Question about mils adjusting

[yycyak]

I have a dumb question about mils and zeroing.

edited for clarity: my hundred yard zero was bang on, 100% perfect. At 600m, my spotter said I was left of the target. I held 0.5mil to the right, and clanged the gong for the next 5 shots.

I then adjusted my windage turret an extra 0.5mil to the right, and set my zero stop to that, and called it a day.

Then this morning started to think about this, and thought I might have done this wrong.

If I'm shooting at 600m (yes 600m), and am hitting 0.5mils to the left (no wind), does that mean I adjust 0.5mils to the right get my zero then?

Basically what happened was I got my usual zeros set for 100m. Then as I walked out to 200/300/400 etc, I found I was hitting more and more to the left. At 600m, if I held 0.5mil to the left, I'd hit dead center.

So I adjusted my windage turret 0.5mil to the right (slipped the turret) and made that my zero.

Now I'm wondering I just messed everything up, and should have only made my zero's/zero-stops for 100m

 

[Reburn]

Simple answer. Probably. Being 0.5 mills off on your 100m zero should be easy to see. 0.5mils wind drift at 500m is there abouts a 5mph crosswind which most people would call a light breeze if they even register it.

Here is where more info is needed. Scope brand, if you were dialing elevation or holding over. How many shots was your 100 zero.
If you go back out again with no wind like smoke rings outside calm and its the same I would look into your scope not adjusting up and down without L/R drift or your reticle not being plumb up and down with your barrel or a little bit of both. 0.5 mils at 100 yards is like 1.8" thats quite a bit. Trueing my scopes out to 600 on a still morning usually will be a 0.1 L/R and 0.1 U/D. Any more then that and I start to look for another problem.

 

[Lawnboi]

How confident are you in your 100m zero?

 

[Reburn]

How confident are you in your 100m zero?

Considering 0.5 mils is 1.8" at 100 yards I would hope he is better then that if he is shooting 600m. There is a problem here.

ok so your the guy in the north neighbor that drank the form kool aide. I wouldnt look that the swfa isnt dialing properly. While its possible its not likely. I feel like if your reticle was that far out of plumb you could see it. But check it anyways. Slip the turret back to its original position and take very careful consideration on the wind next time would be my final suggestion. If it is a constant repeatable problem start looking into the scope.

 

[Lawnboi]

Was this your 223? At 600 it takes a nut hair of wind to start pushing lighter 223 around. How bout wind, even a little.

Looking at my calculator quick it takes 4mph of wind to move my 75 eldm a half mil at 600 yards.

You can also do a tall target test to check your tracking and confirm your reticle is moving on a plumb line

 

[yycyak]

This was my 30-06, using 165grain rounds.

I was really confident with my 100m zero. The rifle did awesome. I was able to use a ballistics app to calculate my drop, and it worked really well.

It was just at 600m that I was a bit left. So I held right 0.5mil, and clanged the gong every time.

So I figured for some reason I should adjust my zero right 0.5mil too. So I did that. Then this morning I thought "wait a minute, that's probably wrong, and now my left/right is going to be messed up at 100m"

Was this your 223? At 600 it takes a nut hair of wind to start pushing lighter 223 around. How bout wind, even a little.

Looking at my calculator quick it takes 4mph of wind to move my 75 eldm a half mil at 600 yards.

You can also do a tall target test to check your tracking and confirm your reticle is moving on a plumb line

 

[yycyak]

No offense taken. I'm a total newb/dumbass. Hence my dumb question.

Good news is I wrote everything down that I did, so I can re-configure back to the 100m zero.

I have another range day coming up, so will confirm my 100m zero then.

Thinking ahead, basically what I should do is just zero at 100m, set the zero stops, and then don't make any adjustments after that?

No offense, but if you’re asking the question I would not rezero based on your 600 yard results. Unless you’re in a tunnel, there’s wind. Maybe only one or two tenths, but there’s always something. If you’re canted, that could account for a little. If you’re dialing, your scope may not track completely vertical. Is your barrel left or right twist? Too much cheek pressure, trigger finger not 90*. Etc etc etc.

Go confirm zero at 100.

 

[yycyak]

I think I did a crap job of explaining what happened. I got my 100m zero sorted out, set my zero stops to that, and then from there started dialing and ringing gongs all day. It was awesome! But it was just the 600m one that I needed to hold windage on, but there wasn't any wind that day.

So I figured that meant I needed to adjust my zero stop for the 0.5mil I was holding. So I did that.

Then woke up this morning thinking "I think I did that wrong. Need to ask some smarter people if I mucked it up or not."

Considering 0.5 mils is 1.8" at 100 yards I would hope he is better then that if he is shooting 600m. There is a problem here.

ok so your the guy in the north neighbor that drank the form kool aide. I wouldnt look that the swfa isnt dialing properly. While its possible its not likely. I feel like if your reticle was that far out of plumb you could see it. But check it anyways. Slip the turret back to its original position and take very careful consideration on the wind next time would be my final suggestion. If it is a constant repeatable problem start looking into the scope.

 

[Laelkhunter]

If I do any knob cranking, I always shoot to confirm the correction. I will not estimate the correction, dial it, then put the gun away without shooting it. That's just me, YMMV. Unless I misread your post- If I did, I stand corrected.

 

[yycyak]

No you read correctly. Thats exactly what I did. Note to self to not do that again.

If I do any knob cranking, I always shoot to confirm the correction. I will not estimate the correction, dial it, then put the gun away without shooting it. That's just me, YMMV. Unless I misread your post- If I did, I stand corrected.

 

[Castle Rock]

Dial the wind age back and check at 100, atmospherics do weird shit, could have been a bit of mirage you didn’t notice

 

[LaHunter]

At 600 yards / meters, you have wind somewhere along the bullet flight path 90% of the time. You just may not have detected it. Try putting up wind indicators at 100 yard increments, this will give you a better idea of what the wind is doing.
You were left .5 mils at 600 (about 10ish inches off), did you shoot at 400 or 500 or 700? Where were your impacts at the different distances?

 

[4ester]

A picture of your 100 yard zero may be helpful.

Sounds like wind, rifle cant, poor recoil management or jerking trigger or a combination of a few.


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[Big Ern]

Yeah...you screwed it up.

get your 100yd zero dead nuts. Then, you are good to go. Any left/right wind adjustment out at 600 is because there was some sort of wind influence on your bullet, hence, the adjustment. Maybe the wind was swirling downfield; maybe there was wind down near target...who knows. The fact is you needed a correction to get on target, but didn’t need it at 100. Also, as others have pointed out, a 0.5 mil correction at 600 yds is minor and only equates to around a 4-5mph wind (at 90 degrees) which isn’t much wind and you may not have noticed it downfield.

go back and re-zero at 100. Make sure all other variables are out ie scope rings/base/pic torqued correctly, etc. then, you should be set.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Recheck scope level, then check them at the reticle isn’t canted.
Also, do you have a level to make sure rifle isn’t canted when you’re shooting at distance?