For centerfire rifles I'm a 200yd guy. I'll verify my elevation change at 100 and then check my computer generated drop tables past 200.

For my slug guns and muzzleloaders I do 100yd zero and check elevation at 50yd.

If I works for you go for it. There is an 1 1/2" difference. Most of y'all on here can even shoot that good of a group at 100.

I sight mine at 500 yards since I shoot everything that far... rest is too easy. I even back up if the shot is too short

(extreme sarcasm.....just kidding!!!)

I believe you go with what you are confident with and for you that's a 200 yard zero. My "hunting" rifles...which have "hunting" scopes on them I sight them in at 1-1 1/2" high at 100. My two rifles with turrets and mil reticles I have sighted with 100 yard zeros

I know that's tongue-in-cheek, but there's a lot of truth in there. I have no idea who is skilled and who isn't, but just about everyone on this forum talks as if wringing their groups down to the last 1/4" is just easy peezy.

The vast majority of guys don't have the equipment or the know-how to so.

I don't. I go to the range, shoot off bags, and do the best I can. I don't kid myself into thinking that my reticle is on the exact same spot on the target every time when the trigger breaks. When my group looks something like this , I am satisfied.

Spent some "rainy day" time yesterday looking at couple calibers for recoil lb'ge & drop at distance with various "good bullets" at book avg low end and high MV. Drove the BH nutz but this activity satify's my anal curiosity and kills lots of dead time when I ought to be painting a room or something.

Anyway, using all the Nosler game bullet styles in a given weight & gross avg MV's for powder Reload data, as shown in their current online data for BC's, at a 200 yard Zero and a 300 yard max with 50 yard increments ... it is again amazing that the 140gr 6.5x55 & 260 x's a 270WCF in 130gr, 140gr 150gr & 160gr X's a 150gr 7x57, 7-08, 280, X's a min loaded 7Rmg and X's a max'd 7Rmg to get the gross avg drop at 300 yards ...are all within less than 2" spread max starting at +/- 1/2" spread 'tween calibers and bullets, at around 8"s to about 6 1/2"s in all 11 caliber and bullet combinations.

The 270 xtra bullet weight numbers I used were a sop to the 40/50 year history I have in trigger time in a dozen or more 270's ...and I've got 2 nib new or near new 270 rifles I really like and am looking for justification on keeping one or both of them in the 3-4 rifle 2 caliber battery I am determined to get down to.

The other combination of calibers this excersize had shown me that that I can acheive the functional usage spread of rifles I want to keep also in several 3 gun combinations of just 6.5's or even just 7mm's ...but which ones to keep or sell?

I was also surprised that I might be able to tolerate a max loaded 8+lb 7Rmg using the lb's of felt recoil data available in the same site...which further complicates the selection process. Only caliber I need to add to the 6.5 equasion is a 264WMg to balance out the MV choices, as a 24" 264WMg is running MV's in the same range as a 24" 270 in up to 140's ...like the near new BACO CRF Ult Shadow w/under a 100rnd count thru it, I have that is wearing a near new BACO Sporter stock for that classic Rifleman's Rifle look & feel they advertise.

Doan't know 'bout ya'll but THAT under 2" top to bottom bullet drop spread difference 'tween calibers was a surprise to me, and I don't see well enough with single vision eyeglass'es to see under a 2" deviation at 300 yards. My usual self imposed max shot taken on game could just get stretchd a little but there is a substantial increase in drop past 300 yards evident in the data available @ every 25 yards in the spread sheet results.

Prolly gonna waste some more time today until the rain stops and figger out a MPB of 3"s high/low Max Impact Range using a 200 Zero again. Killed way too many critters at under 75/100 yards to put the crosshairs any higher than 3" @ 100 yards for offhand snap shots.

OBTW I'm using the Handloads.com site for the easy to manipulate data input, just remember to select FB or BT bullets & a avg 1.5" for med/low rings with a 40mm objective lense size or higher for OBJ's bigger than 44mm "sight in height" to give the correct height of the crosshair over the center of your rifle barrel. Makes a huge diff in the #'s when you start pulling the trigger and can't figer out why the fired groups are not centering where you think they are 'posed to.
Ron

Ron that's why I sight in 3" high at 100 and basically forget about it out to 300 yards. Your #s really don't surprise me - just means bullets within a certain weight range and velocity window are going to act pretty similarly until BC comes into play.

My eyes aren't what they used to be either......

My big game hunting rifles are set up for the way I hunt whitetail. Where I hunt my shot opportunities can max out around 400 yards but usually closer to 325. The actual sight in is different for each but they are all set up for a 3" rise and drop above and below the sight line to determine the max point blank range for that particular rifle/ammo combination. I have used ballistic reticles but I went back to a plain old duplex and that set up. I like simplicity when I am hunting. The exception is a bolt action .223 that I use for a doe gun. It is zeroed at 100 yards and used up close.
I have some rifles with turreted scopes that I play around with at longer ranges that are zeroed at either 100 or 300 yards but I don't hunt with them.

Nog, IMO, You need to run the #'s for the rifle and load you are shooting, and then prove the #'s on the backer board down range...rather than just set a 3" High Impact at 100 yards for everything you shoot...and Yes I know them guys in Wyo-'tana have been doing that since they been wearing Stetsons....but then they are shooting at a 4'-5' high target of an Elk shoulder too.

ReRan the numbers 5-10+? times last nite with changes for different diameters, BC's and MV's in the 4 calibers I'm working with in adjustments for the spread in BC's @ MAX Book MV's ....and kept coming back to being able to stay around a 1.5" HIGH at 100 yards, with a 225 yard Zero, and a depedable 275 yard MINUS 3" drop distance out of the tube...and when they dropped they dropped, they dropped bigtime at about 4"+'s for every 25 yards past the 275 yrd mark.

Only major change at distance was in the BC diff in 270 140gr LRAB's and still less than I expected....but in 270's I'll switch all of my hunting bullets to 140's across the board based on this experiment, as they noticeably outperformed 130's & 150's trajectories at the given 300 yrd distance...simplify simplify simplify without giving up any on game performance is the goal.

So I'm gonna go with a 225 yard Zero and expect to get about 1.5"s of High Impact at 100 yards and a 3" drop at 275 yards, in more than one caliber and bullet from 2 diff 6.5's in 140's, a 270 in 140's for every hunting bullet Nosler shows in the OnLine #9 Loading Manual, and 150's in 7x57/7-08 & 280 & Book minimum loaded 7RMg, until the backerboard proves me wrong.

FWIW it was a really boring movie the BH was intent on watching last nite ..to each his/her own for entertainment I guess....she was watching "A Girl on the Train" and it was a snorer of a who dunnit for me... the guy was a floater for sure....but I liked the finish.
Ron

Yes they do drop when they start dropping. Big time. That's precisely why LR is an entirely different ballgame with an entirely different set of rules.

All of our zeros are rifle and situation specific. Our deer guns are set at 100 since that is where are stands are located. Our elk guns are set at 275 since we expect longer shots. We set our varmint gun 300 blk at 50 since we primarily hunt at night at closer range.

I sight all of my rifles 25 caliber and up dead on at 300.
22 cal 1.5 high at 100

For target shooting, or long range, using a 100 yard zero and a drop table is much more effective. If you're going to hunt between 100-300 yards, a 200 yd zero gives you minute of deer every time

hard to argue against that logic

My 30-06 is sighted at 200 for hunting open places, and my.243 is done at 100 and ill never shoot it that far where I use it.

!00 yards is good for me. I hunt with 264 Win.Mag. 2.5' high at that distance is 1' low at 300 yard. I have no senderos longer than that.