Scope zero questions

[Leo_B]

Ok, these will be basic and dumb. I've only fired a scoped rifle once about 40 or so years ago. I'm just going to be getting back into rifle shooting. The range I'll be using has 25, 50 and 100 yard rifle ranges. In theory the shop that installed my scopes bore sighted them. My questions are on initial zero.

Rifle one is a Savage .22 Hornet with a Leupold VX-III 3.5-10x40. I'll probably always use the 100 yard range with it although I might find a range with 200 yard stands at some point.

Rifle two is a CZ .22lr 457 American with a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x40 AO. I'll be shooting it a lot at 25 yards on some forum fun shoot targets and the ARA target. I will probably try it at 50 now and then and maybe even 100 once in a great while if I'm feeling crazy.

So at what range, given those options, do I zero the scopes? I presume the rimfire at 25yds is a given. But on the Hornet I'm wondering if I start short and walk it out longer adjusting as I go? Or dive in the deep end at 100yds from the get go?

Any and all advice appreciated.

 

[jelenko]

I'm not sure it makes any difference.
You'll need 'zero's for each of the distances that the rifles/scopes are shot at.

I do think it'll all go easier if you start at 25 yards in case the boresighted zero is off enough to put shots off the target.

The 'come ups' going from 25 yards to farther distances will be the same as with iron sights.

 

[Hipshoot]

I'm not sure it makes any difference.
You'll need 'zero's for each of the distances that the rifles/scopes are shot at.

I do think it'll all go easier if you start at 25 yards in case the boresighted zero is off enough to put shots off the target.

The 'come ups' going from 25 yards to farther distances will be the same as with iron sights.

 

[Hipshoot]

A firearm is always on target at 2 different distances. When fired the bullet rises to the line of sight. goes above it and crosses again as the bullet starts to fall.

Your hornet, if sighted in at 25 yds will be within an inch or two of the bullseye at 100 yds.

Sight in the .22 at 25 yds and hold a smidge high at 50.

 

[243winxb]

22 Hornet https://jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi

At 25 yards, bullet impact will be 1/2" below where the cross hairs are.

 

[Leo_B]

Don't understand a lot of it but it's very cool and I like it.

 

[ELR LVR]

Don't understand a lot of it but it's very cool and I like it.

think of your bullet the same as the girl flipping her hair accelerating it out of the pool
it follows the same kind of arc, The Golden Ratio, follow the arc of the water from right to left
thats the exact same arc a bullet follows when accelerated downward by gravity since all things fall and are accelerated at the same rate per second in time.
The water/bullet never goes "ABOVE" the path it started from being pointed initially
In physics, something can only accelerate if being acted upon by another force
so once your bullets leaves the bore, it is always slowing down and always dropping
which is why in order to hit something at 100 yds... you must point your barrel a certain amount of degrees upward above it first so that the bullet is crossing line of sight initially...at say 25 yards.
so the bullet can then later....... "FALL" onto your target hitting at 100 yards.
Hence - 2 points the bullet crosses your line of sight, the second point being where your rifle is called
"zeroed in"
---
(the 2nd pic is a quick edit where the red line shows your "eyes/scopes line of sight"
YOU....look in a straight path, your bullet cannot
The red line, shows your bullets flight path as it transitions line of sight the first time to line back up with your intended target at the second intersection point.
Hence why in the charts, before the 100 yard mark, the MOA will read a positive number instead of a negative number, being above bore centerline, since the barrel is being pointed upward by the shooter at yardage Zero.
IE: 25yds, bullet still traveling upward from being pointed upward until ---
at 50 yds, +0.1" above bore / 75 yds, +0.3" above bore /
100yds transitions down in line with bore centerline
(this is the yardage rifle is zeroed at, or the point where your line of sight intersects with the bullets downward trajectory path.)
Once the bullet reaches 100 yds, the MOA drop is now constantly negative since it will always be dropping that amount indicated in the yardage ,,

 

[jelenko]

Well. Depends on where the rifle is zeroed.

If it's zeroed at 100 yards, the bullet never gets above the target at 100 yards. It is simply rising up from the muzzle to the line of sight.
If the rifle is zeroed at 25 yards, or any distance less than the 100 yards, it will rise above the target.