Rifle Scopes HELP!! Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T understanding Reticle

[BOL556]

I was hoping someone could explain this to me.

Additional Product Information about Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T 1 - 3x14 Rifle-Scope :
The Circle Dot Reticle : The Circle Dot reticle of the Mark 4 CQ/T is designed to offer fast target acquisition in any environment.
Dot Size : 3 MOA at 3x, 9 MOA at 1x.
Circle Size : Edge to edge, the subtension of the circle is 18 inches at 25 yards, or 6 feet at 100 yards when set on 3x. From the center of the dot to the edge of the circle, the subtension is 6 feet at 200 yards when set on 3x.
Circle Line : The width of the line creating the circle is large enough to be easily visible, but thin enough so as not to obliterate an 18-inch object at 500 yards when set on 3x.
Range Estimating : Place the target inside the circle of the CQ/T reticle. At 3x the diameter equates to 6 feet in height at 100 yards. At 200 yards, 6 feet is measured from the dot to the edge of the circle.

After reading the above at what distance should i zero at. also should I zero at no power or at 3 power and when i do this how much raise or fall in the bullet point of impact will there be. Cause the way i read this is if I zero at 50 yards or even 100 yards the bullet impact from zero power to 3 power is going to be about 1.5 inches high or am i reading it wrong.

 

[john2000]

Re: HELP!! Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T understanding Reticle

Zero will be zero no matter what magnification youre set at.
The dot size and ring diameter are just laid out so that at full magnification (3X) they can be used to estimate the range from your scope to your target.
The reason why you have to be at 3X to make this work is that this is a SFP (second focal plane) scope meaning the target will change size relative to your ring and dot when you zoom,as opposed to a FFP (first focal plane) scope where the target will be the same size relative to the reticle no matter what zoom youre at.
Search ranging and SFP/FFP and you will find tons of info.

Depending on your scopes height above the bore and bullet trajectory, the bullet will most likely cross your scopes line of sight twice.
Once when flying "up" through your line of sight and once when dropping below.
That means you will have two zero points, one at for instance 30 yards and one at for instance 100 yards.
Use PCB or other ballistic software to find your trajectory, preferrably after chronographing your muzzle velocity.
When you find your guns trajectory you can use this later to zero your weapon at any of these two distances, allthough the farthest will most likely give you more accuracy when you go beyond your zero point range.

John - out