Rifle zeroing

[brushmore]

What range do you all zero your rifles at for a plains game hunt? Just curious what you guys that have done this before use and how you came up with it.

 

[TokkieM]

Personally it depends on the area I am going to hunt, some areas are pretty thick and shots will seldome be over 100meters, others like when you hunt Vaalie could stretch your shots well to 250 meters plus. As a rule with my rifle and caliber I have a 200 meter zero for mountain hunting, for the more vegetation rich terrain 100 meters works pretty well. Obviously it may be different depending on what caliber you use and how flat it shoots.

 

[Bullthrower338]

I zero my PG and elk rifles for 200 yards. Most of my turrets in my scopes are set for that as zero. I also started doing my final load development tweaking at 200 with my thought process being a little more time of flight gives the load a little more time to show any issues.
I might be wrong but them are my two Pessos

 

[Rob404]

I'm fortunate that my range has a 150 yd target area. I set my hunting rifles to shoot dead on at 150,,I feel that setting will still keep me in the ball park for a target at a 100yd or a target at 200 JMTC

 

[Pheroze]

Nikon has a very interesting program for "optimizing" the load for the longest point blank range for a given vital zone size. Check out Nikon Spot On program online. I use a Prostaff 5 but I think the ballistic calculations are still valid regardless of scope. It has factory loads but also allows for custom loads.

 

[Velo Dog]

Brushmore,

Valid question, thanks for posting it.

For typical thorn bush conditions (the vast majority of Southern Africa's hunting conditions) I always zeroed for 100 yards.
For more open places like Namibia, I zeroed at 200 yards.
I will do the same when I return.

The only exception in my case was that on one trip, I used an open sighted double for buffalo and PG both, which was zeroed ("regulated") at 75 yds by the maker, and it was perfect as well.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[Royal27]

Man are there a bunch of potential answers to this one!!!!

I personally zero dead on at 100 yards. I then know the drops with the loads I'm hunting with and can either hold high, adjust a turret, or use elevation marks on my scope. This all depends on the scope and situation.

I've also done the two inches high at 100 yards thing in the past. Really I don't think you can go wrong with several methods. Just like your rifle and ammo so much is just personal preference.

My way is A WAY, not THE WAY.

 

[CAustin]

100 yards has been perfect. Hunts in South Africa some thick vegetation and shots were fifty yards.

 

[Divernhunter]

I zero all my hunting rifles 2.75" high at 100 yards. Doing so I hold on the animal for all shots except those over 400-500 Yards.
This has proven to work well for my for many years.
I worked well in Africa and my shots were 135 yards to 480 yards at PG. All but one was a one shot kill and the other I misjudged the distance(did not have time to rangefind it) at a running Gemsbok. Follow up shot killed it.
My daughters animals all dropped with one shot. We killed 26 animals plus I shot about 30 monkeys.

We use a Leupold scopes with duplex reticle. I am old school and use my mind and not 27 scope adjustment to hit my target.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I zero all my hunting rifles 2.75" high at 100 yards. Doing so I hold on the animal for all shots except those over 400-500 Yards.
This has proven to work well for my for many years.
……………
I am old school and use my mind and not 27 scope adjustment to hit my target.

That about says it….
(at least for my calibers 1.5 to 4 inches at 100)

 

[Hank2211]

I zero all my hunting rifles 2.75" high at 100 yards. Doing so I hold on the animal for all shots except those over 400-500 Yards.

I think this is the key to the answer. Personally I have never taken a shot out as far as 500 yards, and don't expect to. No criticism intended - I just don't have that level of skill (or if I do, I lack the confidence!). In any event, I zero in at 100 yards for plains game in Africa. I usually shoot a .300 win mag, so out to 300 yards, which is any shot I'm likely to take, the holdover is pretty easy to calculate, and I never have to hold on blue sky!

 

[sestoppelman]

I think most PH's like about 100 yds, at least that has been my experience, for southern African bush country.

 

[James.Grage]

I have my rifles set for 200 yards.

That makes them close to 2 inches high at 100 yards.

That also makes them close to 0 inches at 25 yards.

That makes them close to 3/4 inches high at 50 yards.

For my 338 WM at 300 yards i am about 9 inches below 0.

Also i limit my shots to 350 yards off the sticks if we cannot get any closer and it is an exceptional
animal. And 350 yards is my personal set limit anyway for shooting animals, except for running foxes and coyotes.

 

[lwaters]

I go for 3in. high at 100yards. I hold dead on out to 300yds and if it is much farther I have no business shooting.

 

[Neil-PH]

It shows people have a wide ranging scope of preferences, all of which must be deemed individually correct. It boils down to choice. A PH with open sights will more than likely zero for close range "bad situation" shooting. I use these weapons for longer range shooting as well, and trust my judgement on aim spots. The important factor to look at here is that all hunters must have an understanding of their bullet trajectory and maintain a degree of consistency with zeroing all their rifles.

 

[bassasdaindia]

my answer to this topic would be depending on which area you are hunting , in the northern parts of SA where the bush is thicker I have never zeroed more than 100m however in the Kalahari I use a 200m zero with a flatter faster caliber

 

[Bert the Turtle]

As everyone else has said, it depends.

I think the most generally applicable answer would be to pick the smallest animal you plan to shoot, figure out the size of its vitals, then calculate maximum point blank range for the load you are using.

The specific answer could be very different and depends on what you are exactly planning to do. For example, with a typical leopard hunt, one can zero for the expected shot since there is bait and there is a stand at a fixed distance. The same would work for a water hole from a stand, albeit with a bit more variability in range than a leopard on a known particular tree branch.

The old 2 inches high at 100y for most plains game rounds is not a bad option as a rule of thumb for most situations most of the time. To the extent that it is less than ideal, that is probably because there are known specific circumstances in which case, you would be able to take those into account.

 

[Nyati]

200m. zero with my .338WM
100m. +2cm
150m. +1.8cm
250m. -3,5cm.

 

[Diamondhitch]

My advise as always is sight in EXACTLY as you do at home then compensate EXACTLY as you do at home. Shooting should be second nature not a lesson in math IMO. The more thinking you have to do the slower you can react and the greater the risk of making a mistake.

 

[buffybr]

I sight my .300 Weatherby 2.5" high at 100 yards which zeros it at 280 yards. That gives me a +/- 3" point blank range of 330 yards.

I practice with it every week on the 430 yard gong where a 6" holdover will ring it every time.