Shooting Blind: Do You Understand Scope Zero?

[Mike H.]

Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Shooting Blind: Do You Understand Scope Zero?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/understand-scope-zero/.

 

[Jfal]

It's amazing how many shooters I know that have no clue about bullet trajectory and the concept of 2 zeroes for any sight adjustment. The screenshot above shows it perfectly.

 

[KI4WTF]

I zero my 7.62x39 18" upper at 50 yards. That gives me point blank to 125 yards +/- an inch or so. Effective range for deer and other medium game. That's about the max for that round, for hunting anyway.

 

[Keystone19250]

When I had AR Pistols they were zero’d at 25 yards for CQB work.
My AR Rifle (5.56) was zero’d at 50 yards. The .308 at 100 yards.

My only current rifle is a M1A that is zero’d at 100 yards, that being said I have a Sig Sauer Sierra3BDX scope that runs off an app that uses specific round ballistic coefficients and once sighted in to a specific round has a dial that allows me to pick yardage and automatically adjusts the reticule for the proper POA for distance POI yeah it cheating but it’s fun.
I’m not going to even begin to think my M1A with a 22inch barrel is a proficient CQB weapon, that’s what my handguns are for.

 

[Bassbob]

When I had AR Pistols they were zero’d at 25 yards for CQB work.
My AR Rifle (5.56) was zero’d at 50 yards. The .308 at 100 yards.

My only current rifle is a M1A that is zero’d at 100 yards, that being said I have a Sig Sauer Sierra3BDX scope that runs off an app that uses specific round ballistic coefficients and once sighted in to a specific round has a dial that allows me to pick yardage and automatically adjusts the reticule for the proper POA for distance POI yeah it cheating but it’s fun.
I’m not going to even begin to think my M1A with a 22inch barrel is a proficient CQB weapon, that’s what my handguns are for.

My initial inclination was to zero my AR pistol at 25 yards. The red dot I put on it was nearly perfectly zero'ed at 50 yards right out of the box though and after shooting ( off my cheek) at 100 yards and getting good hits I decided a 50 yard zero made more sense. POI with a 50/200 yard zero doesn't change a whole lot from 0-50 yards.

 

[Keyser]

This was an excellent video by Grant Levelle and the guidance provided in knowing distances within your own home cannot be over emphasized! The video, accompanied by the schematic of the rifle, line of sight, bullet path and yardage provided an excellent lesson in realizing there are very few (if any) terms like "always" or "never" when it comes to bullet travel. Certainly, employing the techniques emphasized by Grant emphasized how important understanding the aim point and bullet impact point at varying distances is vital to maximum accuracy. Great job explaining this concept Grant and thanks for taking the time to make this video!