Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 26 yard zero??

Tiny errors at 25 yards don't show up till you're shooting at 200+. What you think is a perfect 25 yard zero could be 2-3" left or right down range.

I understand the military zeros at 25. A tyical 5.56 round will be almost a foot high at 200 yards and zeroed again at 300. Personally I think being a foot high at 200 is stupid. No wonder our soldiers can't hit anything.

I'll continue to zero at 100 and shoot at various ranges to know where I'm hitting. With anything I own I can still hold on hair out to 300 and make hits.

What? You don't want to shoot at 26 yards and know without a shadow of a doubt you can hit anything out to 300+ yards in the vitals?

No doubt about it not being the most accurate way to sight in a rifle, but...

When younger, it seemed like every year, the night before deer season opened, I would be sighting in my 30-30 at 23 yards (read that somewhere) using the truck headlights to see the target nailed to a tree.

It may not be the best way, but I killed a lot of deer. Of course, most of the shots were 75 yds or less.

That must be one short barreled rifle.

That is a key factor imo. A bullet should cross the line of site two times down range for optimum long range trajectory. Not just reach the line of site and immediately start descending. Scope height plays a big roll imo.

I've never understood why some embrace 'Kentucky' windage with a scope.

I'm betting the guy who wrote that article didn't even shoot one gun to verify what he wrote.

Seafire - the course and the project sound like fun. The good prices on the parts and the readily available nice equipment at the college make the complete overhaul worth it. By comparison, I am working in the AC dark ages out here.

I think that is what is called 'point blank' range. If I understand it correctly, its different for different loads, rifles, etc. But, the idea is that the rifle is sighted in where the bullet never travels above the 'line of sight' more than x inches and the the maximun distance for 'point blank' range is when the bullet drops below the 'line of sight' x inches.

and the higher the line of site over the center of the barrel the longer that range is extended as I understand it, within a practical degree of course. Ideally no more than the size of the kill zone of the animal that's being targeted. I use see thru mounts on my rifle that raises the line of site somewhat.

I'm mixed, on the one hand I'm happy I knew this already

otoh, I'm a bit sad to realize it's cause I'm so damned old.


new rifle, scope, rings or bedding, yep 25 yards to start

but as soon as dialed in then out to 100, 200, 300 (335 yards is the limit of our borough range, long range shooting for me has to take place in springtime via snowmachine to find a safe place to shoot with yardage out to 700+ yards.


again maybe it's cause I'm so old, but hunting seems far more productive ime, if it ain't a guessing game.

I start at 25 yards with a newly scoped rifle to get on paper for longer range testing, not for sighting in with the intent to shoot to 300 yards baddabing baddaboom.

Most idiots are happy to just hit the box at 26 yards....

This 25yd sight in with scoped rifles doesn't work for me. If hitting on at 25yrds it'll be way high at 100yds. I shoot at 25yrds to "get on paper" then move out to 100yrs and finally to 300yrs. Your mileage might very.

IMO 25 or 26 yards is a good starting point but it's a good idea to see where you're hitting with the same load at the max distance you're going to shoot it and in between that and 25/26 yards too.

I used to sight in at 100 yards then shoot and record hold over and under and tape the info on my rifle stock. I had data w/ my hunting load immediately available from 25-500 yards. I still do this but now have a LRF so I actually know the range and now it works. One of these days I will get a scope/knobs that allow me to quickly dial the range rather than use the marks on the reticle. Progress isn't all bad.

mike r

Mule Deer has addressed this fairly well in the past:
2009 Thread

And he is spot on with that!

Excellent response, John.

We called it the "thousand inch range" in the Marines. When you didn't have access to a full size rifle range, you could always find a 27 yard range with a backstop. That was used for the M-14 with peep sights.

Yeah, its a good thing Paul...the best is doing this stuff with my 20 year old son, sharing some more dad/son time together...

We are auditing the course, so no worries about tests, grades etc...my son took it last summer, so he is further along on the curve than dad is...gotta admit, when it comes to A/C.. my expertise ends with the old 4WD/70Mph school of thought...