I just got an M261 (thanks, Mike!), and I've played with it at the range, but I want to be a bit more practical with it.  I'd like to find a downloadable version of the marksmanship target the Army used with M261 .22 kits.  I know it's got separate point of aim and scoring areas to account for the drop of the .22LR round, but I don't know how far off that's supposed to be.  And while I THINK it's supposed to be used at 25 yards, maybe that's meters, or maybe it's something different.  

I have read the manual for the M261 kit itself, but it doesn't mention a special target, and I don't recall anything about them in the basic M16 or M4 manuals.  Any assistance would be appreciated.

(I also think that it might be nice to thumbtack stuff like a table of expected bullet drops at various ranges for .22LR in various length AR barrels, but that's just an idea.)

I reviewed the listings in this forum (I can only go back three pages) and I didn't see anything on this, so if I'm asking something that was covered thoroughly 32 days ago, I'm sorry.

As far as I know the standard 25m zero target is used for the M261 since at 25m the .22 duplicates the trajectory of the 5.56mm round. I could be wrong, but that’s what I deducted from reading the M261 manual.

It's easy enough to work this out yourself:

1. Zero your AR normally for normal range with .223.

2. Shoot .223 at 25 yards, see where it hits.

3. Now shoot .22 at 25, see where that hits.

4. Design your own target with properly offset aiming point.

You actually don't need a "target" at all, just an aiming point. Measure your progress by group size, whereever it prints.

Another thing you can do it buy a cheap scope or red dot and set it up to hit at the .22 POI. Then just go back to your regular sights for .223.

I know what target your talking about, still have one left over from the 80's.  

Basically it was a target with graph paper type lines on it.  Told you which way to adjust the sights on a M16A1 to get a 25m zero.  Used frequently in indoor ranges for zeroing with the .22lr M261kits.  

M16A1 Version



This is what the M16A2 version looks like

The posted targets don't seem to have any "secondary scoring area" for the .22LR drop?    

The Maryland AR-15 site used to have the targets for the Schedule C quals scaled for 25 yards, which included aiming points like the ones on the targets that are posted, but scaled for various ranges.  No extra scoring rings though.


What sights are you using?  If you have A2-type rear sights you can adjust for the .22LR.  I found with my detachable handle that if I used the IBZ (50yds) for the .223s then the 25yd setting for the .22LR was within a click or two of the 25yd setting for the .223s.  

I think on the scope it was something like 22 clicks up to go from a 50yd zero for the .223s to a 25yd zero for the .22LR.  I never figured out the adjustment for a .22LR at 50yds because the Ciener wasn't that accurate, but as I recall it shot several inches low at 50yds with the 50yd .223 zero.  

I got tired of dialing the scope around so I picked up some cheap Tasco see-through rings at a gun show for about $8 and stuck an old $20 4x I'd taken off a pawn shop .22 rifle and now I use that for the .22 kit and keep the 2-7x zeroed for the .223s.  With the irons I just dial the BDC wheel to 4+1 or whatever the zero worked out to be.