I use a 16oz Miller Lite can to check my sights. I place it in front of my paper target to see how far I'm off if I miss. A 16oz can will give you a 6.25" vertical x 2" horizontal target. I don't worry as much about the vertical POI as I do the horizontal so I draw a .25" line from top to bottom and use that as my guide to keep center. This helps me to feel confident on neck shots. When I'm shooting with my new go to rifle (.270) I know it's possible to make 25 yard to 300 yards shots and I'm still on the target as long as I don't pull left or right. What target do you use when checking the sights on your rifle?

For checking zero, I’ve always used a standard bullseye target. Preferably with a one inch grid to make adjustments easier if needed.

I use the splatter targets with the 4 small (1”) squared in the corners and a big square in the middle. The big middle square comes in handy for visitor shooters. Usually they aren’t great shots.

Uuuuh.. paper

Being that I earn a living using AutoCadd, I make ~ print my own.

I have made several different designs over the years, from bullseye with rings, to bold “x”s, and I always come back to my favorite.

For Guns with higher power scopes, I use a 1/2” box, rotated 45 degrees, on the center of a grayscaled grid of lines on 1/2” centers.

For guns with lower power scopes, same thing but with a 1” box.

If any of y’all need any, shoot me a PM and I can email you a PDF. Print as many as you would like.

I have rifles/scopes that have never lost zero in 40 years. I can't think of a set up that has lost zero and I don't check unless something happens to make me worried about it. Quality optics, steel rings tightened to the recommended specs and I've never had an issue. I would after a significant elevation change, with a wood stock, but none of my rifles are wood anymore. I shoot every day because I live on my ranch. Zero issues for me but folks that use aluminum rings should probably check frequently, or better yet, throw them away and buy good quality steel rings.

White paper, and a an X drawn in marker.

The + of the scope overlaps the X, and does not obscure it. Making for a perfect zero. All are zeroed at 100 yards.

My win70 243 has had the same Leupold scope and zero since around 1956. (oldest scoped rifle and older than me). All the other rifles and scopes are from the mid 80's to early 90's. They haven't been changed either and all keep zero. Paper is cool. I just enjoy it when buddies come out and brag about their rifles and then miss a beer can. They can hit paper but when it's 3D, something happens to the brain. We took 8 employees to the range and all did well on paper most had never shot before. We took 5 of them out to my place, maybe it was nerves but cans were hard for them to hit with any consistency. I guess I like my practice targets to have some kind of shape versus being flat. Maybe it's the way the light hits the target that makes shadows and reflections creating a more lifelike target. Paper is just flat. It's required to test our zero on the big lease we are on. Yahoos in the past are the reason for that rule.

Paper targets have stood the test of time. Never really thought about it but my guess is they allow the shooter to see wobble and nervous jitters more easily.

I agree with those who say that whatever you're trying to hit, choose and concentrate on a very distinct point and make that your target. "Aim small, miss small." I could see where this concept becomes lost when aiming at a can.

I've seen guys who would start by shooting at a clean piece of white paper such as a paper plate. The first bullet hole becomes the target from that point forward. I often do something very similar at the range when it becomes difficult to identify the last shot. I'll just shoot at a point somewhere else on the target away from the bullseye and see how close I can hit that same bullet hole with subsequent shots. Makes better use of a target without having to change it. Not sure what others think to themselves sometime later when they see a target with groups of holes scattered all over it.

Like reeder05, I printed off my own targets for years. An 8x10 of printer paper with 6 small circles of 1/2”. No problem for me, but family and visitors with their 3-9 scopes couldn’t even see the small circles. SoI got the splatter type targets. They can see and sometimes hit the big square in the middle, and the splatter effect helps with spotting the holes.

This one works for me. It prints on 8.5 x 11" paper. I do a lot of recreational shooting from the bench, so I print one out then take it to a copy store for 50 copies at a time.

If I am just checking zero or want to get a quick/function zero, I use steel silhouette targets. I usually just check with center of head headshots at 100 yards. I drive to my place, put a shot or two down range, and then continue on to my hunt.

Beer cans serve double duty and are fun to empty out. They are in abundance around camp as well.

Yup
My boy has some steel targets out and it is quick and easy to sling one at 200 & 300 yards and if you hear the ding....time to go hunting. lol
I think the ones he has at 300 are 3" or 4" round ones. He has a 10" there to he shoots with his .22s from 300 yards just plinking and having fun.

For final sight in or verification I use these. 8 solid aiming points for precision work plus the center bull. All squares are 1 inch.




For the initial sight in when a scope is first mounted, I use a 2 inch stick on dot on a piece of white poster board.

LOL, is that a knock-off of AutoCAD?

About as fancy as I get is sometimes I'll use a printed target. Otherwise, like FiremanJG, just put an X on a paper.

Apologies.. Autodesk C3D to be exact.

Got carried away with D's and the whole Computer Aided Drafting and Design thing.

Save a tree, Shoot beer cans.

I use the wrapper from Trojan magnum condoms to check my zero. 2"x2" squared. Don't worry about windage, it's the elevation that'll getcha.

You have a lot of those wrappers, do ya?

Hope you boys don't leave a lot of those laying around deer camp.....

Just about anything with a small point of aim and a good rest. Have a plywood prop up target with a feed sack stapled to it most of the time. I zero at 100 and am fine to just hold where I want and shoot for 99.9% of shots I have available. I have a range finder and ballistic ap for past that. If that takes too long then it wasn’t meant to be.

This is what I do too...guess where I learned it...

I like the target with groups of holes in different places's