In no way do I make any money from anyone related to the firearms industry.
"I have never heard anyone say after a firefight that I wish that I had not taken so much ammo.", ME
"Texas can make it without the United States, but the United States can't make it without Texas !", General Sam Houston
In no way do I make any money from anyone related to the firearms industry.
"I have never heard anyone say after a firefight that I wish that I had not taken so much ammo.", ME
"Texas can make it without the United States, but the United States can't make it without Texas !", General Sam Houston
Uh... yes, it's a real question. Did they zero for 50 yards, or did they zero for 200 yards? The crossovers might be relatively close for some gun/ammo combinations, but for some of my guns, with some ammo common ammos, it's over an MOA of elevation off at 200 yards if I zero for 50 yards. Depending on the precision you need, I'd consider a zero that is a whole MOA off to not be satisfactory.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
老僧三十年前未參禪時、見山是山、見水是水、及至後夾親見知識、有箇入處、見山不是山、見水不是水、而今得箇體歇處、依然見山秪是山、見水秪是水。
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I always thought your zero was where the bullet crossed the line of sight the second time, but I’m old school so who knows. One of my ARs has a 2.3x optic on it. When I wanted to sight it with a 200 yard zero, I first dialed it in to hit point of aim at 50 yards. Luckily when I moved the target out to 200 yards, I was almost dead on the bullseye.
Even if your shooting range is only 100 yards, you can still use a ballistic chart and sight your gun to hit one or two inches high at 100 yards. It’s always good to test at farther range, but it’s better than castrating the cartridge with a 100 yard zero.
If you zero at 50, then confirm at 200, if you have to make a correction at 200 you’ll likely still be very close to to zeroed at 50. The general idea for all of these zeros is to get on paper up close, then true it at distance.
The caveat to that rule I’ve always gone by is if I’m worried about wind drift, sometimes a closer range zero can actually be more precise. At 200 slow rounds like 7.62x39 will have some shift even in a fairly light wind, so depending on your environmentally you may want to just zero at 50 and call it good. I personally have a BDC or mil reticle in all my magnified optics, so I stick with a 100m zero and know the holds for that range.
OEF / OIR / OFS
When we refer to which zero we're using we're generally referring to the FIRST distance at which the bullet crosses the LOS, or as with the 100yd zero, the ONLY spot where that happens.
Unless I happened to have an optic with a ballistic reticle (which I don’t), I feel the maximum point-blank range method of zeroing is superior vs getting hung up on a particular yardage for zero. What I’m saying is that a 50/200 yard zero is far superior to a 100 yard zero.
Last edited by Colt Carson; 06-05-23 at 14:18.
Personally, I like my bullet to stay within about 2 inches above line of sight…
https://thenewrifleman.com/maximum-b...-of-ar15-zero/
You do what works best for YOU, in YOUR mission, that's what the rest of us do.
I too prefer the 50/200, for guns that're going to mostly be used at those distances. With 16" guns, I zero with my staple load (62gr FMJ loaded on the hot side) at 50 yards, and they're back to dead-on at around 225 yards. I still know where to hold for those out to 300 though.
Magnified optics get zeroed at 100yd, and the holds on the graduations of the reticle at various distances are identified and noted, through live-fire. This should be done even with a dedicated BDC of course.
The concept of the 100yd zero for every rifle DOES have much merit however, and has been discussed at length here.
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