Hey all,

My local range only goes to 30 yards.  It has increments of 5, starting at 10 and going to 30.  My question is this, if I zero my rifle for the 30 yard mark, is it simply expected that I have to aim slightly higher in order to hit my target at say 10 yards?  From my understanding the front sight is 2.5" above the barrel, so it is expected that when zeroed for further ranges, in order to hit close targets you will simply have to aim slight up to compensate for this?  

I have been doing a lot of reading on proper zeroing and it seems the general consensus is to zero for 100 yards, however in my case I don't think that would make sense since the furthest target my range has is 30 yards.

Right now at 10 yards, with the factory zero (brand new rifle), my groupings all fall about 2 inches below where I aim.  If I wanted to zero at 10 yards, I'm not even sure if the front sight post could move up(?) high enough to make it so my barrel tilts down enough to get on target.  Any one have experience zeroing at these closer distances (10-30 yards)?  Thanks.

An M16 or M4 variant can be zeroed at 25m.

M16/A2 25m zero target
M4 25m zero target


Yes, if you zero at 30m you will have to aim high(er) to compensate for shorter distances.
Human size target, no. Golfball, yes.

Given those limits, I would set the zero target at 25 yards, and adjust so that the 3 shot group is centered around a point 1.25 inches below point of aim.

That should give you a 50/225 zero, which means you can center hold on a ten inch target out to 225 yards with no hold over or hold under.


For a target across a room, if you want to hit him in the eye, aim at his hairline.

You need to play around with a ballistics calculator.  I wouldn't recommend zero'ing for 10yrds, even if you had enough adjustment in your front sight, you would be hitting some 20" high at 100yrds.  30 would be good though.  The 25m/300m zero is common.  Check out this article:

http://www.ammoland.com/2014/06/how-to-zero-your-ar-15-rifle/#axzz4PNjtWvnB

50 meters (55 ish yards) is a 200 meter zero as well. In theory, 1.25 in low at 25 willbe the same thing.This will get you within ~4 inches of POA anywhere from point blank to 300 meters.
Cheers

You'd be on much further than 225 yards.

Topic Moved

Absolutely.... do this.

If OP wanted a 36/300 zero, he would adjust 1 inch below POA?

With that 300 yard zero and typical 55 grain FMJ from a 16" barrel my Strelok+ software says he would have almost a 5.5" high midrange trajectory at 170-190 yards, though.  That would be way too much deviation for me unless I did not intend to shoot inside of 300.  At a 30 yard distance it is shown to be .25" low.



The same software recommends a 246 yard zero (basically a 250 zero) that will result in a bullet path that is within 3.0" of POA from his muzzle to about 290 yards, where it will be 3" low.  It will be 3.9"low at 300. This is the traditional "point blank range" zero for 55 FMJ from a carbine barrel.  At a 30 yard range distance it is shown as .70" low.

Of course, these are ballistic software estimates at sea level and typical MV and will need to be tweaked at the range.  Small differences in setting zero at short range, like the 30 yard range  that OP uses, become huge out at 250-300 yards, though.  You might think that the difference between being .25" low at 30 yards and .70" low (less than 1/2") at 30 yards would not change bullet flight much, but the midrange trajectory is very different down range.  That is why it is important to try to find a longer shooting range to verify the zero.



Note:  These charts reflect the amount of correction needed to achieve a zero at the given distances.  You have to think backwards to achieve bullet impact.  Thus the .25" and .70" numbers for 30 yard zero indicate how low the bullet is on the target at the zero distance. Those negative midrange numbers actually indicate how high above POA the bullet is at that distance -the amount you would "click" down in inches to rezero at the given distances.  They reflect the amount of movement and direction to correct the zero. Thus, positive values are below POA and negative values are actually the distance above POA.  Hope this makes sense.

This is a great video about zeroing distances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL5Oz4M5NVs&t=14s&index=51&list=WL

Thanks much MS556 and ARgonot for posting that stuff!