The Zero Check Thread

[Tahr]

@outdoorlad I would be happy with that. I use all sorts of brass for my .223's. I use straight lines of GFL brass or something good for sighting in and then what ever is on hand for the hunting. ADI, Geco, PMC, GFL, Federal, Rem and Winchester - it all goes bang and is good on anything. I do prefer to use straight lines of brass if I have it but seldom have enough so it's often mixed*. Some of the ranges on wallaby are getting out there and I don't miss much really. I think a consistently shooting gun is more important than fussing too much over hand loading and brass.

* A nice forum man sent me a couple of hundred sized and neck turned PMC and some Winchester out of the blue. Refuses payment. Popping primers into those and using them as straight lines has been a rare treat.

[outdoorlad]

@Tahr Yes I agree 100% about a rifle shooting consistently

[gimp]

223 64gn Berger, the left group is with some Hornady brass I had from that old training ammo they used to sell that I loaded up to try.

The right group is with my normal load (American eagle brass, think it’s federal and there’s not a centred flash hole on any of them )

Both just under an inch, interesting that the Hornady brass was quite a bit slower, ES a bit average on both but I really shoot past 250 with it so I’m not worried

Attachment 273154

ES is a bad measure - look at the SD

I have yet to see any .223 load produce a (meaningfully measured) SD of less than 12 or so with any consistency. You're in the normal range for .223.


How's your zero holding?

[gimp]

The 223 on deer thread has urged me to set up an 18' 223 to run on general pest control.

I picked up a 8 twist barrel off of a mate recently, cut it back to 18" and have been running the same load my tikka varmint likes.

has only been on some small missions, not rough pack in pack out type stuff. checked zero over the weekend.

Date: 18/03/2025
Range: 100m
Rifle: Tikka t3 .223
Optic: Vortex PST Gen1 2.5-10
Mounts: Nightforce ultralight 30mm 6 screw
Ammunition: Hornady 80gr ELDm Relaods - GG Brass - 2206h - CCI450
Context: Last zero checked 5th march after installing barrel. has since been rattled around in the ute and been taken out on the farm. nothing strenuous.

Attachment 271871

Shifted left 0.1MRAD ? or was that in line with the prior zero?

[outdoorlad]

ES is a bad measure - look at the SD

I have yet to see any .223 load produce a (meaningfully measured) SD of less than 12 or so with any consistency. You're in the normal range for .223.


How's your zero holding?

Solid as a rock I got a box of Fed205M primers to try (use cci400) to see if that changes anything

[Tentman]

Recently Ive been really enjoying a Kimber 84M Hunter in 308, it's bowled a couple of deer (missed one too) and quite a few goats. It's now on its third scope upgrade to NF SHV 3-10x42. I can just get it to shoot at 10 into 1.0 MOA occasionally, I find it a very difficult rifle to extract 9 or 10 shot groups from as it punishes any inconsistency of hold. So let's call it how I mostly can shoot it, a tad over 1.5 MOA, and with that it does what about 75% plus of the rifles I see at the range do.

This raises the question of how to zero such a rifle, recently I tested 3 different holds at 100M and between a free recoil hold using my benchrest gear, and a loose bipod the vertical was 96mm. I get the most consistent results using benchrest gear but with a strong shoulder hold and left hand on the fore-end "getting over the rifle". But that's not going to mean anything out on the hill, not too many benchrest stands out there. So with that in mind I've been playing with a different approach to zeroing. I use two magazines of ammo at each stage, 6 rounds, as that usually finds the fliers.

This afternoon after work I headed to the range in perfect conditions, no wind and no-one else there. I proceeded to get a rough zero of 6 rounds of the bench at 100M using the BR gear with firm hold. BallisticX told me the group ran 1.8 MOA and was 28mm high, I needed 62mm so went up 4 clicks (29mm).

The next group of 6 was shot off a held bipod, it also ran nearly 1.8MOA and was 90mm high. Bear in mind that it should have now been 60mm high, but we have this hold variation thing going.

Next step is to go back to 200M and here I shot a sitting group using crossed walking poles. I felt I was holding about 2.00 MOA but the resulting group was 2.4 MOA as I had two loose shots. However all would have resulted in dead animals and the "vertical" was spot on. As this is how most of my shots are taken at distance out on the hill I can be pretty confident with this.



From there it was back to the 300Y (275M) mound for 6 rounds shot off a bipod, no bag or matt, just me and rifle. Dialed the 8 clicks the app asked of me. The result was a 2.0 MOA group with only one slightly loose shot, again with a bang on vertical.


I think this should do me out to my personal limit of 350M or so, and I hope to refine it further with more practise.

[Trout]

Deer will tell you if you are on target,enjoy.

[gimp]

Deer will tell you if you are on target,enjoy.

They will not tell you if the statement "zero does not move" is actually true, however. That is the question we are looking to answer in this thread.

[gimp]

And set zero for 80s, back to handloads. Group strung a bit. Zero looks perfect but I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually 0.1 R accounting for the wind. We shall see. Sorted for roar hunting.

Attachment 270007

Checked this zero a couple of days later to confirm - 8 March



Then checked again today 2 May before going in the hills next week. Has been on a couple of hunting trips up and down the South Island and shot 5 deer and a pig. Zero still good within 0.05mil, I am not feeling like I'm shooting well today.




March F 3-24x42
Talley ultralight torqued to 20inlb

[Trout]

That last group a bit rough,bullet holes every where.

[gimp]

Yeah it's a whole 0.8 MOA pretty bad

[Trout]

Just recheck zero after new suppresser fitted.My 5 shot group was a bit rough too with my 308.
Guess Il have to include the flyer,if my eyes are reading right.
About .75 moa.At $5 a shot,I only need 5 shots to prove the rifle is accurate enough for hunting with a thermal clipon on front of day scope.

[gimp]

Just recheck zero after new suppresser fitted.My 5 shot group was a bit rough too with my 308.
Guess Il have to include the flyer,if my eyes are reading right.
About .75 moa.At $5 a shot,I only need 5 shots to prove the rifle is accurate enough for hunting with a thermal clipon on front of day scope.
Attachment 274334

Is this the same group as

Just over layed 4 shots out of 5 with my tika 308 thru thermal clip on.
Na just got new suppresser and did a rezero at a hundy.2 clks right got to be ok.
Attachment 271372
Attachment 271373
No fancy measuring gear,just a ruler

How's it holding zero?

[Trout]

Hi gimp,yes its the same group.I just didnt measure group.To move on zero I just dialed day scope 2 clicks.I not going to check it again,i know its right.