50 yd. zero pros and cons?

[long hunter]

My process especially for a newly mounted scope, #1 bore sight #2 - 3 shot group 30 yards #3 make scope adjustments to dead center at 30 yards ( will measure the group and move the dials to correorlate to the measurments ) #4 re-shoot 3 shots at 30 yards ( if O.K. ) if not repeat until I get what I want #5 move to 50 yards repeat the process #6 go to 100 yard line for final absolute zero ( this for me is 1/2 M.O.A. ) # 6 go to the 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 hundred lines building dope charts will limit myself to 400 and under game shots but do like to ring steel at 600 from time to time, Has worked just fine for the last 50 or so years, I am after hunting accuracy, Last antelope was shot at around 250 yards D.R.T My hunting buddy uses the same approach his last antelope was ranged at 535 yards. Then copious amounts of time on the range practicing. OHHHHH all the ballistic charts I have ever seen shows bullet rise after leaving the muzzle. If there was no bullet rise due to point of aim vs. point of impact there would be no need for elevation adjustments . Just saying for a friend.

 

[MattB]

Wow, what a thread. The scope line of sight has to be angled down a bit relative to the bore so that the bullet will intersect the line of sight at the zero range. Presuming the line of sight is horizontal, the bore will point up slightly from horizontal as a result. Not hard stuff.

 

[Wrench]

Convergent and divergence aside, bores can be pointed at angles other than square even if the receiver and barrel are nearly perfectly machined. Most of us who take pride in or machine work do our best to make the bullet leave as close to 12 o clock as possible...flute timing can be a pain....BUT, we're talking tolerance well below seconds of angle, or otherwise inconsequential.

This thread is quite entertaining though.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Asking "relative to what" can focus the discussion.
Barrel definitely should be angled up "relative to" the line of sight through the scope.
Barrel definitely should be angled down "relative to" the ground when shooting something in a canyon below you.

Relative to what.

 

[Rich M]

The main thing he said on the podcast was that at 50 yds. most people can be more accurate resulting in a better zero, which I tend to agree with. He did point out, as stated above, that errors at distance are greater if slightly off at 50. Also said, as stated above, if your on at 50 no dialing required out to around 250. Its a Vortex Nation podcast on sighting in. Until listening to this I never gave a thought to sighting in at 50.

Ever try to zero a gun, start real close, then move out to 50 yards and nail bull, then go to 100 and it is 3 inches to the right or left? Very common. That's 6 inches or more at 200 yards, 9 inches at 300 yards.

The opposite is better - sight it at 250, you know where your bullet is going for real, and you can still shoot 50 and 300. (I sight for point blank and usually zero for 250-300 yards using a 4 or 5 inch rise. Can typically plan to shoot 350, possibly 400 while holding on hair. I don't dial and like to hold on hair when I shoot.)

As for accuracy - If you can't shoot a 1 inch group at 100 or a 2 inch group at 200 - what makes you think you can shoot well enough to "dial" for distance? The only way you'll get better at range is to shoot at range.

Zero at 50 yards. No. There are no shortcuts in shooting - you shoot til you know you can, repeatedly. It takes a few range trips.

 

[RCB]

Amazing how even the most mundane and innocuous topics eventually devolve into.. well, this.

 

[mattn]

100 yards. Minimum wind shift. Only 2 inch vertical change for closer targets

 

[Oregonhuntrboi]

Very entertaining thread! I did have a question about a 50 yard zero. I had my 7mm prc zero set at 100 yards, and recently got a muzzle brake so I went out today to re zero. The heat mirage was pretty terrible. I am running a NF nxs 2.5-10 and due to the lower mag and mirage it was pretty hard to see exactly what I was shooting on the target. My group was still .4 MOA but I was thinking about re zeroing at 50 yards so I could see the target better. Does the 50 yard zero matter if I’m just plugging it into my sig bdx ballistic rangefinder for longer ranger shots since I am dialing for everything anyway? Thanks for anybody willing to share info about this.