I did a bad job of explaining the part at 4:16 about shooting to 1,000 yards. On most scopes, it won't make any difference. However, on some scopes like the one I'm using in this video, they only allow one rev of elevation adjustment. It's stopped at the top and bottom of the rev even though the scope has more adjustment available. So it's applicable on this scope but not on most scopes.

I think it depends where you live. I choose 100 yard zero. Where we hunt in TN we never even get shots past 50 yards normally. People out West may commonly shoot 2-300 yards.

I'm 66 years old and have started hunting way before range finders were used for hunting, and I have always sighted my 30/06 in at 2" high at 100 yards, shooting 165 grain Nosler partitions. When I check zero at 200 it is dead nuts on, at 300... 7" low. If someone can explain to me why this doesn't work please do so... I might add that there was nothing he said here that is likely to change my mind.

Sighting for 200 has 2 zeros 5.56- 50yrds/200yards 308-25/200 generally You can zero at close distance and verify at 200.

You talked about your wandering zero. In my experience, nearly all rifles have that. I run an AI-AT with Night force optic ($7500 gun) for work. I shoot a 3 round group out of it every week and It wanders up to an inch from week to week, usually less. The gun I had before this one was a Remington 700 PSS and it did the same thing. Engineers and manufacturers are getting better at keeping tighter tolerances all the time, but keep in mind that they are called tolerances for a reason. It's because they're not perfect. It is possible that there is a .0001 variable in your sig cross and vx3 setup. That's all it would take to get a half an inch at 100 yards. What you do is shoot several groups over the course of several weeks and find the center of all of them and zero for that. Then as your zero moves around, it will move around the X and you will never be very far from center. Don't get in the habit of chasing your zero, it will drive you nuts.

I typically sight in high at 100 to equal a 200 zero. Hasn't failed me yet

Sight in at 100. Dial to 2 MOA high while hunting. If for some reason, I had a shot at 300+ out east...I'm going to redial anyway...or let it walk. I have stopped using scopes that do not have a zero stop for this very reason. Quick and easy to get back to the starting point.

Deer have vitals with a 6” diameter. Both groups are the same distance from the centre. Kill assured! More wind? You’d adjust anyway.

I had VX5 on my Sig Cross 308 as well for a while. I belive thats what your using as well. It ended up being the scope not keeping constant zero. I had to send it back to Leupold to get looked at, they repaired it and sent it back. Now it works fine. I did some research and found that has been a common issue with some of the VX5's. I also have to say, huge fan of your videos and content. Keep up the great work.

If wind deflection at 200 yards is of concern, perhaps you could zero elevation at 200 and come back to 50 yards to zero windage?

I think that the point blank range is great if thats your acceptable accuracy within the range that you know that your going to shoot at. I find that if your target is outside of that area, then trying to figure and remember holds will be more difficult. With a 100 yd zero( if thats what you need), you'll always go up, not down and up. For combat I think a 300 zero makes sense. But that is of course just my way of seeing it. 👍

My first trip to the deer fields was in 1975 with my Grandfather. He shot one rifle and one load for everything! Varmints on the farm, coyote and deer. 30-06 150 Winchester. He zeroed at 200 " 200 hundred paces then" and learned his holdover for distance and wind. I shoot 8mm Mauser 180 Nosler Ballistic tip or 180 Hornady GMX zeroed at 200. I too have learned my hold over for distance and wind. This is my only hunting rifle for everything I hunt, Coyote, Hogs, Deer, Antelope, Sitka, Goats, Sheep, and Axis deer. I use a scout scope. No fancy adjustable this or that. I feel we are loosing a whole generation of rifleman that haven't learned how to shoot there rifle and given load. There is too much reliance on technology to improve your "skill" as a marksman and hunter. I learned my hold overs as an Infantry solder, just as my father and Grandfather did in there respective Units during Vietnam and WWII. What we learned then definitely carries over to the hunting fields. If you're only purpose is to hunt and harvest at long range, past 300 yards. I don't see much hunting skills,spot and stalk being used . To close my rant, a 200 yard zero with a 6" kill zone is perfect. A deer size animal at 300 yards, aim for the top of his back above the shoulder and he is going down!!

I've just found your channel today, keep up the good work, I like your personality, your content and your environment. You got yourself a new subscriber.

I think the confusion (and argument) comes from misunderstanding the two senses in which a rifle can be "zeroed." One is the calibrating the POA/POI to particular distance so avoid the need for adjusting turrets or holding off/over/under. But what we're really trying to do is calibrate the POA /POI for ALL distances, not just one distance. That means we need a closer reference to ensure the zero is as close to true as possible, and not skewed by wind or by ammo MV variability. Let's say you zero at 50y. Your POI and POA are precisely aligned. You should now be able to send a couple rounds to 100y to verify that the drop is exactly as predicted by your app inputs (atmospherics, scope height over bore, MV, BC, etc). Send some to 200 to verify if you want. The point here is that once you have a precise calibration, you can easily set your elevation to be whatever distance you want it to be. And if you "zero" at 50, then offset to create a "compensated zero" at 200y, you'll have a much tighter and more reliable zero than if you just shot at 200y. This of course assumes your turrets track and the scope is repeatable. If you have one that doesn't, then zeroing closer to your max range might be advisable. The old Nikon app used to use separate inputs for "zero distance" and "target distance" which is really useful. It could tell you how high to zero at 50y if you wanted to be on at 100 or 200. And if you want to maximize MPBR, it becomes a simple exercise of adjusting your elevation reference to whatever distance gives that MPBR. This will be the distance where the height of the bullet's trajectory becomes tangent to (but doesn't exceed) the radius of your vital zone "tube" that Jim references. If you use a 6" vital zone, the MPBR will give a trajectory where the bullet *just* approached 3" above LOS but no higher. And then it hits the MPBR as it falls out the bottom of the bottom 3" half of your zone. The best approach (IMO) is to learn your drops for your preferred load and accurately range the target. Ultimately, there's no substitute knowing your DOPEs and being able to apply them. And then it frankly doesn't matter whether your elevation turret is set to align the crosshairs at 100, 200, or whatever. You'll know your craft and be able to make it work regardless.

The Zero doesn't really matter, but should match the most likely Shot potential. Probably most influenced by the shooter ability. Also depends on your cartridge and bullet. No matter where I sight my gun in, I always make an elevation chart, showing what the zero is out to what I am comfortable shooting at (in ideal conditions). Also as you pointed out...practice is key in hunting situations. A tip a will share, is to get a bore sight. Check your scope with it once you have it dialed in, and take it with you on your hunts. If you drop your gun or even if it may have had a rough trip, you can take out your bore scope and see if it isn't right where it should be. Sometimes there isn't time to check your rifle on a range the night before you hunt. This has served me well for many decades of hunting all over the world, and most of it with a long range pistol. ;-)

Great video, as always! I like a 100 yard zero and the Leupold CDS system w/zero lock.

Great show and thanks again for the info 👍👍👍👍 your the best 👍👍👍👍

I'm just really impressed with how well that Sig cross did grouping at 200 yards. Impressive, indeed

Capped turrets 200-250 yard zero. If you dial then 100. 100 is just so easy to check in camp compared to 200. Great info in this vid. We see eye to eye alot. I also am a huge fan of the backcountry hunting podcast and gunwerks podcast. Great info and keep up the good work!!

Your reviews are always spot on! Great job and keep the content coming. Thx

Depends on how good the range you have to work with is. I am fortunate to have level protected range out to 300 meters near by and can shoot west to east and south to north. Always note elevation, temp, humidity, pressure.

I always use 300 yards as my long range zero. Here's the difference though, once you've worked up a load, go to JBM Ballistics or something similar and run your load in their trajectory calculator. I do this and then print out that card it gives as my 0-1500 yard adjustments on my 7mm Mag. For other shorter range calibers I use 1000 or 500 or 200, like for my hornet. The point is, once you have that, you know how high your bullet should be striking at 100 yards to judge this. So if I zero at 100 yards and my card says it should be 4" high at 100 yards for example, then you have your "true windless" 300 yard zero. Just a thought. ;) I have a range with 300 yards and good berms, so it's not too hard to find a calm day to test also. *** could be your powder temperature sensitivity also***

Since 1992 I have been shooting 7mm Mag here in Australia, I zero at 200 metres and never shot anything beyond 300 metres, so I for my hunting it works just fine and never used a rangefinder either. Cheers from down under.

Super excellent review! Great job!

Very informative video. Thanks. I sight in for 100 yards. I created a dope card using my ballistics app to calculate MPBR for 2", 3", 6", 10" 18", 24" target size. This is rifle specific, load specific, environment specific. Example, for my 300 Win Mag with 180gr Berger I sight in at 100 yards, My MPBR for a 10" target size (deer) tells me to adjust turret elevation 3.73" (or hold over) for 316 yard far zero with MPBR of 373 yards. Most of the time I don't even need to mess with the turret because if I know my target size beforehand I set the scope prior to going into the field.

The end of the video is some really good advice especially for new hunters like myself. Best way to simulate what it takes out in the field to hit vitals on the first shot. Thank you for recommending that with milk jugs. I have not had my first hunt yet and will definitely be trying this out to truly ensure I have what it takes to harvest an animal respectfully on first shot.

Ty! Im always learning something for every video you man. I couldn’t be happier with this channel. Ty again.

I've done both. Taken deer with both. If you work at it you can get good at either. I think it is personal preference. I now have a CDS VX5HD on my rem mag and it is definitely more precise especially past 300 and far more confidence inspiring.

Nice concepts, thank you so much for the fantastic content, best regards from Brazil 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

The MPBR DEPENDS on the CALIBER YOU are SHOOTING, they are ALL DIFFERENT.

Hay man appreciate the video really good job I live in Utah to and am elk hunting this year so great tips 😊

I never thought about wind drift on a long zero, but I live in an area where most deer are taken within 50 yards. I would never shoot a bullet that I didn't know the trajectory of though. I like math and precision, so I disagree that it's poor form to zero high at 100 yards to get a 200 yard zero. The math should be backed up with real world testing after the zero though. You can zero high at 100 and shoot to 200 and see if the elevation is right, and the windage seem correct for the given wind direction. I do love these geeky videos though!

I am no expert but in the 30 years i have been shooting and hunting. I have always used 100 yard zero.

Good info in the video. I zero everything for 100 yrd only because it's simple and easy to do. I use my sub tensions for everything out to 300 and dial for any other distance past that. As for your wandering zero put a level on your scope. A level chamber, level scope and a level shooter will produce accurate groups at any distance.

I was looking at the vx3 for my latest rifle and read of several people having issues with them holding zero. Check out the scope evaluations in the long range hunting part of the rokslide forum. I usually zero at 100 but make it x.x inches high where it lines up to be zeroed at 200. Then I check several ranges out to distance and adjust bc, velocity, or zero offset to make strelok or a drop chart line up with what I was actually getting for drop.

Always sighted in at 100 yards, about 3" above bullseye. Had a 30-06, 30-30, and 35 Remington. Last two drop about 6-7" at 200 yds, and 30-06 drops that much at 300. Longest shot I ever took on a buck has been 70-80 yards. I have passed on bucks at 400-500 yards because it was too far. I passed on bucks at about 60 yards because that's too far for me with my bow. Get closer. Edit: if you can't accurately measure 100 yards on a slight slope, use a rangefinder with an angle compensator. It will let you know when you are 100 horizontal yards away.

Hey Jim, please give your thoughts on the following hybrid method as I can understand your negative points regarding accuracy of truly zeroing at 200 yards... This method assumes you have a chronograph & good ballistic data. You start with chrono data & get your avg FPS, afterward note your height over bore and run the numbers through 4DOF or another calculator with a stated 200 yard zero. You view the tables to see what your elevation is in inches at 100 yards with the stated 200 yard zero in the calculator. Do your zeroing shooting at 100 yards and shooting high to whatever your ballistic calculator states based on your ballistics. Set that as your zero and then confirm with a couple 200 yard shots. Thoughts? I just did this for my 22" 7mm Rem Mag shooting Hornady Outfitter ammo with the new CX bullet and came out with 1.59" high at 100 yards.

Awesome video I run 4 different calibers of rifles depending on how I feel in what season. I love hunting deer and elk and bear I Sign in all of my rifles at a 100 yd but I run is a second 0 device Depending on what type of prism you buy you can flip down what looks like A-scope cover but it's a glass prism and you can aim flat when you flip down this prism at 300 to 500 to 800 yd depending on which prism you get And what caliber your rifle is there only about 50 to $60 And out of my knowledge there is 3 different world militaries that use them for their snipers And they work, it's a great device you're hold over you really don't have it unless you're shooting past the prism and then you know sky's the limit at that point.

Excellent analogy

I always enjoy your videos; you made some excellent points in this video. I think that one can do an excellent job of zeroing their rifle, whether it is at 100, or 200. But no matter which way you do it, you have to know what you are doing. And, have a verified ballistic chart.

Hi Jim, nice vid, I zeroed my 308W at 100m, I have my scope completely setup with all the clicks at different ranges upon 450m. In theory this is the way the to go. BUT found out in hunting situations, you do not always have the time to measure and dial in the scopes. Especially on smaller game like fox. I used to have a 243W which was zeroed at 200m with hot loads, back then I knew that everything which was within 200m was a clean kill, also the smaller critters. Due to laws in my country 243W is not allowed on game bigger then Roebuck. Therefor I’m now leaning a new rifle in 6.5 Creedmore, just a bit flatter shooting than 308W so I can zero at 200m and still be sure to make all shots to even the smallest ones, without having to make any adjustments or subtentions. For longer distances I would adjust with clicks. Basically I want to use a pipe of 2” vitals instead of the 6” you use in you vid.

I have brought up on 4- 5 other channels that Elmer Keith recommended sighting in 1/4 inch left at 100 yards to allow for bullet yaw in a right hand twist barrel. There has never been a comment, rebuttal or retort. That advice has served me well. I'm 62. It makes a difference. I understand you had a left to right wind. JMHO. Thanks.

I used to always do 100 and now I do 200 and for me I like it but you discussed the draw backs, very well. I also do the exact same thing with water jugs. It's also great for new hunters or someone that doesn't shoot away from the bench very much. Great video.

It's really about where you hunt. Low country and back east and it's probably 100 yards. Out here in Montana at elevation and that's plinking range

If you're going for max point blank range, your zero will be a function of your ballistics.

When I set up my scope (s), I have always sight-in to hit 2.5” high at 100 yards. Field shooting is never like shooting from a bench or the ground (normal like your demonstration). So many things change. The furtherness game that I have taken, was a little over 200 yards; mule deer buck Montana 11 pointer. A great hunt.

Good video. Well done. Thank you.

Zero at 100. If you want a 200 yard “zero” and you have a reliable scope with a good turret dial up to 200 when you leave the truck then you have the best of both worlds. Also it’s most likely not your rings but your leupold scope. A couple google searches will reveal that a wandering zero is very common on vx3 and vx5 scopes. Get a nightforce, trijicon, swfa, or a bushnell elite series.

25 yard zero works too. Removes all wind issues, and you can get your zero absolutely dead center. You will need to test your particular load at various ranges, but the .243, 6.5, and .270 can be aimed center mass on a coyote out to 300 yards or so. I’m too cheap for range finders and adjustable turrets, so this works for me

I like what you touched on at the end. I have a membership to a decent club with known distances to 400 yards. Most of my hunting rifles are shot at 200 yd. When friends want to "sight in" before season I encourage them to "practice" instead. Muscle memory is an amazing thing, practice will build confidence and reinforce the basics so you can focus on the variables. I do like your milk jug idea too. I have started shooting off sticks at the range before season because most of the time that's how I shoot in the field.

With flatter shooting magnums or say a 22-250, I sighted in 1.5 inches high at a 100 yds. I also always used a fixed power 6x Leopold scope on all my rifles. Not enough magnification for prairie dogs at four hundred yds and too much for an elk at 15 yds, but it is how you can get off a shot fast. The trajectory/rangefinder is automatically, instantly computed from the brain. (with of course, lots of shooting and hunting experience).

To me it depends on the distance you normally hunt.. I hunt close range ..usually 150 yards or under because of the dense wooded area is my most common range..

I always zero at 547 yards, I’ve done this my entire life. It’s by far the best way to zero in a rifle.

Very very outstanding video young man. Great work. Keep up the good work. Thanks a lot friend. SC Navy vet.

I am constantly shooting my hunting rifle throughout the year but normally before big game season will take a bunch of clay pigeons, and said the various yardages and test my real limits it’s pretty much the same thing you explained just with a smaller target

Well, I'm an old time farmer from MT, but if you are a shooter, hunter, or both, it seems almost impossible that you don't know the trajectory of your rifle with a particular bullet. If your trajectory is such that your bullet will strike 1.5 inches high at a 100 yards and then zero at 200 yards, then it's pretty dang easy to check your rifle at hunting camp with just a 100 yard range. With all of the ballistic charts, bullet information, chronograph equipment, etc. etc, any hunter that goes afield is at the least lazy, and at most, grossly negligent to not know your bullet trajectory. My gosh, most ballistic charts list all of that info, SD, BC, velocity, drop, drift, and probably who shot the bullet. MPBR is mandatory to know if you are presented with any "normal" range that is practical for your rifle, and your own personal ability. Unless you are shooting an ultra flat caliber, you're going to be guessing at that 340 yard shot. Much easier to know your MPBR, and quickly calculate how many more yards you have to allow for. Just me maybe, but it's worked personally for more than 6o years. I suppose if someone has more guns than will fit in the back of a pickup, and is used to having a computer in their back pocket, then do whatever floats your boat. I'm pretty used to my 300 h&h, haven't had a hungry winter yet.

I'm with you on the windage, though I think one could easilly alleviate the problem by dialing in windage at 100, and then dialing in the vertical axis at 200 without touching windage, then confirm windage at 100 again. In fact, I'd argue that if one is using a 200 yard zero, this is the "correct" way to do it. As a precision guy, I prefer to just do 100 yards and I agree completely with everything that you said here.

Thank you for the wonderful videos! When I sight my rifles in I start with Chuck Hawks' MPBR chart. I find the 3" high and 3" low then use the Hornady Ballistic Calculator and see where I should be at 100 yards to stay within that range. Typically, depending on caliber I am sighting in 2-3" high at 100 yards. Then I print the Hornady Chart and check the MOA's from the chart to actual shooting. Not sure that I wrote this well enough to make sense. Thanks again!

The milk jugs is how my dad would get me ready for deer season growing up. That’s awesome you said that! Great videos brother! I bought a Sig Cross 6.5CM for deer season this year and I’m excited! God bless!

Depends on how you use the rifle. Hunting, PRS, and ELR will have their own preferred zero distance.

If you are using mpbr instead of just using 200, check a ballistic calculator for the actual near and far distances. Near zero is usually in the 25-30 yard range. No need to worry about the wind. Zero at near and verify the far.

Great video!! Very interesting and informative 👍

Great info!

The "randomness" of zeroing high at 100 yards is the same as that which is introduced by dialing your scope to compensate for distance. Either your calculations for bullet drop are correct, and then both work or your calculations are incorrect and then both share the same errors. If you are sloppy and arbitrarily pick 1.5'' to zero high, then you are introducing error, but otherwise this is fundamentally the same procedure as calculating the compensation for a ranged shot.

I chose 100 yard zero, but only because I have no other option. No range in my area goes past 100 yards 😮‍💨

second time watching your channel and I really like the content first one was on the 7mm PRC and then this one love it

If you have a range finder with Horizontal distance correction, you do not need a perfectly flat distance to shoot 200yds. It will account for the angle of the shot and give you the location where you experience 200yds worth of drop on the bullet.

For hunting, I typically zero at 300 yards so I can milk every inch out of my MPBR. I hone my windage on calm weather range sessions, and then leave it alone. A longer zero gives me the confidence that I can take shorter shots without needless ranging and adjustment.

With respect to wandering zero: try moving the bipod from the end of the hand guard tube to as close to the receiver as it will allow. The reasoning is that the gun is acting as a long beam from your shoulder to the bipod, with the mass of the gun acting at the beam center. Your body weight and weight of your left hand is also probably adding some extra bending. If you put the bipod at the middle of the gun, then there will be less span for bending and the bulk of the mass will be just above the bipod.

I do what the GREATEST gun scribe of all time taught me. Most rifles are 2 to 3 in. high at 100. PBR 's are usually between 275 to 300. No thinking involved. High shoulder hold at 350 and backing at 400. Works for me.

So, I set my zero to 200 because the majority of the opportunities I get in the field are around 200 yards. I like knowing I’m only about 2” off from zero to 250 yards. I sight in 1.4” high at 100 yards (which takes the windage worry off the table). Then I verify my elevation at 200 (because as you said, every round is different and I like to know how much drop I’m really getting). Ultimately it comes down to preference. Anything over 250 yards I usually have time to dial in to make the shot. Anything under that I wanted the maximum accuracy with the least input because time is of the essence at that range. (And, my preference)

I can get low winds in summer - but that introduces the problem of hunting 40 degrees cooler than when I zeroed the rifle... I check zero pretty often - changes in elevations etc etc.

Could the surprise differences in your zero be due to temperature and altitude differences?

First. Boom. Always MPBR.

I keep it simple. load development at 100 yards. (by the way it is an old 6mm model 788 in lefty bolt with a 4 power scope). once the load is verified, and i have a .3 moa at 100! I zero at 250. this puts me 3 inches high at 100. the reason for this is I live in Saskatchewan, And group hunters drive deer. I set up on a area where the deer escape too and the average shot is between 200 and 300. this is a lower elevation "bowl" surrounded by bush near a creek. they clear the bush and stop, giving a nice shot from the bipod....works every year!

Totally agree, shot placement above all else.

Unsubbed because Kamikoto. They are a complete and utter rip made of the same J420 as a walmart special.

I use a .243...I always sight it in 1 in high at 100 yards... and it's on at 200 yards... I do the same thing with my 22‐250....works GREAT.! And I always use the same ammo.

My vortex diamondback tactical 4-16 stays zeroed from hot to cold (not extreme change) no drift on the scope at 100. Vortex rings too. But all my other scopes will drift. That rifle is in the truck year round in a soft case that folds out into a mat. Now my old redfield from the 80s on my 80s weatherby stays in the safe or goes in a hard case. Every year it’s a half inch left and half inch high every single year when sighted in for deer season. So every scope will be different, even two nightforce one after the next off the line can have a different direction of drift, or one won’t really have hardly any, the other may drift a lot. Great video a lot of good info.

Great video!

My hunting zero has always been about 2" high at roughly 100 yards. That puts my 7mm-08 on a paper plate out to about 350 yards. Our combat zero in the military was a 37 yard zero, usually due to the lack of a longer range to zero on. That gave roughly the same performance as the hunting zero. Pretty much point of aim out to just over 300 yards. The best shot I've taken was my Remington Sendero in 7mm-08 free standing in a snowstorm shooting uphill. Dropped an elk with one shot. Ranged it the next year and it was 460 yards. I'm in Utah where we rarely get a shot under 200 yards.. 300+ is pretty common.

Good video. Your explanation of MPBR using a pipe is a good way to visualize it. At 1:20, I would only clarify that you put "my scope exactly in the middle there" versus "my gun exactly in the middle there".

I really enjoy watching your videos because they offer sound & unbiased pros/cons of whatever subject your video is about. I am not a long range tack driver, but after some bad shots on a whitetail several years ago I became somewhat obsessed with accuracy. I'm one of the ones that utilizes a ~200 yard zero. Actually the long range zero depends on the caliber (200 yards for .270 or 300 yards for 7mm Weatherby). However I don't shoot high and just call it good. I look at the ballistics of my chosen round (I'm very picky about ammo I shoot. Unless I can't find to purchase, I shoot exclusively Nosler Partitions). I look at the long range ballistics of whatever cartridge I'm shooting and use the point of impact at 100 yards (whether 1.4" for .270 or 3.1" for 7mm Weatherby) as my benchmark. The reason I do this is because for either cartridge I have the same point of aim out to 250 yards for the .270 and 350 for the 7mm Weatherby. What are your thoughts on this?? And what about that wandering zero? How can that be mitigated? It's a confidence killer!

Have you ever considered POA change is lighting. I experienced this several times at our local range in Cheyenne for the first time and and discussed it with all my friends that I shoot matches with. We have away noticed a POA change. From early morning to afternoon to evening light shooting. It has been more noticeable shooting at 100yards this is Wy I always put a peace of steel at 300yards with a water mark on it and make sure I’m staking on the water mark then dial my dope out. Usually about 8/10th then when I have my dope dialed out I’ll check my windage at a 100 or 50 depending on the day and how windy it is. 👍🏻

Great stuff! 👍

Definitely keep us updated on the scope issues!

You were talking about the wandering zero. I don’t know what the temps were when you last shot but you will notice your zero will change with hotter or colder temps.

I do not have any rhyme or reason to it, but every deer rifle ive/have, ive always dialed them in one inch high at 100yards. Then I get familiar with how each gun shoots at longer shots ( different calibers) and shoot them accordingly. Having a rangefinder and BDC knob on a scope helps. No guessing, I use the same ammo and have been known to carry and tape my dope sheet to my stock.

Depending on caliber and velocity I sight in at a close range. For instance a .223 55 grain bullet at 3200 fps is sighted in dead on at 30 yards puts zero at 180 yards. 50 yards is +.75 , 100 yards is +1.75 , 150 yards is+1, 200 yards is -1, 250 yards is -4.5. This has worked for me for years without fail. Actually I use a Marlin sight in guide I acquired years ago. It's like a slide rule with many different calibers velocities and bullet weights.

At the land I hunt on we also have steel targets at 100 yard intervals out to 1160 yards. 160 yards from 1000 to 1160 because of the lay of the land. 100 yard zero is what we use. We all shoot with target style scopes and can easily make elevation adjustments. We get an idea of bullet drop with a ballistics calculator then fine tune it with actual shooting. Make yourself a D.O.P.E. sheet and then mostly worry about the wind at longer ranges.

Camping in August. Absolute mad man hahaha. Hope you had a wonderful trip, enjoyed the video.

"I kNow YoU'Re GoNNa TrY".......... True. Absolutely true. There are already too many variables in play to NOT be precise. Wind, elevation up or down, sun or rain, brush or grass in the way, animal moving after the shot, etc. Great video and great advice!

The soda can bit was hilarious! Love the ads that are at least entertaining lol.

I have a 50 yard range at home and I have learned that most common none magnum center fire rifles with a dead on 50 yard zero are either dead on or very very close at 200 yards. And I verify this by shooting at our local range so I'm not just guessing.

I shot two groups, one at 100, one at 200 with my stock 300RUM, all bullets touching, factory ammo… while shooting, I was rudely awakened, and realized it was a dream, and my gun shoots 2-3” at 100 yards…

Double check that the rail is torqued down properly and loctited. I had the same wandering zero problem with 1 of mine and 1 screw was loose on the back of the rail.

Again what a good video brother,I use SST 150 grain in 308,on dear and boy howdy it does a wonderful job, it's the best projectile for me to use on deer or hogs ,so accurate and hits like a freight train.

I have hunted with .30-06 since I was a kid. My family has been hunting with .30-06 sine ww2. We usually stick to 180 or 168 grain rounds. We zero at 100yds because we hunt in the mountains and canyons of central idaho. We very rarely shoot out to 400 and the majority of the time our shots are less than 200.

On hunting rifles, i choose my desired zero distance and then zero however much high at 100 that equals it. Usually between 1 and 2 inches. Then I add that zero height offset in my ballistic calculator so that if I do want to dial for longer range, I don't need to think about any extra steps. With a target rifles I zero at 100 and dial everything.

I’ve got both setups, my .270 is a general purpose hunting rifle and is a bit high at 100 for a healthy point blank range. hunt in the MN north woods so that monster buck at 400 yards is being hidden by a thousand or so trees. My 7mm rem mag is setup for long range hunting out west and dialing in range.