Scope Zeroing?

[johnwoitalla]

Considering that each kind/weight of pellet may have it’s own POI, how do you guys zero a newly mounted scope? I’m mounting a Meopta Optika 5 4-20x44 SFP on my Air Airms S410 today and then I’ll be off to the range tomorrow. I plan on shooting 16gr and 18gr JSB’s, and 21gr Beeman Kodiaks. Hopefully, I’ll be using the gun mostly for ground squirrels and/or starlings. In the past I had a lower priced Weaver 4-16x44 and pretty much only shot Kodiaks out of it and rarely took shots past 75yds. I figure most shots will be between 15yds and 50yds. 

 

[tnbndr]

Pick the one you plan on shooting the most and zero that pellet at your max distance. Then shoot the other pellet at same distance and holding crosshairs center and see where it impacts from there you can figure your hold over or under at that distance for that pellet.

Then move to a closer distance and figure out the holdover/under for each pellet and create a cheat sheet and tape it to your stock or????

 

[esingle]

Hello first congratulations on your new scope (I have 2 Meopta scopes and they are great). Make sure every thing is level and tight (torqued correctly) , eye relief is correct (set on highest magnification when setting it) , and reticle is correctly focused. Then I use airgun.net trajectory calculator and put all my scope, pellet and gun info in and make a copy of it so I have a base line. With this program you can play with the zero ranges so you can find the flattest trajectory for the distances you are going to shoot and confirm them tomorrow at the range. I would start my zero at 10yds to my holdover point compared to the data from the trajectory calculator ex. make sure windage is dead on and drop is correct (holding on your target at 10 yds you should lets say 1.5 inches low as per your data, then 15 yds 1.25 low then 20 yds poa-poi is this what your data says). One last thing take notes and adjust the trajectory data sheet to your true results as it just a guide to get you close I hope this helps Eric

 

[Brent]

Esingles way will work if your techy, if not tnbndr has the other option. I would pick the one that works best in my rifle and make a cheat sheet for the others as a backup. Both ways will work fine though. There is always more than one path.

 

[dizzums]

i use a ballistics program to choose the zero point based on the longest 'point blank' hold that gives about an inch of vertcal deviation ... other than that, to actually zero a scope the quickest way is with a solid hands free rest .. take one shot, and twist the turrets to align the hairs with the pellet hole ...

* for multiple weights/speeds what i would do is run the numbers for all of them and come up with an average .. i wouldnt actually do that because it puts you at a supreme disadvantage and reduces the point blank range .. thats whats important in a real situation, its got to be spontaneous where you can just point and shoot when your after vicious tree nutters lol .. thats why i chuckle to myself when i see people with multi thousand dollar setups with 1000$ scope and wheel adjusters and bipods etc etc .. theres no time for all that in a serious situation .. theyre just wingnuts that punch paper and likely will miss almost every opportunity in a real war with out of control rabid bunnies and tree rats lol .. but they can make that 200y shot on paper with 20 mins of setup with that wonder gun with swugs, yep ..

 

[JungleShooter]

Wow, Dizzums, that's a lot of scorn — for people that simply choose a different shooting style and hunt different quarry than you do....

Hope all is well with you.

Matthias



PS: Dizzums, I like your method — like you I would try to maximize the PBR.

 

[dan_house]

" thats why i chuckle to myself when i see people with multi thousand dollar setups with 1000$ scope and wheel adjusters and bipods etc etc"



Dizzums, man youve got it wrong.... the whole reason to have those ^^^ setups is to keep the rabid bunnies and kamikaze nutters from getting closer than 200 yards.....

 

[CyberDyneSystems]

It's always going to change a little from pellet to pellet (weight and brand etc.) As mentioned, pcika favorite for zeroing, then go from thre.



Another congrats on the Meopta. I've got two now including another 4-20 SFP (mine is x50mm) They are absolutely my favorite optics now and I am considering swapping in Meopta for all my other scopes.

 

[elh0102]

John, you're going to have a meaningful POI difference with those pellets. As others recommended, choose one and zero with it. Method is personal preference. I've become a fan of the system some FT shooters use. Start shooting at about 10 yards, and move out at 5 yard increments. As the pellet begins to strike high, adjust the scope for that POI. When finished, you will have a range of dead-on hold, maybe 20-35 yards, and the POI will be low at all other ranges, closer or farther. In that way, you never hold under, which I find less intuitive than holding over. The trade-off, you will have a greater hold over at extended ranges. But, if you know that holdover, I don't see that as a problem.