I much prefer outdoor shooting but living in suburbia doesn’t really allow it.

 

I live in suburbia, but BLM land is about 20 minutes to the east and USFS land is about the same to the south.

 

Happy Halloween. I was doing some pumpkin shooting yesterday with a new 22 magnum rifle. Fun stuff!!

 

So what is your expectation with a 36 yard zero? Why that distance?

 

A 36 yards zero will get you the tightest group out to 300 yards with a red dot on a AR15.

 

I was guessing that was the distance he had available to set up the range??

 

Yeah all my red dots on 5.56's are zeroed at 36. My 1-6 LPVO at 100yds, as the compensated reticle steps accordingly.

 

I too would zero a LPVO at 100yds and the red dots are all at 36yds. The Strike Eagles reticle would most likely prefer a 100yd zero. Otherwise you're giving up a lot of the benefits of having 8x magnification. Especially if it is a SFP version. Just my two cents being thrown in the bucket. I'm just glad someone is getting out there and shooting.

 

I was shooting pumpkins Saturday. The deer in my back yard love them. Oh, I was shooting a PTR [ MP-5 clone].

 

You were baiting your yard with pumpkins??? For deer???
Also, sounds like your POI was low. 🤷‍♂️

 

Generally, being "old school", I normally zeroed my ARs, just as we did, during my time in the service. Depending on which basic iron sight system, the weapon was equipped with.

During my time in LE, most of what the department had, was actual full sized M16A1s, except for one I had converted to a "carbine" with a 16" A1 Barrel, and CAR stock assembly. In that time frame, I went with a 50 yard zero, and we used 55 grain Federal Premium with the Nosler, as our ranges would normally be under 200 yards. I also had the "Selector Limiters", installed, to prevent full auto selection, for general use, since LEOs have to account for each round they have discharged.

I had modified my A2 Carry handle sights to the "latest" configuration, but have considered going to the 36 yard zero, for all of my BUIS, for a little more flexibility. If I need more "range", with my aging eyes, I'll need a scope!

 

 

View attachment 490985

You beat me to it. I saw his video on 36 yard zero. I figured if a Navy Seal prefers this sighting, and can explain/justify it, its definitely good for me

Hes so damn grouchy all the time, it cracks me up

 

There was an interesting article in the spring 2021 issue of Springfield's The Armory Life with respect to notion of sighting in at 36 yards. Below is a photo of the results (similar nto Mo's post above).

 

Problem is most ranges here are marked 25/50/100. Setting up at 36 is kinda difficult as they always insist you place targets at those ranges.

 

I think it is an age thing. As Willard stated earlier, it was the norm back then.

I always sighted at 50, because it was at least that distance that you had to lock in with your sights, to make a humane hit. The rudimentary ranges that we used for sighting, were set up for 20/50/100. The holdover was pretty simple back then too. Even irons on my first ARs were set for 50.

With my first dot sight, I just randomly picked 20, because it matched the range, and seemed sufficient for close quarters use. I remember playing around with the POA/POI between the sights and dots, at the 100 range, just to get an idea of holdover. No big mathematics or science involved. Heck, I used to be pretty good at Kentucky Windage, just by watching the leaves on the trees.

The math and science on the 36 zero seems to be spot on. I may take a day, and set one up that way. It would be interesting, for sure.

 

Can download and print on 8.5 x 11.

Nice because you can also clearly see your hits as you adjust. This is specifically for 55-gr FMJ (assuming X193), but it's worked pretty well for me with .55-gr 223 as well.

 

Can download and print on 8.5 x 11.


View attachment 490988



Nice because you can also clearly see your hits as you adjust.

Or you could just use Mo’s solution that I missed before posting my suggestion. 🤣

 

25 is 69% of 36. You could always use a reduced target and hang it at 25 yards.

 

I love those targets and use them a lot. My local outdoor range only goes out to 55 yds, so the adjusted ones really help.

 

What's nice is as the video pointed out, out to 300 yds you're pretty much within the size of a CD, so for combat you're good. My thing is when shooting close range or in tactical/competition stage I have to remember my holdover especially in smaller target areas or head shots at 'speed'. Circle-Dot reticles can help but unless in a large-window dot sight like an Eotech, I find them a bit too busy and prefer just the dot. So for say a head-shot in the 'A-zone', got remember to hold on the top of the forehead.

 

Hmm. Didn’t even think of that aspect. Depending on cartridge, 16 yards is a lot of difference Out of the barrel. May have to leave this old dog alone. 😳

 

I think it comes into play more for actual 'operators' or LE SWAT that may have to take a head shot in a live cover or hostage situation within room distance. But then a lot of competition also simulates that with no-shoot targets obscuring all but a small part of the intended target et al. It even comes into play with pistol red dots as there's still an offset from barrel and some shooters tend to yank a bit as they're shooting 'at speed'. But yeah a 2.5" or so offset from bore can be big at CQB distances. Just takes some practice to get used to holding a bit high within 15 yard or so.

My pistol-caliber-carbines I usually zero at around 45-0 feet because that's around the usual distance for steel/plate targets and about as far as it gets in CQG competition stages. Offset isn't as big up close as with rifle.

 

I think it comes into play more for actual 'operators' or LE SWAT that may have to take a head shot in a live cover or hostage situation within room distance. But then a lot of competition also simulates that with no-shoot targets obscuring all but a small part of the intended target et al. It even comes into play with pistol red dots as there's still an offset from barrel and some shooters tend to yank a bit as they'r shooting 'at speed'. But yeah a 2.5" or so offset from bore can be big at CQB distances. Just takes some practice to get used to holding a bit high within 15 yard or so.

My pistol-caliber-carbines I usually zero at around 45-0 feet because that's around the usual distance for steel/plate targets and about as far as it gets in CQG competition stages. Offset isn't as big up close as with rifle.

Yup. My holds are ingrained. Given the degradation of accuracy just from age, probably shouldn’t create uncertainty by changing my zero.

 

Also keep in mind that the target posted for 25yds adjusted for 36yd is for a typical Eotech or Red Dot with an absolute cowitness to lower-1/3rd mount height (like 1.41 to 1.6x" above rail). If you use like a 1.91" high mount or have your red dot way up on top of your scope like....

...it's going to change the impacts a bit, obviously.


On my gaming rifle that has a 1-6x scope, I have a 35˚ offset mount like this....

...so height over bore is still within that range.

 

With my own rifles, I rarely ever have access to ranges with distances extending beyond 100 yards, so I just zero them at 100. Ballistics has never been something in which I've had a lot of in-depth training, so discussions like this provide a lot of food for thought. Funny enough, this thread prompted me to look up the ballistic trajectory for a 100yd zero, and the first article that came up discussed a 36yd zero.

It has diagrams showing POIs for 36, 25 and 100yd zeros and is an interesting read if anyone is interested.

Is Your Carbine’s Zero Wrong? - The Armory Life

What distance should you zero your carbine at? 25 yards, 50 yards, 100 yards, or some other distance? Determining the correct zero for you will require some thought as well as some range time.

www.thearmorylife.com

 

My 1-6x scope has the ACSS reticle, which works great. My first 3-gun match, my best stage actually had plates out at 300 yds and I was sitting them at a good pace 1 for 1. The holdover marks were spot-on....

 

For those zeroing at BB/Pellet platform distances....drop the rifle/carbines & grab a scattergun...no zeroing required...point & click.

 

All bases covered....

 

Wears Filson, but shoots S&W Sport II. LOL.

 

Must have been an early thaw in Alaska

 

Well, I have fancier and modern outdoor gear, but nothing stands up to bashing through the puckerbrush or rolling around on the ground better than a Filson jacket or does as well in bad weather.

And it has lots of character marks from wearing it while shooting my various muzzleloaders. .32 squirrel rifle; .54 1803 Harpers Ferry replica (both flinters), and Great Plains, aka Hawken, caplock also in .54.

 

The 36 yard zero is the battle zero used on ACOGS. I have mine zeroed at that distance.

 

Doesn’t the strike eagles come with a BDC reticle? I remember when I had one years ago it had to be zeroed at 100 yards for the BDC to work.

The 36/300 is ideal for 5.56 with irons or back ups. Doesn’t obscure your target with the front post-and effective to 300