What distance do you zero

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Peytoncreekhunter

Well-Known Member
*
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
50
Reaction score
153
Curious as to the distance most people zero their mz's. I'm using 100 gr by volume pyrodex with a 300 gr 44 cal Hornady xtp bullet. Max distance where I hunt is probably 75 yards or so and I zero at 50 yrds.
How about everyone else.
 
I generally sight in at 75 yards as generally that’s a long shot where I hunt. But I then shoot at 50 and 100 yds to see how high or low where they hit . This way I know what to expect.
 
Last edited:
All my stuff is 0 at 50 for cqb uh I mean hunting lol. Then doped to 100 with poi shift notes depending on ammo an caliber.

I shoot bp, air rifles, and modern smokeless cartridges. All 0 at 50.
 
With a new gun or change in set-up, I start at 25 yards using a Lead Sled and 3-shot groups. Once a group is established, I adjust sights/scope to x-ring. From there, out to 50 then 75 or 100 yards for rifle, 50 yards for handgun. Always sight in at bench.

Midrange trajectory is important to me. Flat-shooting guns won't make that much difference but , for example, my trapdoor 45/70 has an 11-inch midrange trajectory which is a problem as distance is increased.

My Bushnell range finder readings from each tree stand prior to opening day and a little notebook denoting ranges from each stand to landmarks takes some of the guesswork out of range estimation. Oddly enough, "300 yard shots" claimed shrink when checked with the Bushnell rangefinder.
 
Conventional muzzleloaders are sighted in at 50 yards. Shots with iron sights are limited to about 60 yards. If the animal is more distant i will attempt a sneak attack.

My range lacks a 100 yard target butt because it's sometimes flooded. Scoped inline guns are sighted in at 125 yards.

.50, .54 and .58 conventional muzzleloaders are loaded with patched round ball and 80-90 grains of Black MZ powder. Inline guns are loaded with the 200 grain .40 or 250 grain .452 SST bullets and 100 or120 grains of Black MZ.
 
I have a 100 and 150 yard range at our farm but I just use the 100. Most shots are between 50 and 150 yards at deer.
 
100 yards even though my longest deer kill was right at 85 yards. Our hunt club includes a pipeline so longer shots are definitely a possibility.
 
I sight all rifles at 100 yds except when changing scopes or a new rifle I'll start at 25. Most of my muzzie shots have been under 100 but I did have a couple over that.
 
I zeroed all three of my flintlock longrifles at 100 yards from the bench. All three had a 1:48" rate of twist in barrels measuring from 40" long to 42" long. If I recall my ballistics correctly, a 100 yard zero with a patched ball muzzleloading rifle shooting 70-75 grains of fffg Goex black powder, should give an impact point about 1.5" high at 50 yards, and approximately 2"-3" low at 125 yards.

Like I have mentioned in some of my other posts, my eyesight has always been the determining factor in hunting. 50-60 yards was my maximum distance when I was younger, and unless laser eye surgery, or lens replacement due to cataracts becomes a reality, then that will continue to be my maximum range for hunting.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My scoped inline is zeroed for 125 yards. That makes it 1 3/4" high at 50 yds and 1 1/4" low at 150. Where I hunt it rare to have a shot over 100 or so but it does happen.
 
I have included two old posts - maybe between the two of them they will make some sense. also keep in mind my max range while hunting with an ordinary muzzleloader is 200 yards - give or take a bit. Also keep this in mind - this for hunting not for shooting targets the most accurate way!

I use a PBR sight in process (Point Blank Range) to sight a rifle in. I set the PBR range to 6" meaning I will never be higher or lower than 3" through a given range. The problem is you really need to know the velocity of the round you are shooting and the BC of the bullet at your altitude.

He is an example Ballistic Sheet.

Lehigh-452-265-CF-HP.jpg


The chart shows you with the EXPECTED impact point point a various ranges. You can see the bullet is up approximately 3" at 100 and down 3" at someplace beyond 185 yards. From that point I do the shooting at the appropriate ranges to verify what the chart is indicating.

Works really well for me and hunting deer and elk. Not so good making money shooting targets.

Last edited: Dec 19, 2020
Keep Shooting Muzzleloaders - They are a Blast


Feb 28, 2015

I have for years now especially with a ML used a system called Point Blank Range (PBR). For a muzzleloader I use a 6" PBR, meaning through a given range the bullet will never be more than 3" high or 3" low while sighting dead on or Point of Aim (POA).

Point-blank range is the distance between a weapon and a target of a given size its projectile is expected to strike without adjusting the weapon's elevation. Point-blank range will vary by a weapon's external ballistics characteristics and target chosen. A weapon with a flatter trajectory will permit a longer maximum point-blank range for a given target size, while a larger target will allow a longer point-blank range for a given weapon.

Here is a calculator I just found on the net.. and I am sure there are others

ShootersCalculator.com | Point Blank Range Calculator

In my case that means most of rifle will be about 3" high @ 100 and 3" low @ 175 to 90 depending on weight of bullet and powder charge or velocity. This little thing allows me to shoot 0 to 200 without much thought or scope adjusting.

This is a typical ballistic sheet on one of my loads with the PBR built in..

Lehigh-452-265-CF-HP.jpg

The chart shows my actual zero range is 160 yards and I can shoot to 196 yards and be 3" LOW. You can also the expected Point of Impact -POI at other ranges on the sheet

Hope this makes some sense...
 
Zero all of my muzzleloader‘s at 200 yards. I may take a shot out to 300 yards if everything is perfect which it really is. Practicing at this range just makes you a better shot at shorter distances. After I zero then I shoot my rifle at 25, 50, & 100 yards to verify POI at each because I may shoot a deer at any of those distances. Last year I killed my biggest to date, a 14 point at 20 yards and I had to wait for him to get out that far, but I knew exactly where my bullet would impact.

Greg
 
I zero all my rifles for 100 yards, in my muzzleloaders I'm using 240 gr 44mag XTPs and Harvester Green sabot with 80grs of 777/ff. Most of my shots hunting are in the 50 to 75 yards range.
 
My personal limit on shots is the distance that requires an off body hold. My rifles, excepting my flintlock long rifle, all have aperture sights.
With my preferred load, a 250 grain Hornady XTP @ 1575 fps,150 yards is the limit.
Zeroed at 100, it drops 8 inches at 150 and 24 at 200. This is range confirmed.
So, my inlines and my TC Hawken, are zeroed at 100. My flintlock .50 long rifle and .54 ( Renegade) are zeroed at 75 as they're ball guns. Might see how the .54 does at 100 though. It has the power...
 
The limiting factor with patched ball rifles is usually the traditional type front & rear sights installed on flintlock & percussion longrifles.

Most any caliber over a .45 caliber, coupled with 70 plus grains of black powder as a charge, is going to have plenty of power at 100 yards for whitetail deer. The limiting factor is always going to be shot placement. Through the shoulder blade quartering shots will require a .54 caliber ball, or larger, in order to have the ball mass to penetrate big bones.

Back when I was shooting flintlocks, I needed a 6 O'clock hold on a target when shooting off the bench at 100 yards. Otherwise, that blade front sight would have completely obscured the target.

Since I had a self-imposed limit for hunting of 60 yards, with 50 yards really the maximum distance I felt comfortable shooting at, due to my eyesight, those traditional sights were ok for those distances.

Had I been capable of seeing clearly out to 100-125 yards, then I think I would have started searching for alternatives to the traditional muzzleloading sights that are still to this day considered the only type of sight that a custom builder will install on a longrifle.

However, if you look at the sights on the surviving longrifles from the 18th & 19th Centuries, you will find that the vast majority of them had front sights that were much narrower than those being installed on today's rifles, but additionally the height of those narrow sights rarely exceeded 1/16".

Which indicates to me that most of the owners of those long ago rifles had exceptionally good eyesight.
 
Back
Top