i am confused can someone help?????

[PAhoghunter]

OK, here's the deal, I have a Howa M-1500 varminter supreme chambered in .223, heavy target bbl,with a 10-40x50 varmint scope that's my set-up.I am shooting Winchester ballistic silver tip factory loaded 55gr ammo(because I am not confident enough to load my own yet). With that being said here is the question I want to sight in at 200 yds I ran the numbers from the USMC marksman literature if I sight in at 36 yds and hit the bull and group nice and tight the cross hair should be dead on the bull at 300 yds also with no elevation adjustment, So... that means that i should be about 3-3 1/2 inches high at 200yds.....Am i understanding this correctly?

[ReconLdr]

This will depend on your HOB. This is the distance from the centerline of your barrel to the centerline of your scope.

I am not familiar with the literature you referenced but it sounds like you are reading about zeroing an ACOG. You will have different results unless your HOB is the same.

[Tomcat088]

ReconLDR is correct, different heights of the sight from the centerline of the bore will have an effect on this zero. The literature that you are reading is also for a "gas gun" (M16, or M4), this will also effect things. In all likelihood, your barrel is longer than the firearm you are comparing it to, which means it will have a bit extra velocity. You are also comparing a bolt action rifle to a gas gun; a gas gun bleeds off some of the gases from the round and will use them to cycle the action, while the bolt action rifle will not. Although it doesn't seem like a lot, this does typically result in a difference in velocity if you're using the same ammunition. You also have to keep in mind that this information works for the load that they are shooting through their weapons, if the load that you're shooting has more or less velocity than theirs; you will still also see a difference in where the bullets hit. Because we're talking about short distances (relative), it wouldn't be a huge difference, but it would probably need some fine tweaking to get correct.

In zeroing your rifle, especially to hit smaller targets, you can't take shortcuts. I'm guessing that you would like to shoot groundhogs since you bought a varmint rifle and your handle is PAhoghunter, is that correct? If this is the case, you can't just kind of get close at 25 yards and hope to be making hits at 200 yards, you gotta know exactly what your bullet is doing if you want to make reliable hits. This means you may need to get a 25 yard zero that is a little high, then take the target out to 50 or 100 yards and get your baseline zero that is hitting "dead nuts on". You could then stretch it out to 200 yards and see how low you're hitting after shooting a group, and just dialing up, or you could just dial roughly 2" high at 100 yards and see where that puts you at 100 yards.

Keep in mind that when you're zeroing your rifle at distances other than 100 yards, your clicks will NOT be 1/4". The clicks are 1/4 or 1/8 MOA clicks, this means at 100 yards 1 click is roughly 1/4", but at 200 yards 1 click is 1/2", at 400 yards 1 click is roughly 4", etc. For shooting at small targets, you need to know exactly where your bullet will impact. After you get your TRUE 200 yard zero, you can shoot at 100 yards with that zero and see how high the bullet hits, then shoot at a 25 yard target with that zero and see how high it hits. THEN you will have a bit of a shortcut to get your rifle zeroed (at least on paper), with THAT particular load; if you change to a different brand of ammunition or bullet weight, it'll likely need some tweaking because of velocity differences. Probably not what you want to hear, but it's how it needs to be done, right.

[psion_008]

Originally Posted by PAhoghunter

OK, here's the deal, I have a Howa M-1500 varminter supreme chambered in .223, heavy target bbl,with a 10-40x50 varmint scope that's my set-up.

If your scope is not set up with quick adjust turrets you may have to just learn your hold-off's at various yardages. Hold-off shots are faster and just as easy if you practice. Each rifle will be unique so if you have access to a longer range shoot all your distances and write down your dope.
Practice n fundamentals puts rounds on target not fancy toys. shoot shoot and shoot some more.

Fancy toys are nice though!

[GRIZ]

http://www.ipgeneral.com/~renegade/rifle/rifle1.shtml

Use this website, plug in the numbers, and you'll see.