25 yd sighting in?

B

beavdha

New member
I was wondering if you can effectively sight in a rifle at 25 yds and still be on out to 100 - 150 yds? With the weather turing nasty - I could take my rifle to an indoor range to sight in - but it is only 25 yds. Would it be worth the time to take it to the indoor range for sight in? Is 25 yds enough distance if I will be shooting at 100 - 150 yds? I want to sight in my new 221 fireball /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yes---If you can give your bullet weight and ballistic coefficient, actual velocity or really good estimate from your reloading book or from manufacturer data, the height of your scope above the bore.
 
Yes and no. I use the 25 yd. sight in when I install a scope or any time a rifle is really shooting off the 100 yd. target. It gets me on the paper and usually keeps me on the paper when I shoot at 100 yds. I would not be satisfied until I tweaked it at longer ranges.

My target frame is shot all to heck from friends shooting at 100 yds. with bore sighted or poorly sighted in at shorter ranges. Give these guys a refrigerator box and three boxes of shells and they might get sighted in before the days end.
 
Gee I never measured the scope height above the bore - but it is a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-10 X 40mm on top of the CZ 527 with CZ rings that came with the rifle. I just received my boxes of ammo from Cabela's the HSM 221 fireball in 42 grains and 52 grain dbl hollow point (calhoon bullets) Holding the cartridges side by side - the 42 grain bullets are longer and OAL is longer than the 52 grain bullets.
Does this information help? Do I need to measure the centerline of the scope and top of the barrel distance?
 
To get it on paper ..........yes. To use it shoot anything out past 100 yds. probably not.
Look at it this way...say your scope centerline is exactly 1.5" above bore centerline. If you sighted in to hit dead center at 25 yds. The bullet will have to travel upwards 1.5" (the true straight line is from your eye, thru the scope to the target) and following a parabolic curve (trajectory)back down exactly 1.5" to be centered at 100 yds. My luck does not allow for that...........
 
OK - so I can use it to get on paper at 25 - should be on paper at 100 - then I need to go to 100 yd and fine tune it.

Thanks!! I appreciate the information. Does bore sighting get you on paper at 100 yds? or will it get you on paper at 25 yds?
 
I agree with the others---it's not perfect but I think it can get you pretty close until you can test it out further. HOWEVER remember a 5 shot group at a close range needs to be REAL tight because when you move out to 100 or more, the inaccuracy of your gun and you will open that tight group significantly in most cases.

This is real rough because I' guessing as to some of the details (I'm not at home with a reloading book) but a rough example might be a 42gr slug at 2400fps with a BC of .360 and sighted in for 100 yrds, with the center of your scope 1.5" above the c/l of the bore----If you sight it in 1.5" below the line of sight at 25 yrds, it should be dead on at 45yds, .25" high at 78 yrd, and dead on at 100 yd and 1.5" low at 142yds.

Playing some more with the numbers, I'd sight in so that I would never more or less than 1.3" above or below the line of sight out to 174 yrds. So with a zero at 30 yrds (-.18"@25yrd), it should be 1.33 high at 92 yds, zero again at 150 and 1.33" low at 174---assuming the same wrong #s as above.
 
I have always sighted my guns in at 25yds. I recently went to the indoor range in OKC and they have a program that if you tell them what your bullet weight is, your caliber and at what yardage you want your zero at, they can tell you where to be at on the paper at 25yds. Mine, a 22-250 shooting 55gr Hornady bullets was going to be 1/2" low at 25yds to have a 250yard zero. A 200 yard zero was going to be dead on at 25yds. The actual yardage to the target inside the range was 30yds. So, for me, I sight in at 25yds, dead on for 200 or 1/2" low for a 250 zero. Then once I'm on at 25yds, I scoot back and shoot 100yds to see how high it is, usually at least 3 shots. At this point, I know that if the target is anywhere from 0 to 300yds away, it's toast. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Toast meaning I can put the scope right on the target and shoot without worrying about drop.
 
"Mine, a 22-250 shooting 55gr Hornady bullets was going to be 1/2" low at 25yds to have a 250yard zero. A 200 yard zero was going to be dead on at 25yds."
I think you should use one of the free online ballistics programs to plug the numbers in yourself. What they told you is impossible.

Jack
 
It's nice to shoot at 25 yds. if you have just mounted a scope and your trying to get it on paper at 100yds. But you should always shoot it at 100yds. for the final test, to make sure , I don't care what great programs these indoor ranges come up with ,(remember they have to make money to exist ) there is nothing better than being sure and You know that when you shoot your rifle at 100yds, it's on,and You don't have to wonder.
 
This is what I would suggest. When you get your rifle zeroed at 100 yds, set up target that is marked in 1/4" lines. Put a dot in the center and shoot this target at 25 yds. This will be your norm target that shows you a 25 yd zero for that load. From then on all you have to do is check 25 yd zero on another target and compare it with the norm. This can be done at longer ranges. Keep the norm targets in a note book for reference.
 
Your question: I was wondering if you can effectively sight in a rifle at 25 yds and still be on out to 100 - 150 yds?
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Yes you can and with out firing a shot.

If you bore sight at 25 yrds,then most rifles will shoot pretty damn good at 100 -150.
I have bore sighted many many rifes in the last several years and all at 30 yds, right from inside my house. It would be a rare except if I ever had to shoot over 3 shots to have it printing 1" high at 100. This is with the scope being 1 1/2" above the bore.

I throw up a target on the edge of my garage and with the rifle in a cradle I bore sight it from the kitchen table.

Now this of course won't work with a pump or auto, so then I would shoot the rifle to print dead center at 50yds.

This has been farily accurate for me for a long time, once you learn to bore sight your rifle the same way every time, then you be able to get your shots down to just 1 or 2 and be done with.
 
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I shot my 243Ackley at 25 and 50 yds before my last hunt just to see where the bullet would hit for those critters that came in close. With it dead on at 100 it hits 1/2" low at 50 and about 1" low at 25. At 200 it is 3/4" low. Thats on a 75gr vmax running 3750fps. Doug
 
That's a good shooter coyotesmoke. Better hang on to that one. That's what most of us are after in a varmint rifle. kyray
 
I used the Point Blank software for a theoretical load for my .308.
Barnes 130 gr. TSX, bc .374, 3000fps, scope height 1.50"
Results
25yrds -.08
100yrds + 2.64
250yrds 0.00 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I'd almost bet that if you sight it in 1" low at 25 yards it will be between 3/4"- 1 1/2" high at 100. Plenty good enough to hit a coyote out to 250. Lots of old school varmint hunters sighted their guns in at 25. You don't have to dope the wind.
 
If it is that difficult to find a place to sight in at 100 yds. odds are quite slim you will need to shoot much past that regardless.
 
Desert Sniper,
The figures you have are close and close is good in horseshoes. You must shoot the rifle at the intended distance to verify. If you change the Point Blank target distance to 100 yds. the numbers should be closer to what you expect. Make sure to input the correct scope height and altitude. Now you have the paper numbers convert them with bullet holes on the target for verification. Close won't kill a coyote, gopher, or other vermin.
 


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