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How do you sight in your scope???

Texas HunterTexas Hunter Member Posts: 484 ✭✭✭
edited November 2005 in General Discussion
I had a conversation at lunch with a fellow who hunts in an area of Texas(Terrell County) where both Whitetail and Mule Deer are both present.
He uses a .270 and at times a 25-06.
I asked him how he goes about sighting in his scope and he told me he goes by a formula called the rule of three and is sometimes known as maximum point blank range.
He says generally he sights his scopes to shoot three inches high so when the time comes that he sees a deer at say 275 yards he does not have to compensate for droppage and can just line the crosshairs up and shoot.
I have read of this but since generally most shots i would take where i hunt would be probably be more like 135 yards average with maybe one out to 225 yards i have always sighted mine in to shoot (caliber depending)to shoot one and a half to two inches high at 100 yards.
Never had a problem doing it this way and i do know the area he hunts in could provide for some really long shots so i guess it works fine for him.
So i was curious how you other deer hunters and varmint hunters sight in your scope.
Fwiw a couple of guys i hunt with sight their guns in to be dead on at 100 yards.
One of those guys shot under(i hope!!) a very large buck last year at a distance of around 220 yards and that's according to his range finder.
He was shooting a Rem. 760 chambered in 300 Savage.

mike

Comments

  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    I zero all of my scopes in for 300 yards...this usually allows me to hold dead on, slightly low, or top of back out to 400 yards. After that, I dial it in. This varies with each and every caliber. My .243 is shooting 4.3" high at 100 yards.

    Eric
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  • young n dumyoung n dum Member Posts: 2,327 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I use a modified version of the same sys.....I, instead of using a 10-12 in VZ I use a 8in and gives me a mpb of about 320 yds (about 2.7 in at 100)....if I were to use a 12 in VZ I would have a MPB of about 377 and would be about 4.5in high at 100....but I really don't feel comfortable with my skills shooting at the outside of the maximum VZ for elk and at anything over about 300

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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    2.5" high at 100 yards for everything.
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    2.5" high at 100 yards. At the ranges and with the calibers I shoot, that equates to dead on hold in 99% of my shooting scenarios.

    "We become what we habitually do. If we act rightly, we become upright men. If we habitually act wrongly, or weakly, we become weak and corrupt" - *ARISTOTLE*

    **Like Grandad used to say--"It'll feel better when it quits hurtin"
  • hughbetchahughbetcha Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by He Dog
    2.5" high at 100 yards for everything.


    I go about the same for most .30 caliber hunting weapons. I usually have to sight on 100 yard range. i use the table/info on the box to figure the 25yd and 200 yd trajectory. Then i test the dat by zeroing at 25yds and then shooting group at 100 yards. Group at 100 yds should be x mumber of inches high, same as on box(usually about 2 inches.)
  • salzosalzo Member Posts: 6,396 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    dead on at fifty yards.

    "Waiting tables is what you know, making cheese is what I know-lets stick with what we know!"
    -Jimmy the cheese man
  • COLTCOLT Member Posts: 12,637 ******
    edited November -1
    ...One inch high @ 100yds. with 150grn. .06, this puts it dead on, or super close at 2-250yds....which is about the longest shot I'm faced with....[;)] always wkd. fine for me...

    "their in front of us,their behind us,their to our left,and to our right...they cant get away from us now boys!"
  • ladyhunterladyhunter Member Posts: 2,143 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    inch high at 100yrds my longest shot would be 150 tops where a ihunt at so i should be dead on or close to it at that
  • deerhntrdeerhntr Member Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by salzo
    dead on at fifty yards.



    Same here Salzo

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  • asopasop Member Posts: 8,898 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As you never really know how far you will be taking a shot, it's really academic. Just remember at what distance you are dead nuts on and raise or lower from there. Just zero in at whatever distance you would usually shoot at deer in your area.
  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,453 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dead on 200 Yd. Anything out to 200 just hold a tad under where you wanna hit. Past 200 and the mil dot's handle it.
  • PinheadPinhead Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I know the conventional wisdom is 2" high at 100 yards and at one time many years ago I used that sighting. The last few years I have started sighting my 06 in at dead on 100 yards. Then I move it to 200 yards and shoot a group there and measure to the center of that group and write this number down for reference. Then I drop it back to 50 yards and shoot another group and measure to the center of this group and write that number down. Since where I hunt in the mountains with heavy brush here in East Tennessee(heavy rodenderon & mountain lallurel in the hollows and along creeks) I will rarely be shooting at 100 yards much less 200 to 300 yards. I have a Savage 99 in .308 that was specifically bought to hunt in the heavy stuff in certain areas and it is sighted in with 150 grain Speer RN bullets at 75 yards. It has a Leupold 1-4x scope which I normally keep set at 2 power for a fast running shot at close range. When I do my part they both get the job done. Matter of fact I am considering pulling the scope off the Savage and putting a receiver sight on it. Cuts down on weight a little and should be just as effective.
  • wanted manwanted man Member Posts: 3,276
    edited November -1
    All my rifles are set-up for MPBZ, takes a lot of guess work out of many situations.
    My12 ga. slugger is dead on at 70 yds.
    I'm hoping to talk JustC into teaching me to zero my 7mm RUM for 2.6 miles, one day!*LOL*[:D]
  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    all that crap is blah blah blah. Sight it in however you want to. A chronograph will tell you how to aim at any range. I sight my magums in at 3-5" high at 100yds and I am good to 400yds. At 400yds, a slight holdover makes a clean harvest. as for wanting to be good at 300-350yds,...3.5" high at 100yds is all you need to be deadly. Add 1-2" for short action calibers using heavy bullets like the 308 with 168gr pills etc.

    a good 3-4" high at 100yds will get you a good 300-350yds dead nuts and a slight holdover over the back at 400yds. YMMV

    why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
    Got Balistics?
  • FEENIXFEENIX Member Posts: 10,559 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    2 to 3 inches high at 100 yards works for me ... ideal for open country big game hunting. My shots range from 100 to 300+.
  • rcrxmike_2rcrxmike_2 Member Posts: 3,275
    edited November -1
    2 high at 50...dead on at 100.....(because i use a .444) Pa booger saw it. took 3 shots to get it in, and in 3 years, i haven't had the caps off. 'bullseye"

    I did once shoot a doe at 350 yards with it. dead center and 18 inches of hold over.......


    My best shot ever was 500 yards with 'poppies' .270. (got cut loose from the hospital with pneumonia on day 2 of doe season by crying to doctor that I couldn't afford another night there, and that I'd be just lying on couch at home.....) shot it off the top of a Nova in a friend's yard to the back of the sag behind Skeeters......sighted at 500, one shot.....poppie went up with me and helped me gut it...(stabbed me in the meat of my thumb with his knife, then i got 'collected' by the deer going down the hill. ) but as a single guy, for a few weeks we all ate well.

    sight it for as far as you can.......

    If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made tham out of meat!
  • rossowmnrossowmn Member Posts: 1,959 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I sight in my scopes the way I learned from the guy who lives down the street from my daughter: (1) Stand in living room; (2) focus on tree in yard; (3) pull trigger; (4) hear bang, break window, miss tree, break my daughter's storm window, regular window, put hole in curtain, put hole in plaster wall across dining room; (5) wander around outside looking for bullet until policeman arrives to question you; (6) lose gun; (7) face one misdemeanor and one felony charge; (8) have to pay my daughter $150 for damage.

    This, uh, poor shot's court date is next week. [:(]
  • gunnut505gunnut505 Member Posts: 10,290
    edited November -1
    I sight my 300's to be 3" high at 200yds with the 220s, 4" high at 200yds for the 165s; and anything I can see, I can hit.

    "Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit" --OVID
  • hughbetchahughbetcha Member Posts: 7,801 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was reading about the guy who sighted his rifle in by shotting out the neighbors window and it reminded me that i usually bore sight my rifle when i first install the scope. I put the gun in a rest and sandbag it real well and sight on a target in my backyard at exactly 25 yards. this always puts me close when i switch to real ammo.

    A friend of mine once showed me an interesting way to 'bore sight" he said he could never see down the bore well enough to center the bull and adjust scope. What he did was to run a string(monofilament ) down the barrel of his .270 through an empty shell with a knot tied in the string through the primer hole. then he ran the string all the way to the target under tension and centered the string in the end of the barrell. He now has a perfect bore line to the target and adjusts his scope accordingly. he says it works for him.
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