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How many mils to zero at 25 or 50 yards?

Judge

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Minuteman
Mar 14, 2008
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Gents,

I have a new Anschutz 22lr with 0 moa rail and it took me 8.5 mils to zero at 50 yards. Just wanted to know how many mils
others have needed for a 25 yard or 50 yard zero?
 
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Gents,

I have a new Anschutz 22lr with 0 moa rail and it took me 8.5 mils to zero at 50 yards. Just wanted to know how many mils
others have needed for a 50 yard zero?
You can get 6 mils back, theoretically, with a 20 MOA rail.
 
I run 20 MOA rails and 100 yard zero's on all my rifles, including rimfires.

I can tell you that from my 100 yard zero, my CA Ranger 22 with CCI SV 1070 takes 5.1 MILs to pinwheel the 200 yard bull.
 
Took 8.5 mils from where?

From mechanical zero?

Or off the bottom of total travel?

What other's used is irrelevant. They don't have your model rifle or scope most likely.

What is relevant is how much useable travel (and unusable travel) your setup currently has once zeroed and is it enough for the type of shooting and yardages you intend to do.

If your zeroing at 25 or 50 and never touching the knobs again except for rezeroing....its moot what everyone else has.

The difference between your 25yd and 50yd sight settings is a super minor amount of travel compared to say dialing to 200 or 300 yards in comparison.

Until you know how much above and how much below zero you have and how far you intend to shoot....giving advice on a change of rail is pointless.

For all we know, your scope won't support what it is you intend to do at all no matter the rail. Or you aren't pushing the distance far enough to even necessitate the need to getting one.
 
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Gents,

I have a new Anschutz 22lr with 0 moa rail and it took me 8.5 mils to zero at 25 yards. Just wanted to know how many mils
others have needed for a 25 yard or 50 yard zero?
Not sure where the 8.5 mils is starting. All 3 of my rimfires are using Vortex Strike Eagle with 20 moa rails. I use Burris XTR Signature rings with 40 moa in the inserts ( a is 30 moa). I am 1 mil from the bottom with a 50 yds. zero, with around 30 mils left. I can dial to 500yds.
Mark
 
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Gents,

I have a new Anschutz 22lr with 0 moa rail and it took me 8.5 mils to zero at 25 yards. Just wanted to know how many mils
others have needed for a 25 yard or 50 yard zero?
As has been mentioned: what others need or use is irrelevant, as you have provided no info on the rifle and optic other than the flat rail. So let me reframe the topic somewhat - by helping you get a ballpark elevation range for your rig via an example.

Let's assume, for example purposes, that:
  • Your scope has 20 mils total elevation.
  • It should come out of the box centered - so you would have 10 mils up and 10 mils down available to you.
  • Your rings put the center of the reticle 2 inches above the bore (you need to know this measurement to get correct output from a ballistic calculator).
So, given that the scope's line of sight is 2 inches above the bore, you need to raise the bore 2 inches at 25 yards to intersect the line of sight. This comes out to something close to 2.1 mils. This is the theoretical measurement. Keep in mind that the bullet is still rising for that 25-yard zero, and its arc will cause it to re-cross the line of sight at about 45 yards - you'd actually have to dial down for a 35-yard pinpoint. Better to use a 35-to-50-yard zero.

Machining and mounting tolerances in the rail and rings will most likely alter the actual adjustment needed, but, with quality pieces, not a huge amount. So I am rather baffled at your "8.5 mils to zero at 25 yards" statement. Do you mean you had to add 8.5 mils of elevation to zero at that range? If so, something sounds rather "off."

With all that said, and not knowing how you intend to use the rifle:
  • I would suggest a 35 to 50 yard zero. The trajectory of a .22LR standard velocity bullet is quite flat at that range envelope, and the closer point mitigates wind effect on setting the zero.
  • A flat rail is not optimal for a .22LR. A 20MOA rail is useful, I like 30MOA, and many here prefer even 40-50MOA... but 40-50MOA pushes a lot of scope reticle very near their travel limits to set a 50-yard zero, and I don't want to have my own scope's erector springs jammed that tight over time.
 
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Thanks for all the comments, here is additional info:

Scope is Steiner military 3-12x56 (model 5356) which comes out of the box bottomed out in elevation. So 8.5 mils from centerline (20 mils total......10 up & 10 down) or 18.5 mils from bottom of total elevation travel using Badger Ordnance Max-50 rings.

Anschutz 1761 with 20" barrel in 22lr.

Reason for posting is I didn't know why it took so many mils to zero.
 
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Because it started out bottomed out. If it started in the middle of its range you probably wouldn't have had to move much.
 
Most scopes come shipped at mechanical zero. Halfway in vertical and horizontal travel.

Your setup could've ate a ton of travel for a couple reasons. Tolerance stacking of individual parts. Canted rails or unimounts on backwards. Runout on the barrel points the muzzle "down". You over tightened the ring caps and its causing havoc with the erector internals.

Who knows without seeing things or being there as you set it up.

If you did everything right....then clearly its nothing you have control of and just purchase a new rail to gain you back most of what you need.