Sighting in for 1000 yards
- Thread starter muleman69
- Start date
dmoran
Donovan Moran
Since most everything ballistically is primarily based from 100yd Zero's, I to base everything from a 100yd Zero as well. Even if I'm using say a 300 or 1000yd Zero in the field, they to were based from 100yds starting out, and why I use 100yds as the primary and for returns.
My 2-Cents
Donovan
My 2-Cents
Donovan
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suppose it depends on what you are doing and what scopes.
my dasher with the 15-55x can run from 100 to past 1000 as it sits on the rifle.
i just log setting for 600 and 1000..where it is shot.
same for my 5-22x moar-t on a 300 win mag...
take a come-ups sheet for 875-2000 with me.
these have clearly marked turrets, one with zero stop
my dasher with the 15-55x can run from 100 to past 1000 as it sits on the rifle.
i just log setting for 600 and 1000..where it is shot.
same for my 5-22x moar-t on a 300 win mag...
take a come-ups sheet for 875-2000 with me.
these have clearly marked turrets, one with zero stop
rkittine
Gold $$ Contributor
With one of today's ballistic calculators, if you know the specs on your loads, you should be able to get close just knowing what change in scope MOA you will need. I prefer to keep my scopes somewhere in the middle of their range rather than cranking out to the edges of their coverage, so when I change major distances I change bases to accommodate most of the change. If I remember correctly my 6.5x47 Lapua sighted in at 100 yards needs about 38 MOA increase to get out to 1,000.
Bob
Bob
CharlieNC
Gold $$ Contributor
With a 100yd zero, the ballistic calculator should get you close at 1000yd the first time. Then record precise dope and environmental conditions(wider range is better); use that to tweak the velocity in your ballistic calculator such that all your dope matches. It should work well in the future, or another parameter such as velocity vs temp may need adjustment.
My thousand yard rifle is sighted in at --- get this --- one thousand yards! The thing with all the ballistic calculators is they get you "on paper" but not really sighted in. You have to sight in at the distance you are actually going to shoot at. You may want to record all your scope settings for the various yardages.
If you really want to shoot at 1000 yd, you had better shoot it at 1000 yd because a zero at 100 yd or even 500 yd may not be nearly as good as developing a load for 1000 yd.
I went to my first 1000 yard match with a 100yd zero and a “custom” dope sheet I had made from the Hornady ballistics calculator on thier web site.
When I rolled up to the range the following morning, there was a 20 mph full value crosswind gusting to 30. Holy crap.
My dope sheet had the windage figured for a simple 10mph full value cross wind.
When I was called to the line for for the first relay of sighters, I dialed the elevation called for, off the dope sheet at 29.5 MOA - and nearly doubled the the 10 mph sheet windage value of 6.3 MOA..to an even 10 MOA.
Then I let the first one rip...and fortunately..up pops a spotter disk just barely on the down wind left edge of my target frame, about 6” low on elevation. I was thrillled! Many many cross fires had just occurred, and it was pure chaos in the pits and on the radios, because several shooters had actually hit the down wind target to thier left, due to wind drift! So, some of the fast 284 guys had two marks on thier targets from their first sighter, so they were screaming and complaining that someone shot my target! After a very long and complicated sighter session, everyone got it sorted out and the relay continued.
So, that calculator worked fine for me, even in very difficult weather conditions with a 100 yard zero.
When I rolled up to the range the following morning, there was a 20 mph full value crosswind gusting to 30. Holy crap.
My dope sheet had the windage figured for a simple 10mph full value cross wind.
When I was called to the line for for the first relay of sighters, I dialed the elevation called for, off the dope sheet at 29.5 MOA - and nearly doubled the the 10 mph sheet windage value of 6.3 MOA..to an even 10 MOA.
Then I let the first one rip...and fortunately..up pops a spotter disk just barely on the down wind left edge of my target frame, about 6” low on elevation. I was thrillled! Many many cross fires had just occurred, and it was pure chaos in the pits and on the radios, because several shooters had actually hit the down wind target to thier left, due to wind drift! So, some of the fast 284 guys had two marks on thier targets from their first sighter, so they were screaming and complaining that someone shot my target! After a very long and complicated sighter session, everyone got it sorted out and the relay continued.
So, that calculator worked fine for me, even in very difficult weather conditions with a 100 yard zero.
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Ive had similar experience with ballistic calculators, not in conditions quiet as bad but they weren’t good either and found close to centre all the way out to 900m with 6 and 7mm.
Cheers Rushty
Another thought on scope adjustment and elevation range for 1000 yards.
Say your scope has a total elevation adjustment range of 50 MOA. So, the reticle elevation adjustment would be considered centered with 25 MOA adjustment above, and 25 MOA adjustment below your recticle center zero position. Lets say the reticle is centered, and then mounted in a zero MOA base, and nearly hits the bull at 100 yards with very little adjustment. You know from my example, it only required 30 MOA of correction to hit bull at 1000 yds. So, if you use a 20 MOA scope base, now you only need the barrel to come up 10 additional MOA with the turret adjustment, from the rectcle center, which would now leave 15 MOA remaining above and 35 MOA adjustment below, the previous reticle center. So, in reality, the 1000 yard setting using a 20 MOA mounting base, is not that far away from the center of the scopes reticle adjustment range. If you want the adjustments basically centered at 1000, use a 30 MOA base, or what ever your caliber/bullet trajectory requires.
On a 10 MOA/revolution scope adjustment, you only have to dial up the turret 3 revolutions for 1000 - if you zero at 100, which doesnt bother me a bit. At the end of the match, just dial it down 3 revolutions and its ready again for 100 yards. If you have a zero stop feature on the scope, just dial it back to the stop, and boom your good to go. Thats why guys like that fancy zero stop feature...
If all I ever did with the rifle was shoot 1000 yards, I would center the reticle, and use a 30 MOA base, and then zero the scope at the 1000 yard bull.
Say your scope has a total elevation adjustment range of 50 MOA. So, the reticle elevation adjustment would be considered centered with 25 MOA adjustment above, and 25 MOA adjustment below your recticle center zero position. Lets say the reticle is centered, and then mounted in a zero MOA base, and nearly hits the bull at 100 yards with very little adjustment. You know from my example, it only required 30 MOA of correction to hit bull at 1000 yds. So, if you use a 20 MOA scope base, now you only need the barrel to come up 10 additional MOA with the turret adjustment, from the rectcle center, which would now leave 15 MOA remaining above and 35 MOA adjustment below, the previous reticle center. So, in reality, the 1000 yard setting using a 20 MOA mounting base, is not that far away from the center of the scopes reticle adjustment range. If you want the adjustments basically centered at 1000, use a 30 MOA base, or what ever your caliber/bullet trajectory requires.
On a 10 MOA/revolution scope adjustment, you only have to dial up the turret 3 revolutions for 1000 - if you zero at 100, which doesnt bother me a bit. At the end of the match, just dial it down 3 revolutions and its ready again for 100 yards. If you have a zero stop feature on the scope, just dial it back to the stop, and boom your good to go. Thats why guys like that fancy zero stop feature...
If all I ever did with the rifle was shoot 1000 yards, I would center the reticle, and use a 30 MOA base, and then zero the scope at the 1000 yard bull.
Guys that have developed a rifle at my range have done all their preliminary work @ 100 and then stepped out to 500 to fine tune their BC before stretching the range to a full 1k. Those that I've been involved with through this process basically had just a very few clicks further correction and more tweaks to the BC to be bang on the money.
And they've set the rifle up just as SG4247 describes.
And they've set the rifle up just as SG4247 describes.
I agree with the guys who say that the best place to sight-in for 1000 yds is at 1000 yds but I assume from the context of your question that isn't possible. Part of the answer depends on how good of a spotting scope you have and your atmospheric conditions. Here in the dense, humid air of the Gulf Coast, I've never been able to spot bullet holes much beyond 200 yds. I understand that in the dry air out West one can do much better. What I've found works for me is 1) I use a chronograph to get the MV of the rounds I'm shooting and 2) a ballistic calculator to create 3) a sighting target similar to this one. This has one advantage over cranking in the number of clicks on your scope that the ballistic calculator: If you don't trust your scope to give you the right MOAs per click, this will still get you on paper at the range you want.
rkittine
Gold $$ Contributor
I am not happy with my 60X Spotting Scope, so I bought a Target Camera. I am looking forward to trying it at 1,000 yards. My 1,000 Yard Rifles each have 30 MOA bases while my 100-300 yard rifles all have 0 MOA Bases. I don't interchange the two. Joe Salt helped me get my last build on paper at 1,000 and I am hoping he will help me now with my new 6.5x47L from Jim Borden. I shot it at 100 yards and got it sighted in, but now my rifle case also has a 30MOA Base I got from Jim and an other set of rings.
Bob
Bob
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CharlieNC
Gold $$ Contributor
If you zero at 100, come back to check another day, regardless of conditions it should still be dead on unless the rifle/load shifted; you can count on it as a fixed reference. Such is not the case at 1000yd because results are very dependent on ambient conditions; you really never have a true zero. Its nearly impossible to avoid the influence of the wind when trying to zero. On the other hand I can take my 100yd zeroed 223 up to 300WM rifles to the 1000yd target any time of the year (BP and temp) and dial in the correct elevation on the first shot using the compensation provided by the trued ballistic app. Now if it could only read the wind for me......
DaveTooley
Gold $$ Contributor
For me it depends on the intended use of the rifle. 1K BR rifle zeroed at 1K. LR varmint/hunting rifle I like to zero at midrange distance and then work both directions . This is divides whatever error I have in my trajectory chart into two parts which minimizes my zero getting worse as distance increases. Say I'm going to Wyoming to shoot Rock chucks. 243 Ack. 80 gr. bullets. At altitude it's honest 800 yd. rifle. Once there I'll fine tune my zero at 350-450 yds. . I'll then adjust my scope to the 100 yd. zero on my drop chart and I'm ready to go. 1/3 of the error will be on the near side and 2/3 of the error will be on the far side of my zero range assuming a mid distance zero.
Bob no problem God willing I'll be there! The easiest way I know of is if your sighted in at 100 yards is make like a tall target and come up 24" that should get you in the back or front bank depending on the range your at. If your aiming at a clay bird and you see the first shot splash leave the cross hairs on the bird and click to the splash then point the gun back at the bird and you should be damn close. Oh and if you are by yourself do your self a favor back the power on your scope back so you watch the wash of the bullet and see the impact. Guys put there scopes on full power and wonder why they can't see there first shot hit. As long as you see that first shot no matter were it hits, I've seen guy two and three targets to one side and had them in the middle of the bull next shot. Don't complicate thing. Just click to the shot.
Joe Salt
Joe Salt
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