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a 25yd zero???

hillbillydruggist

OK, y'all don't beat me up too bad for asking this. youth season is coming on, and I have tasked by some parents to re-zero the younguns scopes to 25yds, they are going to taking turns in a few designated "close shot" deer stands and 25yds will be a rough average for all of them. I know I could look this up somehow, but I am about to start today. calibers range from .223-.308, but me setting these at 25yds, roughly how bad will it be at 100yds? I know there are a ton of variables.

thanks for the help!
 
hillbillydruggist said:
OK, y'all don't beat me up too bad for asking this. youth season is coming on, and I have tasked by some parents to re-zero the younguns scopes to 25yds, they are going to taking turns in a few designated "close shot" deer stands and 25yds will be a rough average for all of them. I know I could look this up somehow, but I am about to start today. calibers range from .223-.308, but me setting these at 25yds, roughly how bad will it be at 100yds? I know there are a ton of variables.

thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
oh, the scopes will be cranked to the lowest setting
 
For deer you may find the 25 yard zero still works just fine at 100 . I zero some of my deer rifles at 40 yards and they are on at 100 yards also . Not exactly the same POI but very close . Like you stated there are many variables , including how well the youngsters can shoot the difference from 25 yards to 100 with the sights/scope .
 
dolek said:
For deer you may find the 25 yard zero still works just fine at 100 . I zero some of my deer rifles at 40 yards and they are on at 100 yards also . Not exactly the same POI but very close . Like you stated there are many variables , including how well the youngsters can shoot the difference from 25 yards to 100 with the sights/scope .
Click to expand...
thanks so much!
 
A mean average of a rifle sighted dead on at 25 yrds, will show a hit about 1 1/2 to 2 inches high at 100.

Then if you want to make a adjustment at 100, most of the time you only need to adjust the scope down and left/right a few clicks to be dead on there, if that is what you want.
 
I say keep the 100yd zero.

For my 308, The round will hit zero at 60-65yds and 100 yds. This is due to the bullet path crossing the line of aim twice during flight. At 25 yds it is only 0.9" low. Well within minute-of-deer for that range.

A 25 yd zero won't have space to cross the line of aim twice, and it is the equivalent of a ~250 yd zero.

Scope height and loading specifics will have a big impact on this number, but this seems like a waste of time IMHO.

FWIW, I'm going to hunt from a stand that will have 15-30yd shots (or 400+), and I am not sweating it. I am moving to a scope with low magnification, but that is it.
 
hillbillydruggist said:
OK, y'all don't beat me up too bad for asking this. youth season is coming on, and I have tasked by some parents to re-zero the younguns scopes to 25yds, they are going to taking turns in a few designated "close shot" deer stands and 25yds will be a rough average for all of them. I know I could look this up somehow, but I am about to start today. calibers range from .223-.308, but me setting these at 25yds, roughly how bad will it be at 100yds? I know there are a ton of variables.

thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
What distance are the rifles zeroed for now ? Folks seem to be assuming 100 yards .
 
hillbillydruggist said:
OK, y'all don't beat me up too bad for asking this. youth season is coming on, and I have tasked by some parents to re-zero the younguns scopes to 25yds, they are going to taking turns in a few designated "close shot" deer stands and 25yds will be a rough average for all of them. I know I could look this up somehow, but I am about to start today. calibers range from .223-.308, but me setting these at 25yds, roughly how bad will it be at 100yds? I know there are a ton of variables.

thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
HBD, It won`t matter much in that range of Calibers. I hunted for years in the brush in PA with a 25 yd. zero. And fine if I shot further to 100-125. Jeff
 
The Army zero's their rifle for the average shooter at 25 yard which allows a soldier to shoot to the same hold out to 250 yards.. Also it will instill confidence in the children to shoot a small group at 25 yards.

Edit: Also if it is windy and you still want a no wind zero shoot at 25 yards solely for windage correction/adjustment.. You know if it is a 5-10 mph wind not gale force..
 
The average deer vital zone is about 8" in diameter give or take based on the size of the deer. As long as you can keep your shots in the vital zone at the distances you intend to shoot you'll be fine.

The optimum sight in distance depends on the terrain you'll be hunting. Here in PA hunting the north central big woods which I did for years rarely did I get a shot opportunity beyond 100 yards. Hunting in the eastern farmlands however shots up to 300 yards are sometimes possible.

I've been hunting eastern white tails for over 50 years now and the furthest I shot at a deer is 185 yards. I've seen them further of course but couldn't take the shot for a variety of reasons such as no backstop for a safe shot or the deer was in heavy cover or on a posted farm next to the one I was hunting, etc.

For me, the old standby of 1.5 inches high at 100 yards for my 308 Win covers just about any scenario I might encounter for eastern white tail.

To give the youngsters some real life experience, have them take some shots at a paper plate placed at various distances and shooting in the manner in which they will be hunting. It will give them an idea of their effective range plus be a lot of fun.
 
Scope height plays a big role if you zero that close. I recently had to figure that out on a 22LR. It's usually one of those "just put in 2 inches" inputs on the calculators.

If they are running smaller sized hunting scopes they will only be a couple of inches high at 100. If they have 2" tall setups it's more like 4½ inches high at 100.

If you zero at 100 your only ¾ to an inch low at 25.
 
Since a bullet's flight path is pretty much parabolic, it's been a general rule of thumb that sighting in at 25 yards will get you to the same or nearly same POI as sighting in at 100 yards. If you expect most of the shooting to be done at short range why not sight in for that?
 
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