Please looking for advice on sighting in distance .25 cal

[Lakobe1]

Hello everyone, Im new to the site. I had a question and was looking for advice on what you recommend at a sighting in distance. I have a new Benjamin Trails XL Nitro 725 .25 cal. I have went through the process of determining which pellet grouped best for the gun.
Im shooting a heavy 28 grain pellet, that the gun just likes a lot in the H&N brand.
Ive read and heard so many opinions on distances for sighting in and was curious as to your individual thoughts on the subject. I have heard such stories as if you sight in at 13 yards you will be on again at 40 yards or close to that. I shoot squirrels, and most shots come in the 30 to 45 yard range, so Im curious as to what you might suggest.

Thank you in advance...

 

[Brian10956]

For the most part ill sight in at 50 yards and I’ll just use the reticle for. Other distances . That way your not messing with the elivation and windage knobs much with less to break

 

[davecole]

zero it for the distance you be shooting to the most. It just makes sense. 

 

[bandg]

Lots of factors involved in a zero decision, not least of which is scope height above bore. I don't shoot .25 caliber but I would venture a guess that a zero at 37 to 38 yards would work well for someone shooting "mostly" at 30 to 45 yards with a .25 Benjamin Trail. Just a guess.

 

[JohnL57]

X2 on Dave's advice-sight in for the most common shot opportunities and figure out your holdover/holdunder points by experimenting at different distances. It's a bit counter-intuitive as you'll need to hold OVER at nearer distances. Try it and see.

 

[Lakobe1]

Thank You guys, I hear talk about a double zero. Like sighting in at a close range and then being back online further down range. I guess thats what Im trying to figure out.

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

You are thinking right, yes somewhere around "your" distance but with a .25 springer you be in the old school " airgun " distance , say 10 to 50 ( max ) yards. 

Maybe to your thinking, if your kill zone were say a full 1" ( yikes) dead center would be zero and at some point you would be a full 1/2" low and closer than zero you would be a full 1/2" high , all within your kill zone. Pick a distance and you'll fast figure it just shooting.

Now chairgun is going away but is still available for free download , maybe grab which ever "legacy " version towards the bottom of the page that suits you.



https://www.hawkeoptics.com/chairgun-and-x-act-end-of-life.html

Happy holdover,



John

 

[bandg]

2 basic concepts for zeroing-1)have POI be on but never above LOS and 2)allow POI to rise above LOS to some degree and move back across LOS at a further distance. Some use one concept and some use the other. With 1) method you would never need to "hold under" to avoid possibly shooting over a small target but 2) method allows a slightly longer MPBR

 

[gnaymola]

Simply zero your gun at 40 yards then shoot at 30-35 to see how high it shoots then at 45 yards to see how much it drops. And keep that in mind or write it on some painters tape and stick it on the stock for reference. A range finder is pretty handy for all this. 

If you have a tactical scope with adjustable turrets, you could make up a drop chart or use an app on your phone. Range the target distance, look at the drop chart for how much moa to dial in and shoot. You could if you wanted, shoot easily out to 100 yards accurately.

 

[GBGUNNER]

gnaymola has it right. That's been my practice, it's the best way to know how high or low you need to alter where you position your crosshair.

 

[Lakobe1]

I appreciate all the fantastic advice. Thank you all very much.

 

[acs]

Zero at .4" high at 25 yards, that should put you in a 1" kill zone from approximately 15 to 40 yards. Less then 15yards or farther than 40, aim high at top of the kill zone.

jmo

 

[fishinwrench]

You are allowed 0.5" of error on a squirrel head. So knowing what your trajectory is, and being able to determine range within 3 yards at distances over 30 is what is needed. For a .25 the best zero is probably going to be 30 yards. 

I used to zero my .22's at 30 but just recently figured out that 35 made more sense, and doing so brought my mildots to more even ranges so I wasn't splitting mildots at 45 - 50 - 60. 

But of course a squirrel is NEVER at an even range and he's usually up high so all bets are off anyway.

 

[bandg]

"and he's usually up high". Certainly seems to make most of this line of discussion only useful for basic theory. Much different shooting level than at some angle upward or downward.

 

[Centercut]

I usually like to sight in most of my guns at 45 yards. My .22s and .25 shoot at from 870 to 900 FPS. When you put that into the Strelok Pro app, and have input the correct scope height, then use 1/2" as the "best zero distance", it gives you right at 45 yards for bull pups with scope height at 2.4 to 2.6 inches. For my .22 FX Crown, with a lower scope height, it gives me 40 yards. In any case, this gives a "point blank" where no holdover or hold-under is required from approx. 17 to 50 yards. So for most situations that require a quick no thought shot, its point, shoot, SCHWACK, dead squirrel. Of course, once you get past 50 to 55 yards, holdover must be known before taking the shot...

 

[tsmith]

I won’t go into details, but I would sight it in at a range that you will not have any hold “unders”. In most cases, that range will be 25-30 yds. This is my preference.

 

[Lakobe1]

The longest distance Im looking to shoot or hunt is a max of about 50 yards. That being said, does that change my sight in point? Id like to be spot on from the 18 to 50 yard range.

 

[tsmith]

I don’t believe you will be on at all them distances. Just sight it in at 25 and go from there. I always find all the ballistic calculators to only get u close. Once I have my sight in distance, I make small targets from popcicle sticks hot glued to a recipe card and put them at every 5 yards from 5-100 yds and figure out EXACTLY what my holdovers are. It works for me.....