A good friend of mine moved to Wyoming a couple of years ago and he wants to go elk hunting. I bought him a Howa 300 Win Mag at an auction a few months ago. It came with a scope, but I had a Leupold mounted.

He is planning on using Federal ammo that will drop 3 inches at 200 yards and 11 at 300. Am I correct in assuming we sight it in for 100 yards? He is not going to be making any ultra long distance shots.

Sight it in for 200. You'll be in the kill zone from 100 to 300 yards for an elk. Or at least very close at 300. Maybe hold just at the top of the kill zone at 300 and it will land right inside with room to spare. At 100 you'll probably be 1.5" high (still in the kill zone).

Tony.

It’s common these days when using a scope that allows rapid elevation adjustments for different target distances to zero at 100 yards. With most common centerfire loads that means any adjustments for closer or farther will be dialing up. Precision rifle competitors and others often use scopes that have zero stops that make it impossible to dial down much (if any) from the zero setting, so being able to always dial up if an adjustment is necessary is important.

What you describe, though, isn’t what all that’s about. Although perhaps it’s become less common, hunters are more likely to simply hold off up/down if shooting at an animal that’s not at the zero range. That’s usually faster, but also many scopes commonly used for hunting don’t allow rapid dialing changes. There are more and more exceptions to that general characteristic, but I believe that most big game hunters still mostly make hold differences for different target distances—or assume that a center target hold will still hit the kill zone.

What that means is that it may be better to pick a longer zeroing distance than 100 yards. For example, consider what my ballistics solver says about shooting the 308 Winchester Federal 168 grain Sierra MatchKing GMM load.

If I have a 100 yard zero with that load from my rifle, at 200 yards it will be about 4 inches low, at 300 yards about 15 inches low, and at 400 yards about 35 inches low.

If, however, I have a 200 yard zero, at 100 yards it will be about 2 inches high, at 200 zero, at 300 yards about 9 inches low, and at 400 about 27 inches low. In other words, the trajectory will in effect be flatter and be more forgiving of holding measurement errors.

The way to determine the best zeroing distance while keeping holds in mind is to use a ballistic calculator. (I was going to recommend JBM, but I see it’s no longer available, but there are others.) Plug in different zeroing distances and see what the dope figures are at different shooting distances.

Or you can just accept the advice from benny6, who should know.

quote:

Originally posted by maxwayne:
A good friend of mine moved to Wyoming a couple of years ago and he wants to go elk hunting. I bought him a Howa 300 Win Mag at an auction a few months ago. It came with a scope, but I had a Leupold mounted.

He is planning on using Federal ammo that will drop 3 inches at 200 yards and 11 at 300. Am I correct in assuming we sight it in for 100 yards? He is not going to be making any ultra long distance shots.

I saw this site that shows the Ballistics of all the federal 300 Win Mag loads:

https://ammo.com/ballistics/30...g-ballistics#federal

The Hornady 4DOF Ballistic Calculator is FREE and is quite good. There are other excellent ones if you want to pay for them.

I agree with Benny6 in that you should sight in at 200 yds. You are just a little high at 100, dead on 200, upper shoulder at 300 and top of the back at 400 with most of the loads. Elk are big animals and under 300 yds aren't that hard to hit.

100yd Zero's are best for closer ranges or if you are going to dial up with your scope or reticle. If neither of those go for 200 and always aim at hair out to 350-400yds.

If at all possible try out the loads in THAT rifle and THAT scope as far out as you can.

My rifle builder buddy that sells a lot of rifles and hunts a lot has been recommmending and using the Federal Terminal Ascent ammo in a lot of his guns. Sub MOA and great terminal performance. But frankly any Federal ammo 180grs up should be great on Elk under 300yds...........DJ

I was thinking about the 200 yard sight in as it seems a good compromise. I will leave it up to my young friend and his friends in Wyoming.

He will go into the conversation with some very good information.

Thanks to all of you for your assistance.

1-1/2" high at 100yds. Will be bullseye at 200yds. Probably be 3-5" low at 300yds. That is pretty standard.

I went elk hunting about 10 years ago, public land CO. I was set up for a 200 yard shot with my a-Bolt, 300WSM.

Public land, 2nd rifle hunt, I was in thick cover. I took a 5x5 bull at 25 yards. One shot, my hunt was over.

I keep my 7mmWBY Mag zeroed at 300yds (3" high at 100yds). That puts me on fur out to 400yds. Keep in mind, I've never shot an elk at more than 200yds...but I can. Just got back from the range making sure it was still on and it's dead nuts. Three rounds inside a dime.

Back when I shot my 300WM, I used 180gr boattails and did the same. That put me on fur to 300 but zeroed at roughly 200. I haven't shot that rifle in probably 25 years. I should sell it. I've got no use for it. Neither does my shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
1-1/2" high at 100yds. Will be bullseye at 200yds. Probably be 3-5" low at 300yds. That is pretty standard.

That's been my method for years. Even if I'm expecting most of my shot within 100 yards or less.

We got the rifle sighted in Friday morning in just 10 rounds. It is an inch or inch and a half high at 100 yards.

If you sight the rifle in for a 200 yard zero, it'll be about 1.5-2" high at 100 yards. Check your ballistics for the particular round you're using for specifics, then I'd use a label maker to print holdovers for 300 and 400 yards, put the label on the your scope and you'll be good to go!