How to zero a rifle

[meatloaf]

When you go hunting, how do you zero your rifle? zero at 100, 200 yards?

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[sniper]

To answer that question you need to understand te balisitc of your cartridge. I often hunt with a 30-06 and I zero the rifle at about 2.5" high at 100 yards. That makes me roughly 2" high at 200 yards and about 3" low at 300 yards. That way I can shoot at any ranges between 0 and 300 yards and still get into the 5" kill zone.

You really have to practice those shots at the range and see what happens. If you zero a little higher at 100 yards (maybe 3 - 3.5") you might be even higher at 200 yards (maybe 4").

Many beginners think the bullet is going to drop past 100 yards and aim a bit higher and endup missing very high. Depending on how you zero at 100 yards will make the bullet hit higher or lower at 200 yards. Just practice and see what happens.

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[sniper]

Here are a few basic things to remember

(1) The force of gravity will pull the bullet down as soon as the bullet leaves te barrel.
(2) Because of (1), the bullet will always travel below a straight line going through the barrel. We can ignore barrel oscillations at the time of firing.
(3) If you zero your rifle 1.5" high at 100 yards and the scope is mounted 1.5" above your barrel, your bullet will move up 3" during the first 100 yards.
(4) Because of (4) and (2), your bullet will hit the 200 yards mark below 4.5" high.
(5) After 200 yards your bullet will start to drop a bit faster.

The best thing to do is to go to the range and try this experiment. Set your scope at 1.5" high and 2" high at 100 yards and see what happens at 200 and 300 yards.

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