Sighting in?

[TxMulie10]

so this might be a stupid question but ive noticed that everybody always sights in a couple inches high at 100 yards, why is that? i have the new redfield reveng and it toldme to zero it in at 200yards so I could properly us the other holds out to 500 yards. That was besides the point,I just wana know why every one sights in high at 100 yards?

[tator]

Personally I don't do this- I sight in dead-on at 100yds. I think the reason they do this is that it's sort of better, I guess, to miss higher on a deer than lower plus it helps with distance. Obviously, thanks to gravity, our bullets would eventually fall to the ground if nothing stopped them (i.e. a tree, ground, animal, etc...) So the farther the shot, the more the bullet will drop thus creating the reason to zero in a little high of bullseye at the range.



anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong....

[BoneCollector]

It is done to minimize the amount of holdover which "may" be needed at longer ranges. My advice, really, is to do some reading about shooting, sighting in, etc.. Reading about Point Blank Range (PBR) and Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR) would be especially helpful.

[Scorpion8]

For most cartridges shooting at 2400-3000fps a zero of 2" high at 100 yards will give you a shot within the kill zone out to ~300yards, which is by rights farther than most of us ever shoot.

[Karl.Luhr]

The idea is that you have say a window of 6 inches for your ideal impact area on a Whitetail. If you follow the method of Point Blank Range (PBR) you adjust your scope so that with a hold at the center of the target you will not be higher than 3 inches or lower than 3 inches on the animal from the muzzle to say 275 yards (an example). Each loaded round has a different distance based on its velocity and ballistic coeffent (aero dynamic term for how streamlined it is for holding velocity). You can then check the ballistic tables and it will tell you that for your rifle, firing this bullet, this fast, you want a 100 yard zero of this. For most of us that hunt in timber where a 100 yard shot is long this is unnecessary. It also could cause a miss if you need to carefully place a bullet between branches at say 50 yards.

karl