What range to zero?

Your scope will decide, what scope do you have? 100moa in rail and rings it would have massive movement to zero at anything less than a 1000yards
 
I'd try and zero it as close as possible based on the elevation travel of the optic as the closer you zero, the less it will be affected changing atmospherics.
 
What distance is going to be your shooting average? What is the travel of your scope?

I like to have the midpoint of my scope at the the distance that I like shooting at. My Nightforce has 120 moa of travel so I like to be 1/2 way (60moa) when I am at my average of 1500 yards and this then determines how much angle is on my rail and that then determines where I have to zero. This gives me room to go up and down as needed and lets me still stay within the center range of the scope.

There is probably no evidence to support it but I like to think the scope was made to be at its 1/2 way point and if I ever run out of scope travel I will add more to my rail and zero out further. My zero is at 100 with my setup now.
 
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The problem with longer range “zero” is that the farther out you go, the more exterior ballistics effects act on the projectile, so you can never really get a true optical zero at very long ranges. Bryan Litz speaks to this in his books and also on a few YouTube videos. Personally, I would change up the configuration a bit to drop the 105 MOA of combined rail and ring slope and zero as close as the down adjustment in my scope would allow. Maybe 200 yards?

Zeroing at 1000 yards, the projectile would be under the influence of coriolis effect, which is a function of which direction you are shooting in, so that wouldn’t be a particularly useful zero...
 
Just remember that you can shoot at ANY distance to zero your rifle.... WHERE the bullet lands is something you can easily adjust for.

When I did my 223 to a mile project, I had to set my full down zero at approx 42" to have any chance to reach out to a mile given the scopes and set up of the day.

So at 100yds, I put a sheet of plywood sideways and an aiming point on one edge to put a bullet almost at the top of the board... simple.

You may need to put the sheet "tall" and just see where that bullet ends up. I would suggest at 100yds you put in 3/4" LEFT windage vs your aiming line... 1" is still not too much. This starts to account for the spin drift beyond 1000yds so you will be very close in calm air... then just add more as your go further out.

Whatever your 100yds impact is will give you a great idea of where that bullet is going to drop way out there..... Range an open area in the ball park and send it. Watch for dust kicking up and away you go. The higher you go here... the easier in the long run.

Assuming you are building a boomer and will be using scopes of 100MOA and up of travel.... your base elevation may very well put you close to 1 mile out.... maybe more?????

Given your goal of reaching out into the 3000 and 4000yds range, taller better. Drop is simply massive no matter what you shoot once you approach transonic/sub sonic distances. You will be very happy that you have such a tall zero... and you will be looking for as much "up" as you can generate.

I went with a mechanically adjustable base on my 6.5 Mystic project... that helped but at some point, it becomes a task to gain enough elevation to hit AND see past your barrel.

Yep, your max distance is really limited by when the barrel blocks your view of the impact zone.... :)

And yes, there is now a periscope type gizmo that might be available to buy which will go a long ways to help in this endeavor.

There are other quirks to work through as you shoot past 1700fps .... but that is for another day.

Jerry
 
Not sure why the bastardized setup when there are other tools that will effectively achieve what you are trying to do, without having a ridiculous zero range.

If you are serious about really stretching out that rifle, do it right and get adjustable rings (such as Ivey), and perhaps even consider a prism that can shift your zero by a set amount. This way you can have a normal 100 yard zero, and really stretch it out there when you need to.
 
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kthomas said:
Not sure why the bastardized setup when there are other tools that will effectively achieve what you are trying to do, without having a ridiculous zero range.

If you are serious about really stretching out that rifle, do it right and get adjustable rings (such as Ivey), and perhaps even consider a prism that can shift your zero by a set amount. This way you can have a normal 100 yard zero, and really stretch it out there when you need to.
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I think Kthomas is alluding to the Charlie Tarac and he is totally correct. I am by no means an LR or ELR expect but follow the tech as that is where I want to get more experience in.

If you are spending dollars on a boomer the flexibility that the Tarac provides would work well. Set up with a 100 yd zero and a good scope and you can shoot out to a mile (or whatever) and then throw the Tarac on there for the real ELR.
 
Ryan.M.Anderson said:
I think Kthomas is alluding to the Charlie Tarac and he is totally correct. I am by no means an LR or ELR expect but follow the tech as that is where I want to get more experience in.

If you are spending dollars on a boomer the flexibility that the Tarac provides would work well. Set up with a 100 yd zero and a good scope and you can shoot out to a mile (or whatever) and then throw the Tarac on there for the real ELR.
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Interesting device, but considering the OP is looking at getting a Sightron due to budgetary constraints, I doubt a $2000 prism is in the cards.

I'd go with Jerry's approach, big ass sheet of paper at 100m and simply plug the offset into his ballistic solver.
 
Alpheus said:
Interesting device, but considering the OP is looking at getting a Sightron due to budgetary constraints, I doubt a $2000 prism is in the cards.

I'd go with Jerry's approach, big ass sheet of paper at 100m and simply plug the offset into his ballistic solver.
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Hahaha, that is very true. However, Sightron and ELR are also no bueno (IMO).
 
Gotta pay to play, especially in the ELR world.

If he can't afford even a proper scope for a .408 rifle, I'm not sure how he is going to afford to feed the thing. 200 rounds are going to cost a lot more than the scope he is planning on buying.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a .408 on the EE soon. There's an awful lot of big boomers with low round counts for sale, seems like people ditch them once they realize what they've gotten themselves into.
 
I want to see some 375 cheytacs for cheap there are a few 408’s for the right price, the cost of proper gear to support the rifle is more than the purchase price of the gun.
 
Mystic Precision said:
Why? We have been using Sightron SIII's and SV's for LR and ELR shooting for many years. In general, the spec of the scope is actually useable...

Jerry
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I guess sightrons are useable if that's you're only option.

There's a reason why you don't see any of them at any ELR comps. For one, the reticles are less than desirable for ELR type shooting. If you are really reaching out there, you will be holding over, and there will be a lot of windeage to account for. You want a Christmas tree type reticle. That's what Horus and Tremor reticles are very popular in ELR circles. Without a Christmas tree type reticle, you will be holding over in dead space.
 
Mystic Precision said:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2017/06/338-lapua-magnum-improved-barrel-block-beast-for-k02m/

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/?s=king+of+the+2+mile&submit=Search

Yep, ain't nobody using them Sightrons in ELR shooting.... Dang... all he did was come in 2nd at the KO2M.

Must have been luck....

Jerry
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And the winner was using a NF. What is your point? One guy using one does not make buying it the best idea. The Ko2M is also just one competition so the sample size is not very large.

Sightrons are probably fine. Lots of people say the Barret 50 cals shipped with a Bushy 10X. Just because something is done does not make it the best idea.

As KThomas said, once the guy runs a few rounds through the thing the delta of buying a better scope will be a moot point.

I think it would be great if Sightron came to the market with a competitive optic for "tactical" shooting. More competition in the market is always a good thing for consumers, however, based on what I have seen they are not there yet. Bushnell/Athlon/Vortex (to a certain extent) have all disrupted the marketplace with competitive options and I would have no problem buying any of those brands and do run a Bushnell on one rig. If Sightron brings something to the market that stood up I would have no issue running one.
 
Mystic Precision said:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2017/06/338-lapua-magnum-improved-barrel-block-beast-for-k02m/

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/?s=king+of+the+2+mile&submit=Search

Yep, ain't nobody using them Sightrons in ELR shooting.... Dang... all he did was come in 2nd at the KO2M.

Must have been luck....

Jerry
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Fair enough, you found one example of one being used in ELR.

I'm sure you'll continue to convince people who don't know any better to buy more stuff from you.

I still strongly believe that there are much better tools to be used for that discipline, regardless of your one example. Reticle choice being a huge one.
 
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