on the move in a trot and very seldom walking or stationary, and after that first shot on a coyote the rest will be in full gear. But if you know your rifle and how to use it sighed in at point blank with the above mentioned "above and below line of sight settings," you will drop 3 or 4 dogs before they get out of that big bean or open field.

I don't have time on a hard hunt to be messing with clicks unless I am given ample time by a deer, bear, or coyote to adjust my scope for a well timed shot off a good rest, but I am also ready for that with my ballistic card I carry.

 

[jmad_81]

Thats what I am starting to like about the +/-2.5" on the big game rifles, and the +/- 2" on the yote rifle. 90% of the dogs I shoot are out of the pickup window on the farm. They can be anywhere from 50 yards on out, and 75% of those are under 350 yards. If they're not I'll use dots wuickly, and turrets if they don't know I'm there.

We'll see I guess, I have never used this method on my big game rifles. I like the Idea of it as I don't always have time to click up, and none of my biggame scopes have turrets. I'll give it a shot this year see how it pans out.

Thanks for the input.

 

[SJB358]

I pretty much live by 3" high at 100 yards with all my regular duplex scoped rifles from 35 Whelen to 270WSM. Gives me a good 250-300 yard zero. Pretty easy to figure out shooting out to 400 yards fairly easy. The rifles with BDC's or B&C reticles get zeroed at 200 or 300 yards depending on speed. 45-70 is also zeroed at 100 and uses reticle marks to 300 yards. Scotty

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

200 yards for most everything now a days. Use to do 300 yards, but even with flat shooting calibers, most of my misses on coyotes in the 150-225 range I would always shoot high. When there that close, heat of the moment, last thing you think of is aiming a tad low. Started zeroing at 200 and a lot of those misses went away. The longer range ones you usually have more time to do what you need, if not, your still holding over and guessing either way.

Guess it more depends what the rifle is strictly gonna be used for, then you can go with the MPBR formula. Ive never went by it, but to each there own.

 

[bullet]

200 yards for most everything now a days. Use to do 300 yards, but even with flat shooting calibers, most of my misses on coyotes in the 150-225 range I would always shoot high. When there that close, heat of the moment, last thing you think of is aiming a tad low. Started zeroing at 200 and a lot of those misses went away. The longer range ones you usually have more time to do what you need, if not, your still holding over and guessing either way.

Guess it more depends what the rifle is strictly gonna be used for, then you can go with the MPBR formula. Ive never went by it, but to each there own.

2 1/2 INCHES high with my 300Win mag with a 165gr bullet moving 3236fps at muzzle keeps me only 3" high at those ranges and the coyote has a 5 inch kill area. Out of 52 coyotes killed I have only had to shoot twice on two of those but they were in a full blown out run. I have a point blank of 310 and this load lets me not have to guess with anything I hunt out to 330yds. At 340yds I hold the cross hair just laying it on top the shoulder of anything I want to hunt and I am good to 440yds. After that if there is time I will use my chick card and limit my self to 600yds but have taken a farther shot than 600yds twice in my hunting life.

 

[big rifle man]

All my rifles other than my 7-08 are sighted in for two hundred yards. With a two hundred yard zero I shoot each rifle at 300 to see where my POI is. (It's never quite the same as told in the various manuals) I keep my max range at 300 yards as the areas I hunt enable me to get closer (black timber, etc.) My 7-08 is an eastern woods deer rifle and in all the years I've owned the rifle I don't think i've gotten a shot over 60-70 yards. My personal feeling is that half the excitement and strategy in getting an animal is to see how close you can get before pulling the trigger.

 

[Songdog]

I find it quite interesting that most folks sight their rifles in at pretty much the maximum range they intend to use them. For me... it makes much more sense to sight the rifle in so it is zeroed at the range my average shot is taken... knowing that when I get to the point where the range is extended (even when it's fully within the rifles ability) I will take a little more time with the shot, so the fact that I need to hold a tad high is pretty meaningless... and I really like knowing that at my average shot distance (200ish) the bullet goes where the X is.

For those of you who justify your 300 yard zeros by starting with "OUT WEST"... here's where I hunt... don't get more open than this... anywhere. To my eye... in these three pics you can see about 30 square miles of country... and three trees.

 

[SJB358]

Awesome pictures Song Dog! Scotty

 

[Songdog]

Come on out...

 

[bullet]

Nice pictures, but I will stay with my 2 1/2 inches high at 100yds, done it for 30yrs and hunted on three continents during that time and not about to change now. Dropped to many game to believe I need to do anything else.

 

[SJB358]

Man, I would like to hunt out there in your area one of these years. Scotty

 

[bullet]

Yeah, I would like to hunt with songdog out there for antelope and coyotes, looks like a cool place to make unobstructed shots.

 

[Songdog]

Unobstructed... 'till you sit in a prickly pear...

 

[bullet]

Unobstructed... 'till you sit in a prickly pear...

Thanks, I made the correction. Yep, prickly pear really hurts, been stuck a few times hunting black bear in Arizona. Had no idea from the pictures you posted that there would be prickly pair in that terrain.

 

[Desert Fox]

With my varmint rifles, I zeroed them 1" high at 100 yards. My big game rifles however are all zeroed at 110 yards. Why 110 yards you might ask. Well that's because that's the actual distance between the target stand and the shooting bench at our club range. I don't walk much when hunting. I prefer instead to find me a vantage point and glass. When animal is spotted and it's within range, I'll shoot. This type of hunting usually gives you ample time to prepare for a shot... animals are not spook, and most of the time, they don't even know you're there. I like dialing in my target. For this reason, I prefer Tactical scopes like the MK IV. I do not affix ballistic chart in my rifle buttstock anymore, instead I carry my ballistic computer with me. I'm so dependent on this thing that I'm lost without it.

 

[bullet]

With my varmint rifles, I zeroed them 1" high at 100 yards. My big game rifles however are all zeroed at 110 yards. Why 110 yards you might ask. Well that's because that's the actual distance between the target stand and the shooting bench at our club range. I don't walk much when hunting. I prefer instead to find me a vantage point and glass. When animal is spotted and it's within range, I'll shoot. This type of hunting usually gives you ample time to prepare for a shot... animals are not spook, and most of the time, they don't even know you're there. I like dialing in my target. For this reason, I prefer Tactical scopes like the MK IV. I do not affix ballistic chart in my rifle buttstock anymore, instead I carry my ballistic computer with me. I'm so dependent on this thing that I'm lost without it.

It is apparent that you do it very well with your shot over 600yds on the whitetaill hunt you went on in Texas. I guess if I had only one method of hunting like you, or 30 square miles in all directions that I could see, I would specialize my equipment and change my method of zeroing. But I hunt to many different environments, so I have a general approach that serves me fairly well in all the different places I go. In fact, in the morning I will be in a thicket with a max shot of 35yds and will be using my 358Win, while hunting over a couple of deer scrapes and also will be on the look out for a hog.

 

[JDMAG]

Got to go with what Dr.Mike said also. every thing is 200 except for the Lott which Greg had zeroed at 100 but the BDC is also zero at 200 and 300. :grin:

 

[Songdog]

I guess if I had only one method of hunting like you, or 30 square miles in all directions that I could see, I would specialize my equipment and change my method of zeroing. But I hunt to many different environments, so I have a general approach that serves me fairly well in all the different places I go. In fact, in the morning I will be in a thicket with a max shot of 35yds and will be using my 358Win, while hunting over a couple of deer scrapes and also will be on the look out for a hog.

That's exactly my point... if there was ever a place where you'd think that equipment needed to be 'specialized'... it would be out here. Yet, over the past 20 years... every time I screw-around with a zero that puts my point of impact further than 2" above my POA... stuff gets missed that should have been a slam dunk (150-200 yards). I reckon it doesn't matter a whole lot though... if you're hunting stuff with a vital zone the size of a basketball...

 

[Elkman]

bullet/songdog

I have had a couple of issues of shooting over, but its not the sight in height, its my natural tendency to hold a couple of inches higher than I really know that I need to. Several years ago I had a cow elk on a hillside across from me feeding in Aspen. I ranged her couple of times at 300, when I got ready to shoot I was holding well up on her back. I talked myself out of that hold, held lower shot her in the heart. Last month I had a cow standing 318 in the timber cross a small canyon, I held up on the shoulder and was about two inches low, of over shooting her. I do sight in high because I am many times hunting very open canyon country, where the shots are long. My last 4 elk have been at 300+. I would have to look at my records but off of the top of my head most of my shots are either under a hundred or 300. Just my 02.