Nico9283
NES Member
was attempting the 50/200 yard zero today. Rifle being used had a 11.5” Ballistic Advantage barrel 1:7 chambered in 556, Larue MBT 2 stage trigger, a Primary Arms 1x MicroPrism with an Sig Juliet 3x magnifier, and was using Black Hills 77g TMK.
I began at the 25 yard range just to make sure I’m on paper. Then went over to the 50yd range and got it zeroed. I wasn’t super impressed with the grouping size.. probably 2” groups at 50 yards isn’t what I was expecting, especially with such good quality ammo. I’m not a sharpshooter but I know I’ve got decent mechanics so maybe I was just having an off day or was cold since the range is outside.
I was about to call it a day but went over to the 200 yard range to confirm my zero. What happened there was pretty interesting to me. Right off the bat, all my shots were hitting damn near 12” high. According to every ballistic calculator I have ever used, I should’ve only been about 0.5” high but even 3-4 inches high would be acceptable considering I was either having an off day or this barrel is only shooting 2-3MOA. But 12 inches high was alarming. So, I adjusted the elevation on my optic to re-zero for 200 yards and after a few minutes was able to get it to the point of putting 6 out of 8 shots into a ~6” group (headshots on the silhouette target I was using). Still was hoping for better accuracy out of this barrel but 3moa at 200 yards is acceptable to me for a non-precision rifle.
HERES the part I found most interesting…. I went back to the 50 yard range and was still pretty much dead-on at 50yds. I cannot figure out how to explain this other than perhaps I wasn’t as dead-on at the 50 yard range as I thought I was the first time around, and that slight off-zero was highly exaggerated at the further distance.
Anyone else ever find that their longer zeros don’t match the theoretical expectations?
Ps.. I’m Open to critique if you think there’s a reason other than the barrel f that I had poor groupings.
I began at the 25 yard range just to make sure I’m on paper. Then went over to the 50yd range and got it zeroed. I wasn’t super impressed with the grouping size.. probably 2” groups at 50 yards isn’t what I was expecting, especially with such good quality ammo. I’m not a sharpshooter but I know I’ve got decent mechanics so maybe I was just having an off day or was cold since the range is outside.
I was about to call it a day but went over to the 200 yard range to confirm my zero. What happened there was pretty interesting to me. Right off the bat, all my shots were hitting damn near 12” high. According to every ballistic calculator I have ever used, I should’ve only been about 0.5” high but even 3-4 inches high would be acceptable considering I was either having an off day or this barrel is only shooting 2-3MOA. But 12 inches high was alarming. So, I adjusted the elevation on my optic to re-zero for 200 yards and after a few minutes was able to get it to the point of putting 6 out of 8 shots into a ~6” group (headshots on the silhouette target I was using). Still was hoping for better accuracy out of this barrel but 3moa at 200 yards is acceptable to me for a non-precision rifle.
HERES the part I found most interesting…. I went back to the 50 yard range and was still pretty much dead-on at 50yds. I cannot figure out how to explain this other than perhaps I wasn’t as dead-on at the 50 yard range as I thought I was the first time around, and that slight off-zero was highly exaggerated at the further distance.
Anyone else ever find that their longer zeros don’t match the theoretical expectations?
Ps.. I’m Open to critique if you think there’s a reason other than the barrel f that I had poor groupings.