Hunting & Fishing Best range to Zero a .308

[spartanhorkos]

Hey guys I'm a new shooter, got my long First rifle just the other day.

Remington 700 SPS varmint.

I had it bore zeroed and i currently am running a Bushnell LRS 5-15X40 scope.

The guys at the shop put a millet rail on it and a Leupold PRW high rings on it.

What I'm trying to figure out is the MOA (Can't find any details on the rings, forgive me I'm newish to shooting so if rings don't have MOA, then sorry).

It shoots at 5x magnification at the 3rd mil-dot. I'm shooting 180 grains. Any advice would be helpful!!

Thanks

 

[rgrmike]

Most rings aren't going to have any slant built into them giving them a 0MOA value. I'm not sure if that's what you're asking but it sounds like. I'm confused on your meaning of "it shoots at 5x at the 3rd mil-dot." Are you saying your rounds are impacting where you see the 3rd mil-dot in your reticle?

A lot of guys on here are going to "zero" at 100yds. Shoot a 3-5 rd group and measure your impacts from your point of aim i.e. your bullseye. If you're 3 mils high/low/left/right you will adjust your scope the appropriate amount. If your scope is in 1/10mils that would be 3 whole mils or 30 clicks. If it's 1/4 MOA for example you'll have to convert mils to MOA.

1mil=3.44moa

So if you were hitting 3 mils in any direction you would convert to MOA and adjust. 3.44x3=10.32MOA

Once you're zeroed, remove your turret caps and return your knobs to the zero line. Dial accordingly for ranges. Lots of great info on this site. Read, read read.

Guys I'm very new too and usually just do the hillbilly method on zeroing and eyeball it when dealing with MOA. Help this guy out if I'm all jacked up.

 

[bigbear_98]

What are you trying to accomplish? Best point blank range zero, or just a zero to start your elevation adjustments from on your scope? If the latter, set it at 100 yards and adjust elevation on the scope As needed.

Point blank range would be hold dead center and the bullet hits within a certain vital zone radius. You would have to enter all of your gun and bullet data into a ballistic solver to get a true pbr. My rifle, with 175smk and a vital zone radius of 3" (6" circle) has a pbr zero of 232 yards. That's if I zero my gun at 232 yards and hold dead center of a 6" circle or larger at any distance inside 270 yards, the round will hit the circle. This is all from ballistic AE.

I personally zero at 100 and dial.

eta: I may just be muddying the water with pbr. If the post above mine is correct, You are trying to understand why your bullet doesn't impact where you aim. Shoot a group at 100 yards, if the group isn't where your crosshair was held, adjust the turrets until the point of impact meets point of aim. Then loosen your turrets off, so they don't "click" and adjust your crosshairs to put them both at zero.

 

[spartanhorkos]

Yeah, sorry.
I meant at 5x zoom, it hits the 3rd mil dot high.
Alright, I think I understand.
The guys at the gun place said it cant be zeroed at 100m because of the Pic rail.
So the click is .25 on the scope so i need to do 12 clicks down?
Sorry for the noobishness!

 

[bigbear_98]

Yeah, sorry.
I meant at 5x zoom, it hits the 3rd mil dot high.
Alright, I think I understand.
The guys at the gun place said it cant be zeroed at 100m because of the Pic rail.
So the click is .25 on the scope so i need to do 12 clicks down?
Sorry for the noobishness!

If you zero at 100 meters, Then It shouldn't matter what magnification you set the scope at, it will always be zeroed at 100 meters.... Unless you got a POS scope that doesn't work correctly.

If you shoot a target at 100 yards, where does the bullet hit vs your point of aim in inches on paper? Get a tape measure and find out how many inches from your point of aim the bullet actually hits. 1 moa is 1.047" at 100 yards. If the turrets are .25 moa, then roughly 1/4" per click at 100 yards. Stop thinking "clicks" and start thinking Minutes Of Angle.

 

[Nuke Man]

So are you wanting to dial your shots or set up for max point blank range (point and shoot)?
If you're dialing zero at 100. Your gun shop gave you bad info. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to zero at 100.
For MPA either go shoot it to see your spread at different ranges or punch your data into a ballistic calculator. Typically for MPA you set your zero 1-3 inches high at 100.

 

[MontanaMarine]

Yeah, sorry.
I meant at 5x zoom, it hits the 3rd mil dot high.
Alright, I think I understand.
The guys at the gun place said it cant be zeroed at 100m because of the Pic rail.
So the click is .25 on the scope so i need to do 12 clicks down?
Sorry for the noobishness!

Your scope is only advertised as having 50 moa of total elevation travel. Sounds like your pic rail has way too much forward slope. 20 moa would be about all you can use with your scope, giving you about 40 moa up and 10 moa down, if everything is machined fairly square/true.

Not sure where true mil value is on your scope, but probably 15X, that means at 5X, you have triple value assuming second focal plane reticle. This would put you about 30" high at 100 yards. That's no good.

I'd suggest getting a zero-slope base setup, then getting a proper 100-yd zero. Then you can see how much 'down' you have available for possibly using a sloped base.

The gunshop didn't do you any favors with the way they let your rifle setup go out the door.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

depends too on what you are using the rig for. for either hunting or long range plinking, 100 yards is a good start. for hunting there's not much difference for something closer in as far as point of impact goes.

please take no offense, but until you get some rounds under your belt and understand a little more of the nuances of shooting and setting things up, a basic 100 yards is the way to go. later on when you have a bit more understanding and so you don't get confused too much now, you can try a 200 yard zero, which is what i prefer as a zero. with the 180's a little less dialing to be done on stuff between 100 and 300 and down the line.

if you are on your 3rd dot now, save some ammo...set your rifle up front and back rest, put where the crosshairs intersect on your bullseye @ 100 yards. note something where (on 5x) your 3rd dot is on. being careful to not move the rifle, adjust the crosshairs (elevation knob, top) down (as you said you are hitting 3 dots high) until they lay on the place the 3rd dot was. that'll get you in the neighborhood, take 3 shots adjust as needed.

when you are hitting the bull, loosen the turret per the directions, reset the turret to 0, your good to go from there.

 

[spartanhorkos]

Alright.
No dramas.
I'll see what i can do.
It was a hunting/long range rifle.
I thought ot would be a good rifle to start off with making long range shots.
I was going to start at 100 and work back.
The gun shop had no worries taking my money and doing the set up themselves.
They didnt actually say much to me.
Just we'll set it up no problems.
So it looks like im down another couple o hundred bucks for a new scope set up.
Thanks guys

 

[MontanaMarine]

If you have some 'down' available in your elevation turret right now, definitely crank it down, probably about 25 moa or so if you have it. If that's the case, you should be able to work with what you have.

 

[spartanhorkos]

Alright will do.
Gives me an excuse to go shoot it now