F T/R Competition Scope set up

[coach4christ]

Hi guys. I'm new to the f class game. I actually haven't shot in one yet, but plan to hit it full steam ahead next year. My question for you guys is what range do you zero your scope for? I am currently zeroed at 100 but am thinking of a 500 yard zero. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Will

 

[Denys]

Well that depends on what you shoot most. My .308 F-TR rifle is zeroed at 1000 yards; I mounted the scope such that the 1000 yard zero would be nearer the sweet spot of the scope (middle) as opposed to being at the top of the adjustments. I use that rifle for LR competition almost exclusively which for me translates to 1000 yard on a monthly basis. I have used it at 600 yards, and I have the come-downs for that, as well as 800 and 900 yards (rarely.) But it spends most of its time at 1000.

My .223 F-TR rifle is zeroed for 300 yards as I use that most often at that range, but I know the come-ups to the rare 500, and the 600 yard lines.

 

[40xs]

Most F-class shooters start from a hundred yd. zero, unless they don't have a forward rake base and enough adjustment in their scope. the reason for a 100 yd zero is when discussing comeups with other shooters you need to be on the same page as the rest when they refer to, ie; 16 moa @ 600 yds., 33 moa @ 1000yds., etc. If you are zeroed at 500 then info like that is useless to you. Also, in some matches you may be shooting with other competitors at the same time at various distances such as 300, 500, 600, 800 yds, etc. It's just simpler to have your dope figured from 100yd zero. Of course, this is just my opinion. Others may have a different slant on this.

 

[damoncali]

Count this among the things that do not matter. As long as you can get the cross hairs on the x, you're good.

 

[coach4christ]

Thanks for the input guys. It is much appreciated.

 

[40xs]

It helps a little bit to have the bullet going to the same place the x is!

 

[XTR]

Zeroing a scope is setting it so that the elevation knob is on zero at a certain distance. What distance you use is an arbitrary number. For most of us 100 yards is kind of standard when discussing come ups for other ranges and comparing ballistics.

With that in mind. I have two 308s that I shoot in 1000 yd F-TR comps. One is my first F-TR rifle, it's a Remington 700 that I found needed a 30MOA rail to get out to 1000 yards when I started shooting long range with 175SMKs. I've used that 30 MOA rail with two different NF scopes and in both cases I was able to get a 100 yard zero about six MOA from the bottom of the erector.

About a yr and a half ago I ordered an action from Defiance, and ordered it with the a 30MOA rail like I use on the Remy. Well, it seems that there is about 10MOA difference in the top of a Defiance and my Remy. If I take my scope off of the remy and put it on the Defiance I'm about 10 MOA higher...oops. Now, when I dial down I can't even get to a 200 yard zero. So, where is that scope zeroed? It's not. Well, I'm sure that at some range the zero on the knob = impact but I'm not sure where it is. For my long range shooting it does work out that my 1000 yard dope is about 27 to 30 MOA from what my 100 yard zero should be if I were able to dial down that far and about one turn (10MOA) from where it is on my Remy. So where is my scope zeroed? It's not, does it matter? Not to me, this rifle is only used for shooting targets at 800 to 1000 yards.

The most important "zero" to have is a good no wind zero on your windage. When you look up and see a letoff, that then becomes a shift, and after you watch it for a few minutes it doesn't look like it's coming back, then knowing how much to dial w/o shooting a 'for record sighter' is a good thing. Sounds easy, but it's pretty hard to get shots down range at 1000 yards with a true no wind condition, and spindrift is real. Typically from your 100 yard zero you'll have about .5 to .75 MOA to the right to account for at 1000 yards with a 308. In other words, if you've got a good 100 yard zero you can plan on needing to put on about .5 to .75 left on your windage knob to get in the X-ring when you back up to 1000.

 

[Denys]

I think you are conflating rifle/scope zero and mechanical zero. My F-TR rifle spends most of its time at 1000 yards and so, I set the 0 on the NF scope to be at that range. If your rifle is zeroed at 100 yards, to me, that means you have to click up to that distance when you shoot at 1000 yards and then bring it back down to 100 yards when you finish the match. I find that to be way too much dialing for me and it's very possible that I would screw up at some point, so I just leave my rifle zeroed at 1000 yards and bring it back there after shooting the odd 800 or 900 or even 600 yard match.

 

[40xs]

Sounds like we'er saying the same thing only using different language. "zeroed" and "set". when I say zeroed I'm refering to the starting point of accuracy. My rifle is zeroed accurate at 100. zero elevation and zero windage at 100. I may leave my setting at 1000 yds. if i'm going to shoot that more often, but it's zeroed at 100. I hope that better simplifies the point.

 

[7GRT]

My take would be to use a 100 yard zero as 300 yards can only equate to having 3x more user error and conditions . I need to know a true wind zero so you can get a more accurate value on the flags .