I took a few friends shooting and for a couple of them it was their first time shooting farther than a couple hundred yards. So we had to chronograph their rifle/ammunition combinations and verify their zeroes. I was a little surprised that every shooter that day zeroed their rifle differently. One was at 200 yds., another at 100 yds., one at 150 yds., one at 168 yds and one at 250 yards. Each person had a reason for why they zeroed at that yardage that made sense to them and should work for how they expected to hunt.

So I am curious how and why shooters/hunters determine what yardage to zero their rifle.

Setting Zero For Your Rifle single choice

100 yards (57%, 52 Votes)

200 yards (21%, 19 Votes)

Maximum Point Blank Range (12%, 11 Votes)

Distance from Hunting Blind to Feeder (1%, 1 Votes)

Other (9%, 8 Votes)

Total Votes: 91 Voting on this poll ends: 0 seconds ago

This is an important topic before hunting season. ALL of my rifles are zero'd at 100 yards. Why- it's the easiest to sight in at any range, easiest to calculate drop and come-ups from and is LEAST effected by environmental conditions. For a basic hunting rifle, a 200 yard zero will also work, since 99% of rifles will print 1" to 1.75" high at 100 yards from a 200 yard zero. You can still easily calculate and dial from a 200 yard zero.

But, the folks that zero their rifle at the weird off distances, they are using a form of MPBR and induce some error and guess work on where their bullet will impact. This mentality is "it's close enough". Anytime you induce this, you increase the likely hood of missing your target. I'm not a fan of this. From a simple 100 yard zero, you can calculate easily with near 100% certainty EXACTLY where the bullet will be at any distance. Sure, you can calculate a 168 or 250 yard zero, but it complicates your calculations. It also leaves the hunter estimating the drop in inches at a certain distance (that could also be questionable) that is often difficult to figure out these inches on a deer in the field. I'm not a fan of MPBR and zeroing in on an off or odd distance. It induces too much error or guess work for a miss.

200

100. Everything is up from there.

22 1/2 feet

I don't dial. I don't shoot past 400 yards (350 in actual practice so far on game).

A 3" high zero at 100 yards has me basically on at 200, 6" low at 300, and 18" low at 400 with the loads in my .300 WSM, .300 Win mag, .270 WSM and .270 Win. (It's not exact, of course, on all the rifles - but it's close, very close).

basically, not exact, it's close- that's my point. It's a semi calculated guess (which is often not correct). If you are 3" high at 100 yards, you will NOT be on at 200 yards with the calibers you listed! And you will not be 6" low at 300. This is why a lot of shooters miss, is because they "think" it's what it will be.

I'm not picking on you, NP. I'm just saying that majority of hunters that use a form of MPBR have a lot of error into their holds.

100 yards.

I'm always coming up never down, and I have no wind error from a farther zero. I do see the utility in zeroing a duplex reticle at 150 or 200 yards. There is also the trick of zeroing a duplex at 100 but at the end of the 12 o'clock post. You'll get five points of hold. Top post, halfway to center, center halfway to the bottom post, bottom post. Shoot those holds at distance to find out what is what.

Depends on what I'm shooting. With over 40 rifles/handguns no one setup works on all. Most of my fast calibers are zero at 200 and checked at 100,300,400. Something like my 45-70 or 44 mag will zero at 100, don't shoot much past that with them so don't care where they are at 200. 44-40 iron sights semi close at 50 yards (good as I can see.

100 yards.

NP, are you loading yours really slow?

A standard Hornady 130 gr. GMX Superformance when zeroed +3" at 100, will be +3.6" at 200, dead on at 295, and -9.5 at 400.
this is using the calculator on their site. That's a big difference.

P_102

Hunting rifles 200 yards.
Target rifles 100 yards.

1 hundo for me as well

Joking I did catch 2 guys on my lease doing this..... I asked them to explained it to me. (One is a veterinarian and one is a pharmaceutical engineer.... I'm a construction sales guy) Their response made zero since and we then set up a target at 100 yards.

For most rifles and scopes I use the standard 100 yd zero but for red dots and the Vortex Strike Eagles I use a 50 yd zero. Works great for me.

I generally sight everything at 200, but faster calibers like a 22-250 or 300 mag I'll sight at 225 or 250.

It varies with each rifle some. Dead on is actually between 250-280 or so with all my rifles/ammo IIRC with that zero. So I misspoke in my attempt to generalize with round numbers. The point is that, with that zero, the maximum up/down is not significant out to 300. I re-check each rifle for specifics before the season. And I really fine tune the specifics of any rifle I take on a big hunt like a sheep hunt (as I am taking next year).

The 400 varies with each one, but I don't have a 400 yard shot at my place in east TX. For the sheep hunt I am using the .300 WSM - so it will get the most attention this year all the way out to 400. With 180 grain TSX the drop at 400 for that rifle is right at 15".

The reason for the .300 and the TSX is the grizzly tag that will be in my pocket.

I agree. With most modern calibers, a 200 yard zero will put you roughly 8" low at 300. It makes it pretty simple for hunting shots out to 300.

It depends on the caliber/MV/bullet weight/BC of a given gun I am going to hunt with for that Season.

Deep woods & swamp guns are zeroed at 100 yards amx, pipeline/power line cut blinds & west texas cross canyon setups may get a 3 or 400 yard Zero...hard to give a pat one size fits all answer. Back in those days I almost never hunted my own lease more than a couple times a season, but as a "Palidin" Style guest, 5-10 different places a year.

So, on average I usually setup 2 shooters at a minimum - a primary and backup that are both setup exactly the same way for aiming point & bullet drop yadda yadda, & as many as 2-3 other shooters a year depending on other planned Hunts that year, and range conditions expected. I use 200 yards as the do all Zero 90% of the time, and rarely take game shot over 300 yards, but have scored at 440 yards leaning against a truck fender with a hip & off hand, with a 200 yard zero out of a 2700? mv 257 Rbts & FCH 2x7 Leo Vari- X II...and lots of SWAG holdover
Ron

No doubt. My only response is the usual one - that "a lot of error" for precision accuracy guys is relative to us hunters who rarely shoot beyond 300. None of the errors you cite will cause anyone to miss if they know their rifles. It may sound like heresy, but I simply hold at the bottom of the heart area under 200 or so, about 1/3 of the way up out to 300, and about halfway up out to 350. That's general with tweaks based on the actual range - which I do make sure I know prior to the shot.

I won't post specifics over 40 years of hunting, so suffice it to say this has served me just fine.

100 on all rifles so that I'm consistent. If I were to zero different rifles and different distances I would no doubt forget.

100. Then adjust up. Simple.

100 yard zero on anything I dial, 200 on anything I don't.

I would suggest you guys who are zeroing at 100 yards, take a look at the ballastic performance of your ammo.

Take for example one of the most common calibers, the .270 Winchester. While exact performance will differ slightly, a .270 bullet will be almost 5 inches low at 150 yards with a 100 yard zero. That would require holdover at that distance. If you zero for 200 yards, your bullet would only be an 1.5 inches high at 100 yards, and no holdover would be necessary out to 250 yards where the bullet would be 2.7 inches low. In summary, you will extend your no holdover range by well over 100 yards. With a 100 yard zero, holdover becomes necessary at just 125 yards where the bullet will already be 3 inches low.

I shoot a 270 and zero at 100 yds. When hunting out west ill just start with the scope dialed to 200 so I don't have to adjust unless the animal is further out. I like to dial so i know the bullet is hitting where I aim not 2-4 inches high or low. If I didn't have a scope I could easily dial id prob go with a 200 yd zero.