setting your rifle up

[luger]

When sightings your rifle in what do most people do for 50yards-300 yard shots ?please include your caliber . And are balistics calculators that accurate?

[Harv]

Some Bc calculators are extremely accurate as long as the info you put in is accuarate

[Drillbit]

Sight it in 1" high at 100.

then aim right at everything from 50-300.

[Sofa King]

sighting in??
Fark! no wonder I can't hit anything.

[Sofa King]

Sight it in 1" high at 100.

then aim right at everything from 50-300.

I know that's a common rule to follow, but, it wouldn't be for all calibers would it?

[TARCHER]

On my 270, 7mm,300wsm I am 2 and a half inches high at 100 yds. Confident muzzle to 300yds any deer or big game aim and shoot basically.

[Gateholio]

Zero 2-3" high at 100 and verify it at 200, 300, 350, 400 etc...As far as you plan on shooting.

[hoochie]

new scope on a gun, I set up a target at 25 yards. I get my windage set. With the gun stable in a rest, remove the bolt and find the target by looking through the barrel. line up the scope.
OR: take a really large piece of cardboard for the 100 yard target.
One of my rifles in .270WSM has a scope that has turrets on it. With this scope I have a choice to either zero at 100 and use the dial to adjust farther distance ( preferred) or I can zero the rifle to 200yards and use the hash marks on the reticle to get me out to 600yards. And yes, the calculators are accurate. Using the dial on my scope after plugging the data into a calculator is far more accurate than using the hash marks in my scope reticle.
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/mrmabley/PIC_0010_zps265775e7.jpg
(http://s800.photobucket.com/user/mrmabley/media/PIC_0010_zps265775e7.jpg.html)http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/mrmabley/PIC_0008_zps7635eaed.jpg (http://s800.photobucket.com/user/mrmabley/media/PIC_0008_zps7635eaed.jpg.html)

[CSG]

If you are hunting game that is similar in size then I would recommend sighting in for MPBR. You never have to change where you aim on an animal as long as it is within your MPBR. Keep reading to the bottom of the article and he gives some very loose pointers on shooting past your MPBR when you are sighted in for it

http://www.chuckhawks.com/mpbr_hunting.htm

[brian]

A lot of your questions will be answered by simply shooting more. You will need to shoot the distance (short or long) if you want to know exactly where your bullet is going to impact at that range. Range estimation charts on the side of packages rely on velocity, and velocity can differ in the same round shot between different rifles.

What distance to sight in for, I say sight in for the distance you will be most likely to shoot. I do not feel confident enough with my shooting from field conditions to reliably hit deer out past 200 yards. So it doesn't make sense for me to sight in for past this distance.

[HIGHRPM]

X2, has always worked for me for all hunting calibers from .243 to 7mm Rem Mag. Your distance for your shot is tailored to the caliber you are shooting. Have never had to shoot over 200 yards in the past 45 years .


Sight it in 1" high at 100.

then aim right at everything from 50-300.

[Edzzed]

When I was looking to buy a scope for my rifle, I came upon an article that said this scope is set up for a .270 win. It's why I bought it. This pic shows what the reticle looks like. Is it accurate, I dunno. Only ever tried shooting to 100 yards and to do that I bought some fishing line so I knew just how far 100 yards is. Gonna double it in September so I should be able to hit a beer can at 200 yards.http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/edzzed/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-07/DOA%20600%20Bushnell.jpg

[TheProvider]

When I was looking to buy a scope for my rifle, I came upon an article that said this scope is set up for a .270 win. It's why I bought it. This pic shows what the reticle looks like. Is it accurate, I dunno. Only ever tried shooting to 100 yards and to do that I bought some fishing line so I knew just how far 100 yards is. Gonna double it in September so I should be able to hit a beer can at 200 yards.http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p242/edzzed/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-07/DOA%20600%20Bushnell.jpg

Never understood circles for cross hairs on farther shots. Cover up too much vitals at a distance.

[.330 Dakota]

I zero most at 200yds and go from there,,,,most calculators are quite accurate if you input all the info,,,ballistic coefficient is a very important number,,,the different in trajectory between a bullet with a BC of .385 and a bullet with a BC of .588 is huge

[Sofa King]

a roll of fishing line to measure 100 yards?
guessing no range finder.
i'd be pacing it out and being roughly close before i had the patience to unspool some fishing line and spool it back up.

[wideopenthrottle]

a roll of fishing line to measure 100 yards?
guessing no range finder.
i'd be pacing it out and being roughly close before i had the patience to unspool some fishing line and spool it back up.

agreed...practice your pacing...lay out 20m (66 foot) line on flat level ground and just walk it many times at a NORMAL WALKING PACE counting every second step (I always lead with my left foot and count my right steps) you should get between 12 and 14 paces if you are average height ...once you are comfortable with flat level ground try it on a slope (both up and down).KNOW YOUR PACING ..when pacing, I use my left hand fingers to keep track of each 20 m and my right is 100m... every half km put a small pebble or stick or leaf in a pocket to keep track of longer distances (it is easy to lose track of counting numbers when hunting...knowing your pacing can really help with orienteering as well...I learned this in timber cruising class in college...as a technician you need to have alternate ways of accomplishing a job if your equipment fails. (I am about 13 paces for 20 m on level bush ground).....I am always counting steps anyway cuz I have a max number of steps I will take before stopping and doing a full sweep..i take no more than 20 paces in the woods before I force myself to stop...I do about 3-8 in normal hunting bush but go down to 1 step at a time in prime bush...with a good compass and a grasp on pacing you can feel a lot more comfortable in new country or country with a wideopen direction (no rivers, roads or hydro lines to contain you)

[Edzzed]

a roll of fishing line to measure 100 yards?
guessing no range finder.
i'd be pacing it out and being roughly close before i had the patience to unspool some fishing line and spool it back up.No, I don't have a range finder but I do have a fishing rod with 100 yards on it. Our tenant left it when they moved so figured that I'd spool 100 yards onto it. I also tied one end to the target and drove the 100 yards with the rod out the window. Guess you could call that red necking eh!. I also have a kite reel with colored line on it. Changes color every 30 feet so I could also use that to figure out 1 and 1/2 miles if I want. And yes I have had the kite out with all the line. Really easy to do with a 12ft boat and 9.9 motor. Reeling it in was a real bugger though. It literally pulled me a mile or more down the lake before I could get it in. Guess I should take the line and put it on my down rigger one day. Just need to come up with some kind of pulley off the bow.

[MichelD]

I'd agree with Tarcher and Gatehouse.

Worked for me for years with rifles from 243 to 300 WM.

The only thing I'd add is to shoot at 25, 50 and 75 yards once you're sighted in at 100 and 200.

People prepare for 300 and 400 yard shots, but close shots often present themselves so it's good to know what your rifle does at 50 yards.

[Daybreak]

Here is an important tip for you... once your rifle is sighted in, always keep your scope dialed to it's lowest magnification until you need to dial it up. There will be an occasion when you come across a target animal at 35 yards and if your scope is not dialed down all you are going to see through it is a big mass of fur or hide. If the animal is a 200 yards you should have plenty of time to adjust your scope, 35 yards... not so much.

Second tip, if you are not carrying a range finder, I don't, learn exactly what a hundred yards looks like. sort of defeats the purpose of sighting in to a specific distance if you can't recognize that distance in a heartbeat.

[jtred]

With my 25-06 and my 270 I sight in 2.5 inches high at 100 putting them pretty much dead on at 200 and right around 5 inches low at 300. I shoot Federal Fusion 150gr in the 270 and Federal Vital Shok 115gr Nosler Partitions in the 25-06.

[HarryToolips]

I zero my .30-06 for 250 yards making it about 3 inches high at a 100yards. = greatest amount of point blank range..

[Drillbit]

Here is an important tip for you... once your rifle is sighted in, always keep your scope dialed to it's lowest magnification until you need to dial it up. There will be an occasion when you come across a target animal at 35 yards and if your scope is not dialed down all you are going to see through it is a big mass of fur or hide. If the animal is a 200 yards you should have plenty of time to adjust your scope, 35 yards... not so much.

Second tip, if you are not carrying a range finder, I don't, learn exactly what a hundred yards looks like. sort of defeats the purpose of sighting in to a specific distance if you can't recognize that distance in a heartbeat.

Excellent tips. never leave it on max X

I always used to leave mine on 5x (leupolds)
Last year I switched to a Swarovski and with the different in reticle size I have to leave it on 3x to hit running game as I am accustomed to use the duplex for a lead.

And learn 100 yards. Not sure if you play a sport, but referencing 100 to a playing field might help you judge distance.

[brian]

I have played a fair amount of sports and I found referencing field sizes didn't help much in the bush. I was still generalizing yardage but confident because the thick stuff limited me to all sub 100 yard hunting. But then I started hunting with buckshot and had to view range more precisely like a bow hunter. I used to regularly walk to work and gauge distances then pace them off. I got pretty good at it too, as long as I was walking along the side of the road. But the bush yet foiled many of my attempts to replicate this success. Undulating ground, trees and unknown target size really threw me off. I broke down and got a range finder after letting a few too many deer walk as I did not know for sure if they were just in or outside of my comfortable kill zone. I was constantly surprised when I started using it in the forest. Once I watched a little button buck sneak by me a close range. I put my range finder on him when I picked him up again across a small clear cut. That little guy at 100 yards looked a lot like a decent deer at 150 or 200 in the failing light. So here is what I have learned on range guessing, it is easier in flat open spaces, it is harder the farther the target, and target size can really throw you off.

So my advice, be careful on the range estimations especially if they get out to 250+ yards. And like others say keep that scope dialed low, make it a mantra.

[todbartell]

I typically adjust point of impact to be no more than +2" @ 100 yards.