What range to zero a Remington Model 770?

Question

I just bought a remington model 770 deer rifle (.300 Win Mag) and I'm looking for a zeroing target and the proper range to zero at. Anyone who was in the Marine Corps and had to zero on the little paper targets simulating 300 yards should know what I'm talking about. I looked up the ballistic info from Remington for each type of ammo, but it doesn't factor a specific barrell length. Mine is 24 inches, and yes, the rifle has been boresighted. I figure I'll probably be using a 180 to 200 grain round. Anyone who understands this please help! I really dont want to yank my first shot at a deer with this thing! I'd like to know that my rifle is shooting straight.

Answer 1

The best precise way of doing it is to sight it in at 100 yards first and then shoot it at 200 yards, then at 300 yards to know for sure where it will be hitting on the target at these various distances.*  

Answer 2

For something like the .300 Win. Mag. the published velocities will be from a 24" Bbl.

In that class velocity will only vary by about 80FPS per inch of Bb. length

for differences anyway.

Your zero distance is determined by the conditions under which you will hunt.

Brush-hunters zero at 100Yd.s, open field, or range hunters probably

at 200.

If you zero at 200, with that round, your 180 Grainers should be within

4' of line of sigth out to 250 Yd.s.

If you're a newbie, you shouldn't be going furhter than 100 without a rest.

Answer 3

since you have a medium range gun i suggest sighting the gun in at 200 yards because it is 1 1/4 inch high at 100 yards and 1 inch high at 50 yards and 150 yards but if your worried if your gun will be too high or low hold over or under and since your most likely holdover space you will have to deal with is 1 inch so holding over should be pretty easy even with a 300's recoil so aim on a deer target just above the leg for 50-150 yards and slightly high on the shoulder for 250-300 yard shots and around the spine for 400 yard shots and past that dont take a shot you will be sick to your stomach if you hit a deer past that in the gut and you see it suffer  

Answer 4

The internet bench rest champions may disagree with me, but I am going to tell you that to really sight in your rifle properly, you have to know what the particular load is doing in your rifle, period.

Published velocities and ballistics tables are OK, but really just tell you what the load did in the test gun at the factory.

You first need to chronograph your load and get an average of at LEAST 3 shots.

After that, you need to research the BC, Ballistic Coefficient, of the bullet you are using, and plug this data into a good ballistics program like PointBlank Software at the link below.

You will then get the trajectory for that load from your gun which is  a much better starting point.

I sight my rifles in to the maximum point blank range for the intended target I am shooting at, i.e. whitetails, an 8" vital zone, which means the bullet will be no more than 4" high or 4" low through the flight path that I feel comfortable shooting.  For coyotes, I use a 6" vital zone, and so on.

The problem with sighting in a rifle for 2" or 3" high at 100 yards is that you only know where the rifle is shooting at 100 yards, not a points farther than that.  The ballistics program has made me a more ethical hunter and better shooter when I know where my bullet is going to be at points past 100 yards.

I even go so far as to put a piece of masking tape on my stock showing the trajectory of the load I am shooting.

Hope this helps and good hunting!

Regards,

Tim

Answer 5

You can set your windage at 25 yards to make sure you are close and then you can start your elevation zero out at 50 yards with the average 180 gr round which will put you pretty close to on at 100 yards.  1/2" high at 50 yards will put you pretty close to on at 200 yards.  I set my final zero for my deer rifles .30-06 to .300 Win Mag at 200 yards.   That means actually shoot it at 200 yards and set the zero.  This gives me no more than 2" high from point blank out to my 200 yard zero.

Answer 6

I shoot a 30-06 but it should be the same. zero it in at 25 yards it should still be dead on at 100 yards 1/2 inch drop every 100 yards after that. Remember to take windage and elevation into consideration

Answer 7

Tim nailed it give him the 10

Answer 8

Shooting your .300 mag at simulated range targets will yield poor results for hunting. There will be no substitute for actual range-time, shooting at 100, 200, 300 yards, etc.

Timothy really has the absolute best way to do this; I also use a point blank method for my hunting rifles, except I use a 4 inch area. 2 inches above and below line of sight, maximum. For example, with my .243, I know that my 85 grain Sierra HPBT will be about 2 inches high at 100 yards, and about 2 inches low at 285 yards. So, I hold dead on for deer up to 300 yards, and pass on any shots that are over that distance. It works well.

Answer 9

Most 180 grain bullets, let alone 200 grainers, are designed for slow expansion on larger game than deer, and you're likely to find the heavy bullets occasionally punching a 30 caliber hole through and through without setting up properly. I'd suggest 165's.

The way I sight in all my hunting rifles is to chrono the load I'm using and figure the point blank range for that bullet at that muzzle velocity, factoring in the size of the vital area of the game I'm hunting. Velocities from two barrels of equal length will often vary more than two of different lengths might, so it's best to eliminate as many variables as possible. I can't guess the PBR for your rifle/load combination, of course, but I'd bet it'll be close to 250 yards.