# Help me...what does my bulet do?



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

*Help me...what does my bullet do?*

If I sight in my .243 at 2 inches high at 25 yards, where will it be at 100 yards? Also, is it the same for my .270?


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

You need to look at your particular bullet's ballistics table.


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Here's a pretty good one for Winchester loads.

http://ballisticscalculator.winchester.com/


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## Linkovich (Oct 24, 2007)

Yeah, need to know what bullet you and gr you are shooting

If you're in the woods and need to know right now PM me your number and the bullet info and I can look it up and text it to you.


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## countryjwh (Nov 20, 2007)

It will most likely be a fudge higher if it's like mine. But unless yOu shoot it, it's hard to say.


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## Joraca (Dec 29, 2007)

Should make it hit very near the crosshairs at 25 yds.
That should be about 2 inches high at 100 yds.
2 inches high at 25 yards is 8 moa higher than that.
Or about 10 inches high at 100.
Joraca


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## jasoncooperpcola (Jan 2, 2008)

.243 wssm 95gr Ballistic Silvertip
Top center 25yds
Bottom Center 100yds
Top right 50yds


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Joraca said:


> Should make it hit very near the crosshairs at 25 yds.
> That should be about 2 inches high at 100 yds.
> 2 inches high at 25 yards is 8 moa higher than that.
> Or about 10 inches high at 100.
> Joraca


Well, that would explain why my daughter missed a deer yesterday. I was in a hurry to sight in her rifle because I had to put a new scope on the .243. I thought if I sighted it in 2" high at 25 yards it would be right on at 200 yards. Not sure what bullet I have her shooting, but it is a regular load, nothing fancy. For the record, she swore up and down she was right on the front shoulder. Actually makes me feel good that i was the one who screwed up.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

So to sight in at 25 yards, what should I be hitting?


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

And before anyone says it...yes, I'm an idiot for thinking it was a good idea to sight it like i did. I got in a hurry and didn't think it all the way through.


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## Buckyt (Oct 1, 2007)

Site it in about 1 1/2" high at 100 yards and you will be close to dead on at 200 yards.
I think the bullet will be real high at 100 yards if it is 2" high at 25 yards.


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## jasoncooperpcola (Jan 2, 2008)

Spooney, not sure on your daughters shooting abilities. But I would sight it dead nuts at 150yds. Then shoot 100, 50, and 25 yards to see how they hit. Then try 200yds. My goal would be to have an acceptable trajectory to 150 yds that will hit the vital area if you hold the scope where you want to hit. In other words no compensating until you get to 200yds. Keep it simple so she don't have to remember to hold low at 50yds etc. 

I went to the range for this reason today because I couldn't remember my trajectory on my rifle. I don't mind long shots. But to take any shot you are unsure of is unethical to me.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

She won't shoot over 100 yards. Her shot yesterday was about 75 yards. Pretty sure it was my fault. I got messed up last week because of the weather and had to make do with what I could. I'll head back to the range this week to set it right.


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## Joraca (Dec 29, 2007)

If I am sighting in a new scope, I start at 25 yds and make it shoot to the crosshairs. Adjustments are 4 times whatever the adjustments would be at 100. 

Then I move the target back to 100 yds. It may need small adjustments to make it shoot 1 1/2 or 2 inches high at that distance. If it sighted in like that, it will hit a deer out to 200 yds, and the sight-in shouldn't take very many bullets.

At less than 100 yards, it should be within 2 inches of the crosshairs.

If you want it closer than that at short ranges, start about 1/2 inch low at 25, then move the target back to 100 and make it shoot to the crosshairs.

Joraca


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

I plugged in the little info provided into the Winchester app.
Seems that even sighting for 500 yards ...which is the max for the app....you still only get .2 inches above bullseye at 25 yards. I'd imagine that at 100 yards the bullet is nearing the stratosphere....and the gun is unusable until you are able to get back to the range.
Frankly I'm surprised the scope even had that much adjustment to achieve a +2" at 25 yards!
FYI....it should be about -2" at 25 yards.....but that doesn't help you any right now.
Ps: in a pinch you could bore sight it without touching the windage. Just limit your shots to 50 yards.


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## bigbulls (Mar 12, 2008)

Never ever use a 25 yard sight in. 

If you sighted in two inches high at 25 yards then you would have been about a foot high at 100 yards.

If the bullets velocity is about 3000 fps, which it is for both a .243 & .270, sight in 2.5" high at 100 yards. 

This will put you dead zero at 25 yards
Three inches high at 150 yards. 
Zero at about 250 yards.
Three inches low at about 290 yards.

So, from the muzzle to 300 yards you can hold 1/3 up the body and punch the lungs and/or heart to 300 yards with out having to compensate at all.

This is called maximum point blank range zero and this is how I sight in all of my general purpose hunting rifles that have standard crosshairs and do not have exposed turrets that I use to dial in the drop in the field.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Well, I screwed up and my daughter lost a shot at a deer. Dumb dad...but lesson learned. Maybe somebody else will read this and save themselves a miss or a poor shot.


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## bigbulls (Mar 12, 2008)

Trust me, you aren't the first one to do that. And won't be the last.

At least you tried. I don't know how many times a year I hear stories of someone bore sighting their rifle and going straight to the woods with out ever firing a single shot. Then they come into the store pissed off because they missed or wounded a deer that they couldn't find and something *HAS* to be wrong with their scope or rifle.


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## jasoncooperpcola (Jan 2, 2008)

I know someone who did that.


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

bigbulls said:


> I don't know how many times a year I hear stories of someone bore sighting their rifle and going straight to the woods with out ever firing a single shot. Then they come into the store pissed off because they missed or wounded a deer that they couldn't find and something *HAS* to be wrong with their scope or rifle.


 Yep...not a good thing to do.....especially if you aren't familiar with doing it properly.
I can generally hit a pie plate at 50 yards after bore sighting a rifle.....but I wouldn't want to trust it for a hunt. There is always next time.
A good bore sight job requires a way of stabilizing the rifle so that it cant move, and the patience to check the sight picture time and time again...until its perfect.
It also helps if you can back up a ways from the rifle....it eliminates a lot of parallax error when looking down the bore.


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## deersniper270 (Apr 29, 2009)

I wish the Winchester ballistics site gave you the option to sight in at a different level than zero. I sight my 270win in at 1 inch high at 100 yards. According to the sight, zero at 100 makes me 2.9 inches low at 200. I usually hit less than an inch low at 200. My bullet drop on my 6 point a few years back at 265 yards was about 4 inches. It suggests 6 inch drop at 250 and 11 at 300. I guess my elevation of about 30ft up a tree effected my bullet drop. 
Also, the chart say -0.7 inches at 25 yards for me dead on at 100.

Either way I would suggest sighting in at 100 yards at least and don't trust the ballistics chart completely. Only putting rounds down range will tell you the whole truth.


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## jasoncooperpcola (Jan 2, 2008)

^^^^ yep.

On my recent range thread y'all will notice my last few replies. I wasn't blabbering lol. I was making a record I can find of what my bullets were doing. When I hit a 200yd range then I will add that info.


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

deersniper270 said:


> I wish the Winchester ballistics site gave you the option to sight in at a different level than zero. I sight my 270win in at 1 inch high at 100 yards. According to the sight, zero at 100 makes me 2.9 inches low at 200. I usually hit less than an inch low at 200. My bullet drop on my 6 point a few years back at 265 yards was about 4 inches. It suggests 6 inch drop at 250 and 11 at 300. I guess my elevation of about 30ft up a tree effected my bullet drop.
> Also, the chart say -0.7 inches at 25 yards for me dead on at 100.
> 
> Either way I would suggest sighting in at 100 yards at least and don't trust the ballistics chart completely. Only putting rounds down range will tell you the whole truth.


Don't think of the sight in distance as something you have to achieve at the range. Think of it as the optimal distance for your bullet to hit the crosshair.
You want to keep the bullets track within 3 inches of the crosshair ( -3 to +3). 
Depending on the height of your scope over the center of your barrel....probably somewhere between 1.5 and 2 inches for a hunting rifle....your bullet will be -2 when it exits the barrel.
At 25 yards it hasn't had much time to climb towards the center line yet - and will still be around -1.5 to -2.
Your bullet should cross the centerline TWICE....once before 100 yards and once after 100 yards.
The "sight in" distance is calculated to give you a center of the arc height of no more than +3.
For my 7mm mag I have a sight in of 250 yards. I have never been able to test it....but when I put that distance into the calculator....it tells me that I will be +2" at 100 yards. That is what you want to adjust your rifle to at the range.
No way of telling if the 250 yard mark will be exact without testing....but its the best you can do on a 100 yard range - and should be pretty accurate if you entered all the info correctly in the calculator.
The last thing you need to do it memorize the hold over/under for the various distances....so that you know you need to aim 2" under where you actually want to hit at 100 yards.
If you set the rifle up this way - even if you forget everything...you will still hit within 3'' of where you aim - at least between 0 yards and 300.


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## deersniper270 (Apr 29, 2009)

Yeah I agree. I just hold where I want to hit and know it'll be within a few inches. I've shot mine out to 200 yards at our range. But I have killed one at 265 and 385. The 385 was a hold high and see what happens shot. Prob not the most ethical thing to do but I hit her right in the center of her shoulder so it worked out.


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## One Shot (Dec 19, 2007)

2 inches high at 25 yards will proabably have you about 4.5 or so inches high at 100, at 25 yards you would want to be about .5 low


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## GWally (May 16, 2009)

One Shot said:


> 2 inches high at 25 yards will proabably have you about 4.5 or so inches high at 100, at 25 yards you would want to be about .5 low


I have been playing with some longer range rifles set up for LR target shooting and have found that if you go to the ballistics calculators (Hornady has one, I used to use Bergers) with a little research on the cartridge you are shooting, you can get a lot better idea.

I just ran the numbers on a 95gr bullet (I used a Hornady with a Ballistic coefficient of .355 which should be in the ballpark) at 3000 fps (another ballpark figure not knowing what you are shooting).

I just moved my max range to 600 yds and zero at 500 yds to see what came up. It showed 1.9" high at 25 yards and 10.4" high at 100 yards, back to zero at 500 and 24.4" low at 600. 

The table shows that at .3 low at 25 yards, the bullet will be 1.6" high at 100 yards and at zero at 200 yards. I'll see if I can put in some numbers to see how high you probably were at 100.

The way I would attack it is. Identify the bullet first. Say it is a Winchester you should be able to go to the website and get a ballistic coefficient. The BC and muzzle velocity are the 2 numbers you need to plug into the chart. Then you can play with different zero ranges and see where the bullet falls.

I've used numbers like this and been able to zero in at 100 yards, adjust the impact point up as the chart says and be right on at 600 yards. These calculators are very accurate once you have the basics. 

Do the same with the 270. 

It is nice to know just what the bullet is doing in case you get a longer than expected shot. Nice to know how much holdover you need to be on target.

Kind of long winded. Hope it is of some use.

I googled Hornady Ballistics Calculator for the computation.


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## GWally (May 16, 2009)

*How about +10.4"*

Just for grins, I juggled some numbers. I put in a 500 yard zero range, 600 yards max.
It showed +1.9" at 25 yards and +10.4" high at 100 yards, back down to 0 at 500 and 24.4" down at 600.

I played a little and .3" low at 25 yards looks real good. It brings zero at 200, +1.6" high at 100, -1.2" at 225 yds and only -2.8" at 250yds. It was .6" high at 50 yds. 

This pretty much gives you a zero correction hold from too close to 250.
HTH

Hope she gets another chance.


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## Firefishvideo (Jul 1, 2010)

Just curious....What are you guys using as your scope height over the barrel? Seems like your predictions have the bullet climbing nearly 2' in 25 yards. Could be correct...but wondered if some of the predictions are not taking into account the scope height. It will make a bit of a difference.


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## bigbulls (Mar 12, 2008)

Default for pretty much all ballistics calculators is 1.5" above center of bore.


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## GWally (May 16, 2009)

Hornady calculator is 1.5" with option to set another value.


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