[bpaulson88]

I am looking at some info on what the best way for zeroing in my lapua would be. I am new to the long distance shooting. I bought the Savage 110 BA in 338 and topped it with the Nightforce NXS 8*32 *56.' Was looking at shooting hornady 250 match ammo. I am probably looking at shooting to about 1200 yards and just want to make sure I zero in at a correct distance to acquire my goal. Thanks for any advice as I know I am a rookie in this game. Thanks again.

 

[blwebster]

Does it have a canted rail base and what cant is it?

 

[ddd oo7]

Welcome to the forums.

100 yards is pretty standard.

However...if you are asking that question you would be better suited with a caliber that is easier and cheaper to learn on. This sport is more than just picking up a rifle and hitting things at distance...and it is not easy to learn with the recoil of a 338lm. A 6.5 CM would hit 1200 yards as well. It would also be much cheaper to shoot. It would have much less recoil, and therefore would be more conducive to learning the sport of precision shooting.

There are many many guys here with a lot of experience. These guys have learned from spending money, trying things, and figuring out what does and does not work. It would be very wise of you to ask some of the more seasoned shooters BEFORE making another purchase as their experience can save you money, time, and headache.

 

[Cliffy]

Zero at 100 yds

Cliffy

 

[MitchAlsup]

The long range game is played with adjustable scopes, every distance, every inclination, every wind condition requires the dials set differently.

Once you start shooting, you will have a set of dial settings for 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards,..... all the way out.
It does not mater what you set your zero at, as long as you know how to manipulate the dials from point blank to way out there.
100 yards is pretty standard for long range shooting, 600 yards is standard for military sniping.

After you have set the dials, no mater at what distance they are set, they are your zero--that is the cross hairs are the zero, not the number on the dials.

 

[bpaulson88]

Thanks, I am not new to shooting. I have several rifles and been shooting for years. This rifle actually has probable half of the recoil of my 30-06 for instance with the weight and muzzle break. Which I shoot out to about 500 yards with ease but know that that is about to the end of its ability, and mine for that weapon. I am also aware of how expensive the ammo is and the weapon and optics that i have acquired. I just knew there are shooters on here with much more experience than I and wanted some input before spending a bunch of money sighting it in to find out I should have done something different. I know this gun is capable of far more than I am asking of it But figured if I were going to get a long range weapon I might as well put the big boy pants on right away as far as the rifle and hopefully I will be able to catch up to it with some time and practice.

 

[bpaulson88]

Welcome to the forums.

100 yards is pretty standard.

However...if you are asking that question you would be better suited with a caliber that is easier and cheaper to learn on. This sport is more than just picking up a rifle and hitting things at distance...and it is not easy to learn with the recoil of a 338lm. A 6.5 CM would hit 1200 yards as well. It would also be much cheaper to shoot. It would have much less recoil, and therefore would be more conducive to learning the sport of precision shooting.

There are many many guys here with a lot of experience. These guys have learned from spending money, trying things, and figuring out what does and does not work. It would be very wise of you to ask some of the more seasoned shooters BEFORE making another purchase as their experience can save you money, time, and headache.

Thanks, I am not new to shooting. I have several rifles and been shooting for years. This rifle actually has probable half of the recoil of my 30-06 for instance with the weight and muzzle break. Which I shoot out to about 500 yards with ease but know that that is about to the end of its ability, and mine for that weapon. I am also aware of how expensive the ammo is and the weapon and optics that i have acquired. I just knew there are shooters on here with much more experience than I and wanted some input before spending a bunch of money sighting it in to find out I should have done something different. I know this gun is capable of far more than I am asking of it But figured if I were going to get a long range weapon I might as well put the big boy pants on right away as far as the rifle and hopefully I will be able to catch up to it with some time and practice.

 

[bpaulson88]

Thanks for the replys. Looks like 100 yards it is. Has anyone has much experience with the Nightforce NXS 8-32?
Good
Bad
other

 

[bpaulson88]

Does it have a canted rail base and what cant is it?

yes it came with a 20 Moa cant on it

 

[Cliffy]

The long range game is played with adjustable scopes, every distance, every inclination, every wind condition requires the dials set differently.

Once you start shooting, you will have a set of dial settings for 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards,..... all the way out.
It does not mater what you set your zero at, as long as you know how to manipulate the dials from point blank to way out there.
100 yards is pretty standard for long range shooting, 600 yards is standard for military sniping.

After you have set the dials, no mater at what distance they are set, they are your zero--that is the cross hairs are the zero, not the number on the dials.

Why would they zero at 600?


Cliffy

 

[ddd oo7]

The problem with a zero farther than 100y is that atmospheric conditions come into play. A 600 yard zero for example will walk by several inches depending on temperature, humidity, pressure, and such like. 100y zero will not walk in amounts that will be measured by the practical precision shooter. That means that with a 100 yard zero it does not matter what temp it is when you zero...it will always be zero. Then plug the atmospheric conditions into the calculator in order to get the precise 500, 600, or 1200 yard solution.

 

[Cliffy]

The problem with a zero farther than 100y is that atmospheric conditions come into play. A 600 yard zero for example will walk by several inches depending on temperature, humidity, pressure, and such like. 100y zero will not walk in amounts that will be measured by the practical precision shooter. That means that with a 100 yard zero it does not matter what temp it is when you zero...it will always be zero. Then plug the atmospheric conditions into the calculator in order to get the precise 500, 600, or 1200 yard solution.

That why I zero at 100 yd

Cliffy

 

[tarheel7734]

They dont zero at 600 yards or meters in the military. We shot out to 1k regularly on the range and further in some cases. Depending on what rifle and what range. Downrange most were much closer especially in Iraq. Afghanistan in the mountains we could get out there.

 

[Orkan]

They dont zero at 600 yards or meters in the military. We shot out to 1k regularly on the range and further in some cases. Depending on what rifle and what range. Downrange most were much closer especially in Iraq. Afghanistan in the mountains we could get out there.

They did back when everyone had a fixed 10x on their rifle. Which is why it's rage inducing when I see someone still say that "military zero's at 600m."

 

[NinjaKitten]

i use factory Winchester ammo and their accompanying ballistics chart. seems to work fairly well for me. They have an app you can download on your Iphone.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just do it like a normal rifle... first start with bore sighting at 50 yards so you can get on paper. I like to use my driveway for this I aim at my garage and align the crosshairs to the laser. Get yourself some 2'x3' sheets of paper which are used for drafting and set them up at 100 yards. Once you are zerod at 100 yards you can either stay there or move out to 200 or 300 yards and zero there. This is within the maximum point blank range so you wont need to make much adjustment between 0-300 yards.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[NinjaKitten]

I find this one helpful too

 

[livinginkaos]

I have a 110 BA .338 as well. I will tell you from my experience, if you haven't already, you will want to do a break down and re-torque everything on reassembly. Then take it out and break the thing in, do a complete run thru re-torque again, realign your zero and work from there. I've gotten to where I'm hitting 1000-1200 pretty decently. I've only been going over 500 for about 6 mo. so I still have a crap ton to learn myself. I have shot further, but I am pretty sure my inconsistencies out there are more with my calculations than anything. I am probably due for a barrel change here soon as well, so there is that.

As for distance of zero - I was told by a few folks that until I was shooting 1500+, 100 yd was ideal especially for learning - after that maybe take it to 300- but not necessarily. You have more than plenty of range on your scope for adjustment at 100 to get you out that distance. Plus you want to be able to dial back and hit closer targets if you start running into inconsistencies to help troubleshoot- and adding an under target alignment into the mix just complicates things depending on your reticle.

 

[sabotslinger2k2]

I have a 110BA. When I tried to zero at 100 yards my rounds were all over the place. 1st round 3" left next round 6" right, next 4" high. Scope was correctly mounted and tight. I qualified expert in the Army everytime with the M16 out to 300yds so I know it was not because I was THAT bad of a shot. after some research I was told that some of the bigger Magnum rounds have to have more time to "Go To Sleep". Basically these rounds do not stabilize untill around 200-300yds. This seems counter intuitive to me. I thought that a round was as "stable" as it was going to be coming out of the muzzle and would begin to "wobble" as it lost velocity. I moved back to 200ds and sure enough my group became consistant at about 1 MOA. Has anyone else ever heard of this "Go To Sleep" Thing?

 

[yorkx63]

Thanks, I am not new to shooting. I have several rifles and been shooting for years. This rifle actually has probable half of the recoil of my 30-06 for instance with the weight and muzzle break. Which I shoot out to about 500 yards with ease but know that that is about to the end of its ability, and mine for that weapon. I am also aware of how expensive the ammo is and the weapon and optics that i have acquired. I just knew there are shooters on here with much more experience than I and wanted some input before spending a bunch of money sighting it in to find out I should have done something different. I know this gun is capable of far more than I am asking of it But figured if I were going to get a long range weapon I might as well put the big boy pants on right away as far as the rifle and hopefully I will be able to catch up to it with some time and practice.

I've been shooting bA 110 338 Lapua
for years I would recommend if you have a bolt action rifle to see if you can bore sight your scope to make sure that it is perfectly aligned at a hundred yards and then zero it at at least 400 yards so when you go to dial it out it will hit what you want