Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting At what distance would you zero your .270? .30-06?

I thought about this quite a bit while hunting in CO for the second rifle season. Most would agree that 90% of shots on game are at 100yds or less in the US. Elk often are in the thick stuff ie. close ranges.

How many of you would be satisfied with a 3-4 MOA hunting rifle. Not me, but if you are sighted in 3-4 inches high, you are intentionally going to have an bullet impact 3-4 inches from your point of aim for 90% of your shots!

I leave all my guns sighted at 100. Most traditional center fire cartridges will only drop 3-5 inches out to 200 when zeroed at 100. For longer shots you have more time to adjust (click, holdover, ect.) For the close and quick shots I want my bullet going right where I aim. I also like to take a headshot when possible on relaxed close game (deer). A 100 yd zero makes this easy�..that could start a whole new unintentional debate.

Just my thoughts on the subject, but I am not an �expert�.

2" high at 100, every gun I own. that way there's no question on 90% of my shots.

Baylian,
Try this web page. It's really easy to get the figures for where to sight your gun in for a +/- 3" maximum point-blank range - for any bullet in any caliber:

http://www.biggameinfo.com/BalCalc.aspx

For most 270 and 30-06 loads it'll be somewhere just shy of 3" high at 100.

Reading the tables is fine,but I never bother myself....the only way to accurately answer your question is to actually shoot the distances involved.There really is no substitute,because you don't know the actual speed of the loads,and frequently factory ammo and handloads,too,come in slower than expected.

For me, a 270 zeroed 3" high at 100 yards impacts about 3.5" high at 200,and about 3-4 low at 300;at 400 yards the load is down about 12-14".

I use the same sight settings in the brush and don't worry or think much about it for shots under 100 yards;I simply hold for cenetr of the chest and kill them.You are only about 1" high at 50 yards;not one guy in 100 can hold that tight,off hand,on the real world of heavy cover hunting.

I agree-shoot! The nice thing about getting this trajectory in your head is there are whole hat full of cartridges that are very similar.

I zero every rifle I have 2'' high at 100. That lays the zero at about 225 with a standard and 235 with a magnum. 4'' low at 300 with the standard and 3'' low with the magnum. They all get zeroed the same so when the time comes I don't have to remember which rifle is zeroed for what.

I sight mine in for 1 inch high at 100 yrds. That way I never get to far above the line of sight. I am more likely to hold up and shoot over so to high is not good for me. Dean

Here's a handy, web-based ballistics calculator that I've frequently used.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/

I pretty much zero everything in open country at 3.5 inches high at 100 yds...

at woods ranges, usually about 2 inches high at 100 yds..

regardless of caliber...

200 yards--but then all of my regular hunting rifles/cartridges have similar trajectories, so I don't have to do math in the heat of the battle.

7 inches low at 300, 20 inches low at 400--that's all I gotta' remember.......

Of course, I've killed a lot more elk at less than a 100 yards than at 300+ yards.


Casey

I hunt with a 270 and use to do the 3" high at 100 but stopped that. I found that I didn't really sight it in for an exact spot but at around 3" high so really I didn't know where I was hitting except high at 100. I now sight in for 200 and know exactly where it will hit at 300, 400, and 500.

It workes for me because out to where I don't have to worry about it I don't think of it as a long shot. When I start getting out there I know I need to change my aiming point. I also find that if I sight in for 300 I forget to change my aim point at close distances in the heat of the moment.

That's what works for me.

Me too, whether it is my .223, 243, 308, 270, or the '06. 99% of all my game shots with centerfire, are with those calibers. All trajectories are identical enough for what I shoot em at, under field conditions. Rock Chucks to elk, and 90% of those shots will be 200 yards or less.

I find 3" high at 100 way too high....I shoot mine dead zero at 200 (whatever that puts me at 100) and depending on cartridge I am usually below 2" high at 100 yards.

Yep, then verify drop at 300 and 400.

I also pay attention to point of impact at 25, 50, and 75 yards.

BMT

My 270 & 30-06 are zero'd at 200 Yards. As everyone has said that is 1.5 & 2" at 100 yards. Dead on at 200, and 6.5 -7.3 low at 300 yards respectivly. That covers 99% of most peoples hunting, and 100% of mine.

Certainly seems to be a couple schools of thought and I used to always sight in for dead on at 200 yards. However I found it easier to aim 3 inches low at a 100yards that to guess at what 7 inches low is at 300 yards. There are no wrong answers, but this is why I chose my method.

I have shot deer from powder burn distance to 450 (ranged) out in the soybean and peanut fields of North Carolina. I have a .300 Win and a .300 WSM both of which have range cards taped on the inside of their stocks. I have them zeroed for 100 yards. I have the hold over out to 500 yds and the elevation clicks in case I have lots of time and want to dial them in. I have my scope turrets set to zero and just spin them to where they need to be. I don't use the windage turret. I do Kentucky windage for that. In 18 years, I never missed or wounded a deer with either rifle. I wounded 2 with a Remington Mountain Rifle in .270 which deservedly now rests at my friends place. I haven't been gun hunting since 2001 and miss it a lot, especially when I'm down the range and watching people shoot before going off to camp.

Two and a half inches high at 100 and hold on hair out to 300. Thats my limit.

With 130 Nosler Partitions, I sight in 2 inches high at 100 yards. The bullet again crosses the scope crosshairs at over 200 yards and is 6 inches low at 300 yards.

Thank you for all of the good advice!

TJ