Sighting scope in.

[IggyBcool]

I'm sure this has been covered several times..how ever for some reason maybe I'm not doing something right and its not returning any results.

How do you guys sight in your rifles? Do you guys have yours set dead on at 100 yards? 200 yards? I'm asking because I'm about to pick up a new hunting rifle and honestly have no real idea of where I should be for what distance. My father and I have a couple of places we hunt. We have a lease on Bakewell which has everything.. Dense cover or 500+yard clear cuts. We also have our cabin in Tellico which we have land and its your typical woods setting, not too many clear cuts/openings. Just trying to get a good feel for where I should have my scope zero'ed at and then could make placement adjustments pending on the distance after knowing where the bullet is going to go at a certain distance.

[Symbolic]

I sight my scope in at 100 yards. Why? Because that's as far as my range goes :-)

[dats82]

It depends on your gun, ballistics of the round, and shooting situations. The longest I have sighted in at the moment is my ar at 200yds. I would be comfortable stretching that out past that, but as long as you know how much bullet drop you will have, you'll be good to go.

For example, the last deer I shot was at about 225yds. My rifle was sighted in at 100yds, so I just had to hold it above the right amount. There is nothing magic about it, just understand what to expect out of whatever you are shooting.

[TnShooter83]

What caliber and what weight round are you using?

What is the max range you most likely will get a shot at?

Most high powered rifles, I zero in at 200 yards.

NOTE: I don't normally sight in at 200 yards.

I normally sight mine in at the NEAR zero.

Then I'll move to my FAR zero and fine tune the adjustments there.

To confuse you even more. I will go on to say, I'll actually look at a ballistics chart and move

to my highest point of impact before my far zero and do the fine tuning there.

The highest Point of Impact is between the near and far zero.

Example: - A 30-06 shooting a 180gr. bullet should be hitting about 1.85" high at 100 yards for a 200 yard zero.

So you would sight in the rifle to shoot 1.85" high if you were zeroing at 100 yards, that would then give you a dead on hold at 200 yards.

The reason I do this is because when installing a new scope, I have missed the paper completely.

If you miss the paper you can't tell what way to adjust.

Sighting in at the near (usually between 25-55 yards) makes getting it on paper easier.

Google: 30-06 ballistics chart. (replace "30-06" with what ever you are shooting)

Edited November 1, 2011 by TnShooter83

[Guest chrisdridley]

Like dats82 said.....it depends on the round you are firing and the conditions.....if your new rifle is a 44mag or a 270 Weatherby....your trajectory will be different. You hunting location will call for different shots.

Sight in at a distance that you can consistently group your shots then when in the field, adjust accordingly.

[quietguy]

Pick a setup and learn it. There are a lot of theories about the best way to sight a scope, but for me the confidence to take and make the shot trumps everything. For a hunting rifle, make sure to practice at any ranges you would take a shot. If you know your zero, hold-overs, and hold-unders for various ranges, it really doesn't matter.

My "go to" deer rifle is a .308 sighted in 2" high at 100yds, which puts me perfect at 200. I have used this setup for for years, and am comfortable between 50 and 400yds.

Edited November 1, 2011 by quietguy

[Handsome Rob]

I always sight in for 'maximum point blank range' which, if you don't know, is the maximum range you are able to keep your cross hairs on a deer & still hit it in the goodies. Usually it'll get you hitting in a 6" vertical string from 20yds out to the Maximum PBR.

If you look on Chuck Hawk's site, you can find trajectory info for most calibers giving you your maximum point blank, trajectory at 100, 200 & most importantly, your mid-point trajectory.

Like TnShooter, I find out what my 100yd trajectory is for the specific bullet & set at that.

Just to get on paper, I take a couple of shots at 20yds & make rough adjustments from there.

Rifle Trajectory Table

[whiskey]

Nikon has a free software program called Spot On. You can use it on their website. It allows you to select your caliber and factory loaded ammo, then it gives you an idea of where you will hit at a given distance with a given sighting range. There are lots of other ballistic software programs out there too.

For most deer hunters, using common deer calibers and common commercial loads, sighting in 1 or 2 inches high at 100 yards will give you wiggle room out to 200 yards.

[Jonnin]

It depends on what you want to do with it, what caliber it is, and more. That said most of mine are sighted in at 100 yards or so, my 3 gun AR is at 75 yards to give decent performance up close and on the long shots. There is no magic answer for a "500 yard clear cut" and "dense woods" both -- you may want to have 2 guns in that case. A fancy scope can adapt for such a wide range, but it takes some time to learn to do that with confidence. "Tatical" (whatever that means) scopes with no-tools-needed adjustments and mil-dot reticles for example, the mil dot lets you fine tune and the knobs let you set up for the distance you are current at.... that is not much of an answer.

[IggyBcool]

I really need to sight in my .243 as well. But I'm going to be getting a .308

[tugboat]

i sight mine in 1" high at 100 yrds...Never failed me doin this

[IggyBcool]

Well looks like this season I'm going to be using my fathers 30-06 and going to use a 150 grain bullet. Going to go to the range. Just sucks that the farthest shot is 100 yards.