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What .22 zero

.22 zero range

  • 50

    Votes: 77 95.1%
  • 100

    Votes: 4 4.9%

  • Total voters
    81

mercracing

Sergeant
Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Feb 9, 2013
    1,928
    829
    Green Bay, WI
    I bought a two pack of Burris scopes and wanted the SFP for a hunting rifle. I accidentally put it on the .22 and shot it for a while. I realized my mistake and put the FFP on the .22. I tried to get a 50yd zero but can’t. I can’t even use the hold unders. I’m basically holding the bottom of the post just under the target. Should I even care if I can’t get a 50yd zero? Is everyone zeroing at 100?
    95C43088-F2EC-4B1D-A971-5B7BFC140043.png
     
    I should add this is a new CZ 455 with an EGW 20MOA rail. Burris Veracity 3-15FFP. Norma Tac 22 around 1070fps. For me it’s currenlty minimal hunting, more punching paper and shooting steel. Steel is from 100-300yds.
     
    I guess you ran out of elevation on the scope. If you have a 0 moa base I would try that, I zero all my .22's at 50 for paper and easy adjustments to shoot steel at 100, 150, and 200. I have a CZ455 with O moa base and PST2 3-15.
     
    I should add this is a new CZ 455 with an EGW 20MOA rail. Burris Veracity 3-15FFP. Norma Tac 22 around 1070fps. For me it’s currenlty minimal hunting, more punching paper and shooting steel. Steel is from 100-300yds.
    Sorry, I misunderstood about the which scope was on which gun for hunting.

    I still like a 25 yard zero, and shoot mine to 337 yards.
     
    With a decent scope with repeatable turrets, why a fixed zero?
    I test at all distances from 15 yards to 200.
    For each ammo tested the MV's, distance, conditions
    and turret settings are recorded in my log.
    At a later date it's easy enough to dial the turrets to the recorded settings,
    results on target are within a click or two needed to match the current ammo/conditions.
     
    A fixed zero is nice when you have to reset everything and don't remember the arbitrary number you have set for whatever distance.

    I zero all my rimfire stuff at 50. I haven't run into your problem but I only have 5moa left of "up" travel on my Cooper with a Nikon Monarch on it.
     
    I zero at 50 which also is zeroed at 25 yards.
    I've heard this before from at least one other person on this board.

    What ammo (velocity/BC) are you using that you can have a true zero at 25 and at 50?

    My CZ 452 is zero'd at 25, where it shoots almost one caliber holes. At 50, the groups are in the .35 range, and they are about .5" low from my 25 yard zero.

    Are you just not shooting small enough targets for it to matter? Is your gun more of a hunter or plinker?
     
    I also zero at 50y and my 25y shots are about 1/4"-1/2" high. If just plinking you'd never know but when shooting precision it is very obvious.
     
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    All the variables matter. Vudoo with a Vortex AMG 6-24x50, shooting Eley Match, chrono'd at 1116 fps, BC 158, sight height 1.94.

    Shooting something like SK Match at 1060 fps, BC .154, and a slightly lower sight height would impact about .4 to .5 low at 50 yards if zero'd at 25.

    Am I close?
     
    I like to do the initial zero at 50 but verify / adjust at 100. On any particular day, if I need to adjust + / - that adjustment holds true out to 225 yards (max distance). Anything less than 100 is close enough for me
     
    Last edited:
    All the variables matter. Vudoo with a Vortex AMG 6-24x50, shooting Eley Match, chrono'd at 1116 fps, BC 158, sight height 1.94.

    Shooting something like SK Match at 1060 fps, BC .154, and a slightly lower sight height would impact about .4 to .5 low at 50 yards if zero'd at 25.

    Am I close?
    Well, I don't know if you're close or not, but I wish mine was zero'd at 25 and 50. I'm shooting Federal UM, which is much closer to your SK Match numbers than to your Eley. My BC is even worse though...
     
    I like a 25 yard zero. Less wind affect on the zero. Plus, what distances do you plan to hunt with a .22?

    Same here, I use a 25m zero. Primarily because I tend to shoot suppressed .22's in back yards and shit like that. I suppose were I to use them at longer ranges I'd probably zero 'em for that. I'm also using four inch barrels almost exclusively now so I don't have a helluva lot of range to begin with.
     
    All the variables matter. Vudoo with a Vortex AMG 6-24x50, shooting Eley Match, chrono'd at 1116 fps, BC 158, sight height 1.94.

    Shooting something like SK Match at 1060 fps, BC .154, and a slightly lower sight height would impact about .4 to .5 low at 50 yards if zero'd at 25.

    Am I close?


    That's pretty fast for Eley Match, is it subsonic? Reason I ask is Eley Match for me is 1085, and a few still go supersonic (1 in 25)
     
    With any of my 22's, no matter the sight, using a real subsonic, zeroed at 25, I'm 1/4 to 1/2" low at 50 depending on scope height and 8-9" low at 100.

    The comment above about plinking vs precision and such a zero, is spot on and is why in a previous decade , most 22 scopes had 1/8 min adjustments for more precise adjustment for competition.

    Zeroed at 50, I'm 6.5-7" low at 100 and 1/4" ish high at 25 with most match or standard velocity ammo.

    Super speed or hyper velocity ammunition begins to get problematic on consistent reportable zero results.

    I've built custom bases and gone as far as putting a nightforce with 110 minutes elevation on a 22 to push the envelope.

    And once upon a time, in a plowed field, we did a max ordinate test and got a 22 bullet beaten zone at 900 yards.... never got one past 950 at 375asl in our deep South location.

    My cz452 suppressed is zeroed at 50, 100 hold is the subtension at 14x.
    My ar22 suppressed is zeroed at 25, rarely shoot it past 50, because it's not near as accurate as the cz.

    My 52 has 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 yard zeroes on its range card for several lots of ammo.
    Anything past 100 is very wind sensitive and maybe a high degree of luck.
     
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    So I tinkered a bit this morning. I took off the elevation turret to see what it looked like in there. I saw how I was hard against the stop, but I could go past the stop and continue to dial down. So I dialed down till I got a 50yd zero. This isn’t on paper, it’s on a small Cabela’s steel spinner. I zeroed the turret and dialed up as much as I could. I should have about 23 3/4moa left with a 50yd zero. I’m pleased I now can actually dial to a 50yd zero.
    F7621B2D-DB36-43C9-9B45-D20333288941.jpeg
    53629AF6-400C-4131-B1BC-1A9104007014.jpeg
     
    That's pretty fast for Eley Match, is it subsonic? Reason I ask is Eley Match for me is 1085, and a few still go supersonic (1 in 25)

    Yes, now that the weather has warmed up. Has not seemed to affect accuracy. I shot a "Varmint" match last weekend at 100 yards ... 22 of 25 x-rings (0.75 in diameter).
     
    I think the most logical distance to zero any rifle at is the distance at which the projectile path will touch but not pass through the line of sight. The barrel elevation required at this distance is the lowest elevation that will ever be required. If you zero the rifle at this distance, you will never require negative elevation adjustments.
    For most centerfire cartridges, this range is approximately 100 yards. I think this is why the 100 yard zero is so common.
    Attached is JBM output showing a calculation of the equivalent range for Eley Tenex at 1085fps with a 2in scope height. The zero range to use comes out at 35 yards.
    This output also shows that +0.2mils elevation would give a near zero of 25 yards and far zero of 50 yards which is consistent with some of the comments above.
    Screenshot from 2018-05-21 22-57-25.png
     
    Last edited:
    50 yard zero is your money maker. don't over think it.
     
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    I zero at 50. Find it's a good spot to get a solid zero for elevation and not to much effect from wind. Has worked well. Not shooting inside 25 yards most of the time and shooting out to 300+ so a 50 yard zero works well.
     
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    For matches like NRL22, there will be .25” targets (although technically, you can cheat the elevation and shoot the hanger) at 25 yards.

    My rifle 0 @25 is also at 50. Technically whether you do 50 or 25 isn’t going to make much difference at the long end of things.
     
    25 or 30 is what we have found the best to be zeroed at playing any of the marksman or nrl22 games.
     
    50 zero on a KYL .
    If you connect on the 1/4 pin you are close .
     
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    We do it all the time .
    We use high mag scopes .
    9 power is the lowest .
    PLEX RETICLES work the best .
    NO mil dots
     
    I meant because the 1/4" target has a 1/4" hanger your elevation zero can be off substantially and it will still spin the target. (Using a steel spinner kyl set, not a paper kyl target)
     
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    I zero all my .22's at 50 yards. As luck would have it, that is almost the same zero for 25 yards, maybe .1 or .2 MIL difference with scope centerline to bore centerline between 1.7 to 1.958" with FPS in the 1040 to 1120 range. So far that has been pretty consistent across 6 different rifles. The ARA matches I shoot are fixed at 50 yards, so I work DOPE from there for the other shooting games.
     
    50 for practical 20-60y point and shoot. 100 if your playing the long range game (a lot of shots past 100y)
     
    I zero 'em at 25 mostly. When I get enough data for it I'll mark down the clicks for other zeroes. I'm using a Vortex PST 1-4x in adj. USO rings (I had 'em and they fit, okay?) and it does just great. The barrel is integrally suppressed so it has 4" of bbl., rest being a core. But it seems to be a 1MOA rifle so far but I'll need more time and more types of ammo to try before making a final determination.
     
    I think the question should be "how far away do you check your zero at?", not "what datum do you use on your scopes adjustment?"

    As long as your dope is good it does not matter where zero is.

    It is more important to check your mechanical zero at a distance that is close enough to not worry about wind or other variables , and far enough you can see the difference between poi and poa clearly and adjust for it.

    For me that distance with a .22 LR is 50 yards so that is what I use as a datum.
     
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    This is what we use .
    We sight in on the paper .
    Then shoot at the KYL .
     

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    This is what we use .
    We sight in on the paper .
    Then shoot at the KYL .
    Ah-so
    We use the 8 steel swinger 2" to 1/4" at 50 yds and a 9 steel swinger 5" to 1" at 100 for KYL...... Very convenient but the swingres are held on 1/4" hangers so just because the 1/4" pin spins it does not mean you didn't hit high.
     
    When I sight in on the 1/4 inch on paper .
    I pot my crosshair on the bottom of the dot .
    Well you can get real close .
    We are not shooting for all the money in the world.

    WHEN YOU ARE RETIRED IT'S CALLED FUN
    Remember every day is SATURDAY .
     
    We shoot 1/5 nra silhouette animals at .
    50,100,150 and 200 meters .

    Working on a ruger prr with cci sv .with a leupold 6/18 .
     
    Last edited:
    We shoot 1/5 nra silhouette animals at .
    50,100,150 and 200 meters .

    Working on a ruger prr with cci sv .with a leupold 6/18 .

    I am also running a vx2 6-18 TT AO, but it is slow for nrl22 with a duplex and no ranging reticle... on a very highly modified 77/22

    Wolf ME or SK rifle match works well for me

    I have many multiples of 22 different 3/16" -1/4" soft steel animals from African dangerous, to plistocene megafauna, North American big and small game, eggs, 1/5 nra, ect from 8" to 1/2"... but use mostly swingers and gongs because resetting knock overs is a pita.

    Unfortunately nrl22 appears to be going TU in my area (like the precision 22 matches before nrl22) due to lack of intrest.
     
    I Mainly shoot swingers . and KYL .
    I am old and round .
    Shoot 10" exemplar , ruger charger ,77/22 , now working on ruger prr .
    Shoot out to 300 meters .
    3 OR 4 Times a week. live in Florida .
     
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