Zeroed at 50 yards POA at 100 yard

[Half-Cocked]

With the help of the range officer I was able to zero my rifle at 50 yards. However, when I moved to 100 yards I was not able to hit paper.

I thought due to bullet drop I should aim high. I was only able to get off 2 shots before the range closed.

After reading some perhaps I
should have aimed high. Any suggestions?

 

[edmehlig]

Generally, if I have my ML sighted in at 75 yds, I may be about 1.5 -2" High at 50 yd and 1.5-2" low at 100 yds. So yes you will have to aim higher but not what you are experiencing. I would put up a wide and High piece of paper to see where your bullets are hitting. It would probably help if you told us what powder/charge, bullet etc you are shooting to offer better advice.

 

[ENCORE50A]

I have no clue how others do it, but once zeroed at 100yds you shouldn't be much over .5/.75" high at 50yds. There's just not that much drop with the most common hunting charges.
Without question, you need to finish zeroing your rifle.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I've had that happen. You probably shot high. Zero for 100yds and you should be good. When you zero'd for 50yds, there is another zero point further out. At 100yds, your bullet trajectory was at or close to it's highest point thus you missed your target.

Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it

 

[Half-Cocked]

I've had that happen. You probably shot high. Zero for 100yds and you should be good. When you zero'd for 50yds, there is another zero point further out. At 100yds, your bullet trajectory was at or close to it's highest point thus you missed your target.

Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it

Yes this. Lol.

I had a feeling this what is happening. I thought about bullet drop when it has not even arced all the way. Causing me to shoot over the target. At 50 it's a champ and grouping well.

 

[Half-Cocked]

I am using a 245 grain saboted hollow point. No jacket on that .45 HP.

I vary between 50 to 60 grains of triple 7.

Target is an odd size 7 in bull. At 50 yards I micro adjusted so I now group bullseye or 9 ring.

 

[GM54-120]

I vary between 50 to 60 grains of triple 7

What?

By volume or weight?.....That is a very low power load if by volume

 

[Half-Cocked]

What?

By volume or weight?.....That is a very low power load if by volume

Volume of course. It's light but kills paper fine.

I noticed that the lighter the charge the more accurate I am. Probably has to do with recoil. I heard others state as well that many times the most accurate shot is made with a minimum charge.

My rifles manual says between 50 to 150 grains by volume of black powder.

 

[HC]

Recoil is part of the fun. I’m 74 yrs old and I very seldom shoot less than 100 volume with a 300 gr bullet.

 

[jlynch75]

I'm 77 and recoil doesn't bother me at all. I really like shooting my buddies 300Win Mag. However, my top load for my muzzleloaders is 80 grs(vol) T7/fff with a 464gr pure lead bullet. I zero it about 1/2" low at 25 yards and it's right on at 100 yards. Have fun and keep shooting.

 

[edmehlig]

80 grains of Swiss 2F and my 390gr conicals wearing only a T-Shirt is the MAX for me. I know I’m a WUS! Grin

 

[sdporter]

I shot 5 guns over the weekend for some final dialing in before opening morning (this morning). Three using 90gnsV BH209 and 250 grain bullets, one using 80 Swiss and a 498 grain bullet, one using 80 Swiss and a 515 grain bullet 4-5 shots out of each. The recoil doesn’t bother me much, but, the big purple spot on my shoulder seems to.

 

[edmehlig]

Stacy I know what you mean. That purple spot appeared on my shoulder as well after firing about a dozen or shots of Swiss 2F and my 390gr conicals . I just ordered a slip fit recoil pad for my Renegade. Hopefully that will help??

 

[Half-Cocked]

Anyway getting back on topic it will be a while before I am to go back to the range.

Bottom line is I am aiming too high or too low. I'll figure it out. Tough to see where my shots are going when I am the shooter.

I also need some more bullets and sabots. Will wait until the ammo crisis is better. I have about 10 bullets and sabots left so if I take anything it will be at 50 yards for now.

I want to stay zeroed at 50 and figure out what the holdover is for a hundred. Or maybe the other way around I haven't decided.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

With that load I would be willing to bet that you are aiming too low.

 

[edmehlig]

One way to tell for sure is shoot at a large piece of paper. Even wrapping paper that you use for gifts. Put a target in the middle and shoot. You’ll only need one shot to find out.

 

[ported45]

Depends on rifle and load. I used to use 90 FFg Goex and a 300 XTP in sabot. That load would be dead on the crosshairs at 25 yards, 2" high at 50, and then back to zero at 100 yards.

If you are only using 50-60 grains of 777, then you are probably off the paper low at 100 with a 50 yard zero.

 

[MrTom]

I sight my .50 and .45 cal rifles at 50 yards just because where I hunt I seldom need a shot at over fifty and more likely well under 50. At 100 I am about 3" high using a 250 grain bullet in one of the .50's and just about 4" higher at 50 with the other, both guns shooting identical loads/sabots/bullets. That .45 is even higher with a .195 grain bullet. My guess is that you're shooting much higher than you think and if you are subconsciously thinking you need to elevate at 100 yards to accommodate drop you're way over your intended point of impact.

I got my hands on several hundred regulation 25 yard timed pistol targets that measure 24" by 20" for a song a few years back. I stick on a 1" orange target dot in the middle of the bullseye for vision purposes. The size of these targets is great for finding out just where the bullets are printing at 100, 150, and even 200 yards with my guns sighted at 50 simply due to the overall target size. They're the standard buff colored paper so a small piece of masking tape can cover holes without being terribly distracting. While I have quite a few of the lined and measured sight-in targets too I only use one of those if I happen to have the scopes off any of the guns and want to re-sight but honestly I hate all the lines and squares.

 

[Half-Cocked]

One way to tell for sure is shoot at a large piece of paper. Even wrapping paper that you use for gifts. Put a target in the middle and shoot. You’ll only need one shot to find out.

Yes I saw this done recently. Guy used what looked like butcher paper and covered the entire target posts and all the way down. What I could not understand is why HE was doing that at the 10yard range. Stevie wonder shooting?!

I may go this route. The foam backer behind the target is pretty beat up so if you don't hit paper it's tough to tell which hole is yours.

 

[Okie Hog]

When sighting in or checking the zero of a rifle i use a large piece of cardboard as a backer with a 2" black bullseye stuck on.

My range has a target stand at 78 yards. Inline muzzleloaders are sighted 1.5 inches high at that distance. Bullets impact about 1 inch low at 125 yards.

My inline hunting rifles use 120-150 measured grains of powder.