I'm pretty new at scopes, never been a fan of them, but my new rifle leaves me no option. Any thoughts on this article? I am totally clueless to wether it's accurate. The 26-yard rifle zero | The Daily Caller

It will vary some with velocity and the bullets bc,but it's a good place to start and then test at various ranges.

Sounds good in theory, but note this key disclaimer: "Of course, this is an on-paper estimate, and until you actually shoot your rifle at those distances, you can’t be sure,..."

Heed those words for your rifle and load.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

I've also heard from military members that they zero their M-16s at 25-27 yards and they are good for center of mass out to 400 meters. I learned over on rimfirecentral.com that sighting in a .22 with high velocity(1250fps+-) at 19 yards will keep you plus or minus 1/2" out to 66 yards. same concept I guess. works on squirrels. lee

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to test this tomorrow. Never been good with a scope. I guess it's time to learn. I'm not getting any younger. . Judging distance while using a scope has always been my downfall. I'm just not good at it. I've passed on shots simply because I wasn't sure of distance, and I didn't want to wound an animal. Here in Iowa, we can only use a rifle for coyotes, but even they don't deserve to suffer from a bad shot by an inexperienced scope user.

On the ground target practice is the only way to become proficient with any weapon,makes you a better shooter and it is a lot of fun!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

The title is factual but a bit misleading. He discusses the merits of MBPR...maximum point blank range. For the past 15 years or so I've used MBPR on my 7 mag by sighting in 3 inches high at 100 yards. This allows me to hold dead center on the vitals for any deer out to 300 yards and put one in the kill zone...it works very well. Once you've verified in practice that you can do this, it makes life much easier as you don't have to fool with holdover out to your MBPR.

His article talks about a 26 yard zero, but in reality how many people have access to a 26 yard range for sighting in a rifle? I think he chose the title to get the readers attention because it stands out more than "2.8 inches high at 100 yards".

If I showed up on my clubs 25 yard pistol range with a 7 mag rifle I think they'd pull my membership...rifles aren't allowed on that range. I can however, find the right zero at 100 yards for my MBPR...and that's what I do.

Jack O'Conner used 25 yards as this kept his rifles in the animal to 275 yards or so. Keep in mind the older scopes with smaller objectives sit closer to the bore. When one puts the scope on use the shortest mounts that will let the scope clear the barrel.

My Dad also used O'Connors 25 yard zero.

I've found that with bigger objective scopes it changes the triangulation of scope center to bore and instead of the about 2" high mark O'Connor got at 100 yards I see up to 4" high with my magnums.

27 yards is now recommended. After I have it hitting dead center at 27 I shoot it at 100 and if it's 4" high I drop it to 2" high. This should make a 308 or 30-06 using 150-165 grain bullets hit plus or minus 2 inches to 250 yards. A 270, 7 mag or any of the 300 mags will be good to 275 or better.

Let the barrel cool off, most newer rifles with thinner barrels need to cool off after 3 rounds and 3 round groups is best for a hunting rifle.

When you are very close let the rifle cool down. For hunting you want your first shot to hit the hair you pick out with a cold barrel. If you shoot until the barrel is hot to get your 100 yard zero it probably won't be on zero when it's cool. Voice of experience from my youth.

P.S. What model Rifle and scope? Caliber?

Savage trophy hunter .270 with a Nikon 3x9x40 scope.

M-1s were zeroed at 1000 inches. That 83 foot (27.7yard) distance, with 150 grain ball gave you an "on the paper" zero at 100 yards.
The correct "near" zero depends upon bullet weight, velocity, and sight height.

It is actually a fairly simple concept that requires a drawing to visualize. I have tried to describe it with the written word but I end up confusing myself much less the reader.

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Ipsis Rebus Dictantitbus

Actually, there's a tangible benefit to have the scope as high as possible. It increases the MPBR, while costing nothing in terms of velocity or bullet weight. One of life's only "free lunches". That's one of the reasons modern military rifles all have Eiffel Tower like sights. They want those sights as high as they can get them.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I found this interesting:AR-15 Trajectory Graphs - AR15.Com Archive

"Actually, there's a tangible benefit to have the scope as high as possible. It increases the MPBR,"

Alright for close in shooting but from a hunting aspect in forest applications makes it hard to miss branches. The closer the line of sight is to bore axis the easier to make a successful shot.
e.

And getting a decent cheek weld.

Wouldn't a relatively inexpensive laser range finder help with range estimation?

A friend of mine was a Marine armorer. He used to work on the rifle range at Parris Island. He helped me zero my M4 clones at 25 meters.

Mounting a scope as low as possible is normally the best location, but more important is the proper alignment of your eye through the center of the scope with your normal cheek weld. In other words where your rifle automatically fits when your head is on the stock. If you have to force your head to an unnatural position to see clearly through the scope you will never attain good accuracy with that rifle. If you need higher rings to locate a scope with a large front glass, yo need to build up the stock to where your cheek will correctly fit.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

This system will work with 95% of the rifles and loads.......

and if you have a vise or rest that will hold the rifle steady......
you can adjust your cross hairs to the single bullet on the target
and be sighted in with just one shot !!

Tally hoe............

Golly gee, Buffalo Bob, that article sounds an awful lot like sight in 3" high at 100 yds. and hold dead on to 300. I think the writer came with a more exact method of doing what hunters have been doing since the dawn of telescopic sights.

Edit to add the thought: the difference between 2.81" and 3" with a 270 is mighty close to the diameter of the bullet. Interesting, eh what?

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Guess I'm lucky, I can shoot pistols or rifles at the 25 yard outdoor range.... The indoor range, however, is different.

Yep, it'll get you started, and just possibly get you finished at the same time.

No need for guessology.

Measure sight over bore for your rifle and enter the data accordingly. Make sure to click "Advanced Options".

Ballistic Calculator GunData.org

I appreciate all the replies.I woke up sick today, so I skipped the range. But I will be trying this out soon.

Years ago, the late Mel Tappan worked out the ideal sighting in distance for the popular calibers of the day. A sample from his book:

Attached Images

Sightin.jpg (245.6 KB, 136 views)

Back in '72 at Fort Polk we zeroed our M-16s at 25 yards. I was a novice 17 year old shooter and could hit the 400 meter silhouettes. Sure surprised me.

All three are nice choices.

Look at the chart Cowart added. Pretty nice.

A positive difference for you might be using 110 grain bullets for coyotes. Faster bullet, shoots flatter with less recoil.

Double Tap sells 110 grain new loads. Muzzle Velocity: 3465 fps ** pricey.

Federal's 110 grain load is cheaper and does 3400 FPS.

One needs to learn to reload. Cheaper in the long run if you shoot much.

One of my Dad's friends was a highway patrol man that reloaded for Dad who always had 270 110 grain reloads around. I can tell you from experience they were almost like a lazer and coyotes went down as soon as the bullet hit. The bullet did not leave a large exit wound, it seemed to explode in side.

I had one friend who swore by the 270 Win and 110 grain hand loads for deer. Jellied the lungs.

I've charted the load for my 30-06 and I know it works at the nearer ranges but I don't shoot past 100 yards. Having the highest ballistic coefficient you can get helps, but don't expect it to work with a flat tip 30-30 bullet. I like getting the theory and going out and trying to prove it in the field

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

My Speer #9 had similar data along with the velocity, energy, etc. Some loads dropped like 24" at 200 yards.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Reloading REALLY saves on rifle bullets but another big attraction is that you can cook up loads at any velocity with any bullet rather than being limited to what you can buy.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I used to bore sight my 30-06.

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Don

Recall some advocates for a 37 yd zero on an AR in .223...... keeps everything inside a 5" diameter circle out to 300yds.

200yd
100yd
+ zero
25yds
300yds

Quote from the OP and link to the article

"Using ballistic software downloaded from Remington.com, I manipulated the zero range input data until it was optimized for the greatest point-blank range. (Another great website for finding maximum point-blank range is ShootersCalculator.com.) I found that by zeroing my rifle in at 26 yards, the .270 will deliver its bullet 2.81 inches high at 100 yards, 2.80 inches high at 200 yards and 2.12 inches high at 250 yards before finally falling out of the 6-inch vital zone at 310 yards. This means that with a 26 yard zero, I can hold dead-center of a deer’s vitals and kill it cleanly from 0 to 310 yards without adjusting my hold."

For many years, the whitetail deer guns in my collection have been sighted in very similar to this idea. Yes they do work, and my rule on this 270 Win and similar cases, I will just make them about 3 to 3 1/2 inch high at 100 yards so the "dead center hold on the chest" for a deer size animal will produce a hit up to the neighborhood of 400 yards. First Whitetail every shot by me in Kansas was taken because of this idea. Decided to shoot a walking large racked buck and no time for range idea, so I shot. Took the guy home and looking at the rack now. Was this woods hunter ever surprised that I hit the critter at just over 400 yards with that dead on hold? Yep, I would have guessed 250-275 yards if he had gotten away., but with that sightin idea, I put meat in the freeze and a large Kansas rack on the wall. Like everyone else, always shoot at longer ranges for fine tuning after that 26 yard zero. Remember, shooting factory stuff in factory guns at 200 yards, from a bench, will produce groups in the 2 inch size most of the time, so you never know if the gun is 2.81 inches high or 3" high at 200.

An AR has a very high sight over bore around 2.5in. I use a 50yd zero on my AR. Keeps it within +/- 2in of line of sight out to 250yds. Perfect for my area which is heavily wooded.

In contrast, A 25yd zero woukd put the bullet a half foot above line of sight at 100yds and a whopping 9in high at 200yds.

Sight over bore and your shooting environment will dictate the best zero for you.

One great source for shooters is the book"Shoot Better II By Charles Matthews".It is out of print but Amazon has a few used copies.At the time of it's 1995 edition it listed the path of each commercial bullet-cartridge combination made.Better yet it explained the Point Blank technique where no over or under hold for various ranges was not necessary. You should see the looks I get explaining this to my deer hunter friends who buy the latest " Long range rifles and expensive high power scopes" ,sight in at 100 yards dead on,brag about their groups then miss a 250 yard deer by "holding over",when a center mass aim would have been perfect if sighted in correctly.

I just sighted in my DPMS AR-15 using the 26yd Zero... UTG 4x32 scope mounted low no riser firing 55gn FMJ.

In concept it seems to work but the bottom line. Nothing replaces taking the shot at distance and verifying. I found that 100yd shots were on paper at best. At 26yd I had 3 shot groups inside a dime 3 straight times. It still took adjustments to be 1" high at 100yd.

So I'm going to beat the dead horse of a lot of previous posters. Get out and shoot... Nothing beats the smell of gun powder and hits on target.

I use something like this set up at a known distance, say 25 yards. Pick a "ladder" crossing for point of aim that corresponds to the trajectory rise or fall at that distance in order to hit the bull.

This uses .22 caliber as an example but should work with any caliber within the ladder and trajectory range. Adaptations might be necessary to accommodate larger drop values.



Like this, maybe:

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Bob

As has been mentioned many times previously, you really must know the muzzle velocity and the weight and ballistic coefficient of the bullet you are using, plus the distance between the bore centerline and the line of sight, to choose a proper zero distance to maximize your PBR. Having said that, the use of an approximate 25 yard zero will in most situations assure you of getting within the kill radius of any larger game at up to 150 yards, and possibly further. However, it is always better to sight-in at a longer distance, say 100 yards, if at all possible. Getting your group center at about 1.5"-2" above the point of aim at 100 yards will pretty much ensure a good hit within the kill radius at up to 250 yards or thereabouts. Now, whether you can lead on a moving target enough to make a good shot is an entirely different matter. Sometimes game doesn't stand stock still long enough so you can shoot it without worrying about such things as leading enough or too much.

For those who have not used it, there is a very excellent website ballistic calculator at JBM - Calculations - Trajectory which will do all of the PBR arithmetic for you. It is good enough that even the ammunition companies use it.

There is a special chart on one of my computers for zeroing an AR-15 with an EOTech that uses a short distance (15-25 yards, I forget) and a laser boresighter. It probably wouldn't please a bullseye shooter, but it's close enough for killing men, apparently.

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Release the Kraken