# 30-30 , zeroed at 25 yards , ballistics help please



## sweetwater84

Hey guys, Im shooting a marlin 336 , 30-30. I zeroed it today @25 yards  ( indoor range max), 150g win power points, it has 1 inch rise weaver quadlocks, and a hawke 3x9x50. okay , where is that bullet gonna be at 50, 75, and 100 yards? muzzle velocity around 2200

 ya'll know your stuff, please help . i missed an 8 point last weekend, turns out my scope was hittin a FOOT high @ 100.. made me sick. But a shot over his back and a complete miss was better than a wounded deer.


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## Nastytater

http://www.nikonhunting.com/SpotOnRegistration/ 
   You'll have to register,but here is a calculator that comes in handy for ya.


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## Nastytater

From the info that I took and placed,I came up with 50 yards an 1" high. 75 yards is 1.45" high and at 100 yards only 1.31" high. Not exactly sure whats going on with your foot over target,but I could only type that in with 1.5" high rise mounts. The 1 inch mounts wasn't an option on there. Are you sure a limb wasn't envolved or possibly a jerk on the trigger?


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## Abel

Use this one here:

http://www.handloads.com/calc/


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## dwhee87

Here's another...just plug in your info.

http://www.winchester.com/learning-.../Pages/ballistics-calculator-silverlight.aspx


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## sweetwater84

could have always a been a jerk of the trigger , but it was an open 40 yard shot, broadside. I took it out to our field after my hunt and shot it 4 times at 120 yds , each time it grouped fine , but was a foot high of what i was aiming at.

That was with my new bushnell banner , which i returned and  resolved to iron sights for this last week. this scope was given as a present. 

if i go in the morning , I just want to make sure i make a clean hit on a deer within a hundred yards. Thats about max for me with these bullets, ill probably re-sight it for the hornady ftx bullets later.


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## Abel

> That was with my new bushnell banner , which i returned and resolved to iron sights for this last week. this scope was given as a present.



Did you sight it in before you hunted with it? When you get another scope, go with a 32mm instead of a 50mm and mount it as low as it will go without the scope touching the rear sight.


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## doomtrpr_z71

If you have a smartphone, strelok is a good ballistics program to have.


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## sweetwater84

Abel said:


> Did you sight it in before you hunted with it? When you get another scope, go with a 32mm instead of a 50mm and mount it as low as it will go without the scope touching the rear sight.



oh of course i sighted that scope in , 25 yard zero with leverevolutions , should have been fine out to 200 yards. 

I had cheap redfield rings on that one , thought possibly they could have shifted. I went through 3/4 box of ammo on this sight in to make sure, bore sight first. Better rings as well. I would have preferred a 2x6 power scope , but this was a gift and i liked it on my dads AR.


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## BriarPatch99

Measure the sight height ... from the center of the chamber/bore to the center of the scope ... give us that number and we can calculate it for you theoretically... you would still need to shoot it(@100 yds) to be sure ....


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## Taporsnap77

mine in low at 25 dead on at 100 win hollow pt 150s


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## Jeff Phillips

Why can't you check your zero at 100 yards?


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## sweetwater84

Jeff Phillips said:


> Why can't you check your zero at 100 yards?



Because the field i do that at  all year is also my prime hunting spot. I wanna make sure i can hit something if i hunt before i get a chance to check it.

My scope center-to-rifle bore center measure is 1.6 inches btw. Looks like on the calculators i'm good @ that 25 zero for a bit, even better if im a hair low @ 25.


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## Jeff Phillips

Find another field and check it.


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## miles58

First...

Checking a rifle you intend to try to kill a deer with at only 25 or 50 yards is irresponsible.

That said, at an inch and a half low at 25 or fifty yards may well put it somewhere near to being on at 100.

The problem is bullets do not come out of the bore flying true and fully stable all that often.  They come out of the bore more like a top and have the wobbles for a while.  They may be spiraling in a bigger than you'd expect loop on the way to the target.  They may have small wobbles.  It really doesn't matter because it's not predictable very well and the short range you are testing at almost guarantees that you will be a long way off at 4x the distance.  If your bullet has precessed down and is now rising sharply at 25 and you are running a ballistic calculation based on a much slower rate of rise you can easily shoot way over your target.  Obviously this can result in what looks like a pretty well controlled group say an inch and a half low and the bullet can easily go a foot up, down, right or left or anything in between.

Normally by the time a bullet gets to 100 yards it is more stable.  Then you can begin to predict where it will be at longer ranges with some expectation of being about right.

I have seen rifles group an inch and a half low and be very consistent about it have difficulty staying on paper at 100 yards.  I have seen rifles that also would be dead on where you expect them to be at 100 from a fifty yard (or 25 yard) sight in.

If you are going to sight in at 25 or 50 for gods sake have the decency to limit your shots to 25 or 50, because until you have sighted in at 100 you do not know where that bullet will hit at 100.  Even if you backtrack from a 100 yard sight in to see what it does at 25 or 50 you only know that information for that specific bullet at that specific speed and nothing more.  Changing bullets, changing speed (powder) will change precession and bullet stability.  That's part of why different bullets can have very, very different POI from the same rifle even though they might be the same weight and at or near the same speed.

Find a range with 100 yard targets minimum.


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## Doc_Holliday23

only way to really know where one is going to hit at 100 yards is to shoot it at 100 yards.

we owe it to the animals we hunt...


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## Jeff Phillips

doc_holliday23 said:


> we owe it to the animals we hunt...



yep!


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## Buzz

Please - find somewhere you can shoot 100y.   These 25y zero threads are extremely error prone!    You have to know the EXACT height of the scope from the center of the bore and it basically implies you shoot a 0.00" group at 25y to have confidence in the measurement.    Being off by a half inch in your measurement can make a rather significant point of impact change at 100y!


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## SCDieselDawg

I'm confused. In post#1 you sighted in with Winchester Power Points. In post #9 you sighted in with Hornady FTX.  Which load is your rifle sighted in for?


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## sweetwater84

SCDieselDawg said:


> I'm confused. In post#1 you sighted in with Winchester Power Points. In post #9 you sighted in with Hornady FTX.  Which load is your rifle sighted in for?



As of right now its zeroed at 25 yards with 150 gr power points.
The spot i'll hunt in the morning the shots are less than 50 yards. After i call it a day I'll see where its at on the 100 yard range i have there.

I don't take questionable shots, probably why Ive seen 20 deer this season and not taken a shot, except at an 8 point that was a clear miss,.. I had plenty of time for a follow up shot , but not knowing where the round would hit I held back , he walked off.I checked my scope and it was WAY off.

I dont need to be reminded to take clean , sure , shots on game. All I wanted help on was ballistics. I hunt once or twice a week , i live an hour away from my hunting land  don't have a chance to sight in@ 100 anytime i want and don't take chances. I would not have taken a shot over  50 yards with a 25 yard zero, even though ballistics tell me im good. I want to make sure myself. 

I have made clean kills over 150 yards with irons, if im unsure , i dont make the shot.


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## GroundMan

Just to add.. the leverevolutions rounds will be even higher... which helps in long range. Not sure if those calculators help with that.


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## sweetwater84

GroundMan said:


> Just to add.. the leverevolutions rounds will be even higher... which helps in long range. Not sure if those calculators help with that.



Yep , when i had the marlin sighted for the leverevolutions @ 25 dead on , it was 3 inches high at 100, dead on back at 225. Which matched the ballistic calculations. I zeroed those on purpose @25 , it gave me a kill spot window all the way out to 250 with no holdover. The max i'll go for with the powerpoints is 100 , too much energy drop off and bullet drop. Though i should be good out to 200 , but i never need to shoot that far.

i like those rounds, but walmart doesnt have them and I needed to grab some rounds before a morning hunt, Academy was closed.


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## Totaloutdoorsman

We zero our M4's at 25m for a 300m zero. If you zero a 30-30 at 25 you'll be shooting high because of the difference of how the scope sits a few inches above the barrel. Always confirm your zero at 50 or 100m to get a legit known zero.


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