Zeroing a Hunting Rifle
Have you not brought out your rifle in a while, changed your ammunition, or perhaps mounted a suppressor? There are many reasons to confirm your rifle's zero. For many, it's a matter of course, while for others, it involves significant thought. But one thing is certain: it's every hunter's responsibility to ensure that their firearm is properly zeroed before going out to hunt.
Why You Should Zero Your Own Rifle
Being able to zero the scope on your own rifle is not – but perhaps should be – mandatory knowledge when obtaining your hunting license. For most, it's a straightforward task, but there are also hunters who are unsure of how to do it and therefore prefer to leave the zeroing to someone more knowledgeable. But what guarantees that the person zeroing your rifle shoots the same way you do?
Check Your Firearm
Before you start shooting, you should check your rifle. Modern firearms may vary in design, but certain things remain the same.
On a classic bolt-action rifle, the stock bolts should be properly tightened. On a firearm with a barrel change system, equivalent screws should be checked and tightened evenly – the manufacturer specifies how tightly the screws should be secured – as an action not properly secured in the stock often results in target patterns that wander.
On a classically designed rifle, the stock should never rest directly against the barrel. The barrel should either be completely free-floating in the stock, which is most common, or have constant pressure against the barrel all the time as with full-stock models. A rifle barrel that is partially free-floating can result in a shifting point of impact if the stock wood swells in wet weather. The same effect can be seen if you place the barrel directly against a hard surface, such as resting the rifle barrel on the edge of a tower.
If your rifle has detachable scope mounts, ensure that the screws are securely fastened, as well as the anchoring of the scope rings. However, the screws for the upper part of the rings should not be tightened too firmly, as it can damage the scope. Let a professional assist you if you feel uncertain about mounting.
Save Time with a Rough Adjustment
If you have a completely new scope mounted and your firearm allows for it, you save both time and ammunition by making a rough adjustment. When we say the firearm allows for it, we mean that you can remove the bolt to look through the barrel – something you can't do with a semi-automatic rifle, for example. There are also products on the market to make this process easier, including items that work as a laser pointer through the barrel, which also works well with the action closed.
Place your rifle firmly on a shooting bench, look through the barrel towards the target, center the target's ring in the barrel, and try to hold the firearm as steady as possible. Raise your gaze through the scope and ensure that the reticle is inside the target. If not, adjust your scope until you are inside the target before you start shooting.
Time to Start Shooting
Once the firearm is checked, it's time to zero your rifle. If you want to start with practice ammunition, that's entirely acceptable – but don't make the mistake of assuming that this is sufficient zeroing if you intend to hunt with something else. Each bullet can behave differently in your rifle, and zeroing for hunting should be done with the ammunition you intend to use. For instance, switching from lead to copper bullets, you may experience a slightly different point of impact with the first shot.
Select a zeroing target that suits your reticle and is easy for you to aim at. NORMA's own zeroing targets – which you can often find at our retailers or download from our website – are good targets that allow you to center the scope in the target with its ring and a grid with centimeter grading to easily calculate how much you need to adjust. The square in the middle should have roughly the same amount of white space around the center of your reticle.
A Good Support Is Key
Zeroing with poor support wastes both time and ammunition. If you don't have access to a proper shooting bench, you should aim for the same support that such a bench offers – preferably a bench of sturdy wood and/or a sandbag for your rifle to rest on stably. Prone shooting can also be beneficial, with a sandbag at the front and back of your rifle.
If you are not an experienced shooter who has been confident with your firearm for a long time, you should not draw conclusions from individual shots. Instead, aim for a series of at least three shots and then draw conclusions from the pattern you have. If the shot pattern deviates more than ten centimeters, you should either get new support or check your equipment before adjusting your scope. Shooting practice is a significant factor here – trigger shyness and poor trigger releases can cause erratic shot patterns, where you "flinch" with your shots. Shooting practice is the right remedy, and dry firing can also be very effective.
Adjusting Your Scope
Most scopes on the market work on the same principle: you adjust the sight in the direction you want to move the point of impact. For example, if your point of impact is low to the right, you turn the sight according to the arrows – up and to the left. The distance each click moves the point of impact varies between manufacturers, but typically it's about one centimeter at 100 meters per click. If you have a scope that is MOA-rated, usually ¼ MOA per click, one click at 100 meters is approximately 0.7 centimeters. You may need to click a few extra times to reach the center.
Zeroing Distance
The zeroing distance is the distance at which you want the bullet to hit right on target. But there are some things to keep in mind, depending on the expected distance for your shots during hunting, your caliber, and the mounting of your scope.
In a hunting situation, you benefit from having a versatile zero. By that, we mean that even if the distance is 50, 150, or somewhere in between, you should be able to place your reticle right where you want to hit without having to think about the bullet's trajectory. With a standard caliber and standard scope mounting, a zero at 50 meters is often more optimal than the classic 100 meters.
As an example, a bullet trajectory with a standard caliber zeroed at 50 meters will result in an offset of 10–20 mm at 100 meters but return to zero at approximately 150 meters. A zero at 100 meters could mean that you are a few millimeters low at both 50 and 150 meters. You may experience less of this effect with lower scope mounting but more with higher mounting. Calibers with higher or lower velocities can also result in larger or smaller variations.
A helpful tool for determining what suits you and your hunting rifle is NORMA's ballistic app. There, you can input your rifle's data – including barrel length, sight-over-barrel (the distance between the center of the scope and the center of the barrel) – choose from all our factory-loaded products, and even enter your reloading data if you handload your ammunition. With the data provided, you can test and see what zeroing distance is optimal for you.
However, if you have a scope with a ballistic turret, you benefit from being on target at 100 meters. A common setup on the turret is to mark out every 50 or 100 meters, with 100 meters being a natural zero point to adjust from.
