Thread: Sighting in your hunting rifle

What method do you use for sighting in your hunting rifle? I play around with the mpb method as I'm more a set and forget type of person. The only data I've found for rough estimates is the chuck hawkes site.

For the average bush hunting to semi-open type hunting, the way you are doing it works. It's accounted for more animals than any other method short of helicopter assisted... The biggest limitation to the method is the average human is crap at range estimation, actually really poor to be fair. It's not hard to be +/- 50 or 100m at range estimation, and when you are at the extremes of the trajectory for your caliber it can end up with the pill passing clean underneath. It's only when you get to ranges outside of the limitations of ballistic drop that require you to adjust your point of aim do you need to go down the track of dialling and adjusting your sighting - this can be at various ranges for different calibers though.

Yea the thing is with dialing you still need to accurately know the range so either way you'll be using a rangefinder. I find estimating range in the bush quite hard. When I'm sitting watching a spot its good to guess ranges and check them.

Originally Posted by blip

What method do you use for sighting in your hunting rifle? I play around with the mpb method as I'm more a set and forget type of person. The only data I've found for rough estimates is the chuck hawkes site.

sighting in new rifle or new scope - I bore sight first ( saves ammo ) - then start at 25 meter generally only need 2-3 rounds - I zero then at 100 meter dead on - I dont generally shoot over 300 meter so thats what works for me -

The good old 3x3 rule works for me, even though I have a couple of dial scopes. I dont have the need to shoot beyond 300-350, much easier just to stalk closer. And if you dont dial, you dont need to carry a rangefinder. And if I think I need to hold over the top of the back, I stalk closer.

The rule of three.is on here I've posted it before,not home at computer so can't do it now. Basically it's like this.if you can picture if you will a dead straight pipe 8" in diameter between you and what you want to hit. You sight in so at NO TIME will your projectile hit side of pipe.for most cartridges it works out about 2_3" high at hundy.will be at peak height before 200 and again dead on between 2_300 with the point it hits bottom of your 'pipe' being your maximum point n shoot distance. Easy with .270 as ends up dead on again around 270 yards n drops too low 325ish. Play on ballistic app with what you know n best guess of the rest to find what sight setting suits you best.www.huntingnut has one.side bar to left on main page.pountblank online. Plurry good free way to do it.

If you have a range where you can do it, it's nice to shoot different distances and record bullet drop at each. When running 130 powershoks in my 270 I was 2 1/2 high at 100m bang on at 220m and 7" low at 300m. No dialing needed, aim a tiny bit low up close and a bit below top of back at 300. If shooting wallabies at 300 I aim centre of the head which hits centre of body mass.

3in high @ 100m has always been my go to with my .308 and .243, .44 mag and .22 is bang on @ 50m.

Greetings all,
My "Hunting Rifles" are zeroed at 172 metres for the .308, 200 metres for the 6.5x55 and 120 metres for the little Bergara .308 and the old soldiers. None rise more than 50mm above line of sight out to those distances. This has been the standard for me for a very long time. I can see no point in zeroing normal hunting cartridges at 100 metres (or worse 100 yards or less).
GPM.

Hi there, my 50cents worth (as i get all my newbies at range to do this).
firstly understand what sight line you have, IE scope or open and find mid sight line and then distance to centre of bore (most scopes will be 30-50mm higher than bore so say 40mm) HALVE THIS so 20mm and that should be where yr bullet should hit at 25mtrs. IE 20mm LOW,,,this is for all calibres firing at 2,400FPS or greater. DOES not matter what wonderful calibre you have or think you have.
this will put you @ 30-50mm high at 100mtrs and back down at bull at somewhere close to 200mtrs.
PLEASE use a very good rest and use 3 shot groups and take centre of group as impact point. You are trying to sight your rifle not worry about how wonderful your shooting is, (thats another whole topic).
PLEASE use same ammo for sighting in as what you shoot with and if using a can use that for sighting as well. whatever you take into the field is what you use for sighting in.
Then anything you see out to 250mtrs point and shoot. if its further away you will normally have time to work out distance and then you should in interests of animal and ethics get distance correct if taking a long range shot. (burris eliminator does all the hard work here or get custom turrets, realise thats not for all....). please dont take pop shots at animals at long distance unless you know you can hit them...

Dead on at 200 yards

Attachment 236829

100m zero for everything centrefire, 50m zero for .22LR subsonics.

Sighting in 'an inch or twa eye at a undred yards' is the worst approach for today's world with good scopes (although relatively few and far between), rangefinders with ballistic calculators, ot just a better knowledge of how trajectories work in rifles.

The bullet 'falls' the second it exits the muzzle, due to gravity. Due to this, our sights be it iron or telescopic, must point downwards relative to the muzzle, so you raise the muzzle to aim at the chosen target.

Why a 100m or yard zero?

Most rifle cartridges (2,000 to 4,000 fps muzzle velocity) will be on a relatively constant path till this point, where they will begin to diverge due to ballistic differences (bullet speed and shape). Rifles ranging from about 2,500-3,200 fps will usually require 1 Miliradian or 3 MOA of 'dial' (elevation on sighting device) from a 100m zero to score a hit on a 6 inch target at 300m.

100m is also relatively isolated from factors such as wind deflection and possible muzzle velocity variations of ammo (extreme spread) influence, which would begin at 200 yards or meters. Also, who can judge the accuracy of a rifle that is zeroed to shoot above the target you are aiming at? Do you carry a tape measure to ensure it is always the same distance above your aiming point?

100m zero will mean an almost dead on aim for shots up to about 30m away. Much more usefull for up close shots that must be taken quickly, vs. an imaginary sotuation where the stag of a lifetime is stading 850m away, across a canyon on a perfectly calm day and facing perfectly broadside. The latter situation could still be handled with a good dial scope that zeroed for 100m and dialed in.

Originally Posted by caberslash

100m zero for everything centrefire, 50m zero for .22LR subsonics.

Sighting in 'an inch or twa eye at a undred yards' is the worst approach for today's world with good scopes (although relatively few and far between), rangefinders with ballistic calculators, ot just a better knowledge of how trajectories work in rifles.

The bullet 'falls' the second it exits the muzzle, due to gravity. Due to this, our sights be it iron or telescopic, must point downwards relative to the muzzle, so you raise the muzzle to aim at the chosen target.

Why a 100m or yard zero?

Most rifle cartridges (2,000 to 4,000 fps muzzle velocity) will be on a relatively constant path till this point, where they will begin to diverge due to ballistic differences (bullet speed and shape). Rifles ranging from about 2,500-3,200 fps will usually require 1 Miliradian or 3 MOA of 'dial' (elevation on sighting device) from a 100m zero to score a hit on a 6 inch target at 300m.

100m is also relatively isolated from factors such as wind deflection and possible muzzle velocity variations of ammo (extreme spread) influence, which would begin at 200 yards or meters. Also, who can judge the accuracy of a rifle that is zeroed to shoot above the target you are aiming at? Do you carry a tape measure to ensure it is always the same distance above your aiming point?

100m zero will mean an almost dead on aim for shots up to about 30m away. Much more usefull for up close shots that must be taken quickly, vs. an imaginary sotuation where the stag of a lifetime is stading 850m away, across a canyon on a perfectly calm day and facing perfectly broadside. The latter situation could still be handled with a good dial scope that zeroed for 100m and dialed in.

hmmm interesting viewpoint...... sure fine n dandy when you dial up and always carry rangefinder....
100mtr zero wont make frig all difference at 25-30 yards...in fact most rifles sighted in to be 2-3" high at 100 will infact be zeroed for somewhere around the 27 yard/meter mark.

rifle ISNT zeroed in for a point above aiming mark at all......its zeroed to hit INSIDE an 8" aiming point out to ABOUT 300 yards...and that is the very point of exercise...... no its not for smacking them in the earhole...its for honest chest/shoulder/hillar area shots,point n shoot.

and you have actually AGREED by saying to hit at 300 you will dial in 3moa.......some of us just do it beforehand and leave the twiddling and fiddling of knobs completely out of equasion from then onwards.

different strokes for different folks ...at end of day whatever works for you is correct for you.

Greetings Once More,
The zero ranges of 120, 172 and 200 metres mentioned in my earlier post are the actual ranges that the rifles are shot at. For target shooting at longer ranges and getting a base zero at 300 and 600 yards I make up a target with the aiming point at the bottom and the point of impact at 200 metres for either 300 or 600 yards zero marked on it. This is based on the chronographed velocity for the load and a drop chart for the load. For 300 yards the point of impact is around 150mm above point of aim and for 600 yards from about 600 to 700mm above point of aim. For 1,000 yards a base zero for 600 yards will likely be used at that range to validate both the point of impact and the BC followed by dialling up for 1,000 yards.
Why not just dial up from 100 metres you say? Any error at 100 metres is multiplied by 2.75 at 300 yards and 5.5 at 600 yards rather than half that when shooting at 200 metres.
Regards Grandpamac.