My first long range rifle endeavor

[stonewall308]

OK, so I have lots of experience with hunting rifles and handguns. I've sighted in plenty of scopes before, but I don't know a lot about long range shooting.

I have recently acquired a Remington 5R .308 and topped it with a SWFA SS 10x mil dot scope. I plan to sight it in and shoot it out to 300 yards over Christmas vacation.

Unless someone can recommend me something better, I plan to use Federal 168 Grain Sierra Match King Boat Tail Hollow Points.

Does anyone have any ballistic data that will give me a head start?

Federal's website indicates that I should be about 9'' low at 300 yards, so if each click is 1/4 MOA and I am zeroed at 200 yards that means 12 clicks on the elevation turret should put me on paper at 300 yards, right?

Does anyone else have any recommendations, input, etc.? Thanks a lot.

 

[cramey74]

From a 200 yd zero that should put you very close.

 

[ShtrRdy]

There is an online ballistic calculator that a lot of folks like to use. It's on jbmballistics.com. You can enter your bullet type, weight, velocity, and zero distance and it will tell you how much drop you have at various distances.

 

[Rade1MOA]

The correct way to do it would be to zero the gun at 100 yds, then shoot your 100 yd zero at 200 yds and measure how low the group is from center of the target. Then turn your measurement from inches into moa with this formula:

inches/range(must move the decimal two places to the left)=moa

6 inches/ 3.00(300 yds)= 2moa

If you have .25 moa turrets on your scope you can divide the answer in moa by 4 and that will tell you how many clicks.

repeat with your two hundred yard zero at three hundred yards. Don't go by the box or any one else's data. It will be close but not enough for precision shooting.

hope this helps....

 

[yellowXJ]

Some advice: get away from mixed units of measure. Since your scope is MOA, think in terms of MOA. Zero your rifle at 100 and then determine your dopes for other distances (in MOA). A ballistics program will get you very close at those short distances.

This will save a new shooter the misery of trying to convert inches to clicks to MOA to whatever else. Let the scope do the math!

 

[stonewall308]

The correct way to do it would be to zero the gun at 100 yds, then shoot your 100 yd zero at 200 yds and measure how low the group is from center of the target. Then turn your measurement from inches into moa with this formula:

inches/range(must move the decimal two places to the left)=moa

6 inches/ 3.00(300 yds)= 2moa

If you have .25 moa turrets on your scope you can divide the answer in moa by 4 and that will tell you how many clicks.

repeat with your two hundred yard zero at three hundred yards. Don't go by the box or any one else's data. It will be close but not enough for precision shooting.

hope this helps....

Thanks for the info everyone.


Just for my information, why is this more advantageous than what I described? With my hunting rigs I've always wanted them to be 1.5 or so inches high at 100 so they are zeroed at about 200 and should still be in the kill zone at about 250.


Also, lets say I shoot my actual rifle and I get data that says (just hypothetically) that with a 100 yard zero I am two inches low at 200 yards and eleven inches low at 300. Is there a program or formula I can plug this in to to approximate my 400 and 500 yard info? I currently don't have access to a range over 300 yards.

 

[yellowXJ]

The beauty of having an adjustable scope like you now have is you no longer have to rely on being "about 1.5" high at x yds." If you have a smart phone, invest $10 on a ballistics app such as shooter and you'll be able to be in the ballpark at just about any distance as long as you have accurate inputs to the other variables.

 

[jashmore1234]

Thanks for the info everyone.


Just for my information, why is this more advantageous than what I described? With my hunting rigs I've always wanted them to be 1.5 or so inches high at 100 so they are zeroed at about 200 and should still be in the kill zone at about 250.


Also, lets say I shoot my actual rifle and I get data that says (just hypothetically) that with a 100 yard zero I am two inches low at 200 yards and eleven inches low at 300. Is there a program or formula I can plug this in to to approximate my 400 and 500 yard info? I currently don't have access to a range over 300 yards.

Try "Ballestic" it spits out something similar to the below table. The second column is what you are looking for, so at 300 yards your drop from a 200 yard zero is 2.76 moa (11 clicks up from your zero), at 600 it is 14.01 (56 clicks up from your zero). moa if your bullet runs at 2650 fps. That should put you in the ball park and then log your results to add to your dope/ammo chart for that rifle.

Input Parameters
.308 Federal 168gr Sierra MatchKing BTHP


**0 ↓ -2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2657 2632 0.00
**100 1.84 1.76 0.00 0.00 2463 2263 0.12
**200 -0.06 -0.03 0.00 0.00 2278 1935 0.24
**266 ↑ -5.02 -1.79 0.00 0.00 2160 1737 0.33
**300 -8.67 -2.76 0.00 0.00 2100 1645 0.38
**400 -25.18 -6.01 0.00 0.00 1931 1391 0.53
**500 -51.04 -9.75 0.00 0.00 1771 1169 0.69
**600 -88.02 -14.01 0.00 0.00 1620 979 0.87
*Range* Drop Drop Wind. Wind. *Veloc.* Energy* Time

 

[Shoottothrill]

Your making this harder than it has to be. If you have a smart phone you can download Strelok ballistic app. for free. Input the rifle data and bullet data it asks for and then it will calculate your bullet drop from your zero to 1,000 yards in MOA. Just remember you have to provide accurate data to these apps., if you want accurate bullet drop tables in MOA. Then you range your distance and look at the table to get how much to adjust your scope. Super easy.