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Last year my .223 was zeroed @ 200 yds with 55gr Black hills....
... but I feel it wise to cover my butt with a 200 yd zero and be able to hold on fur rather than air in the event a 300 shot presents itself...
Not to be argumentitive, but you do realize that using the Black Hills .223 55 gr. load as the example, if you are zeroed for 200, and don't hold over at 300, you're going to miss? Lots of variables not accounted for, of course, but using that particular load, zeroed for 200, you'll be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 inches low at 300. That will in fact, require holding off of fur. Not much to be done about it with that particular load, either. Your 200 yard zero is already really close enough to MPBR.
The 200 yard zero doesn't make much sense to me for anything with a nice flat trajectory though. Just use a .22 caliber, 55 gr. Vmax being launched at 3700 fps, as an example (a nice warm .22-250 hand load, perhaps). With a 200 yard zero, you're still going to be about 5 1/2 inches low at 300, still requiring a bit of holdover. But with a MPBR zero of 250 yards (approx.), you can hold your normal sight picture for that 300 yard shot. Mind you, the difference at mid range, is less than an inch - it's not like you have to start "holding low" for close shots or anything. Use exactly the same hold you always have. No drama. The only difference, really, between the 200 yard zero and the 250 yard MPBR zero, is that you no longer have to worry about estimating range or making adjustments for range, clear out to 300 yards. Which is as far as most of us should be contemplating a shot at a coyote anyway.
Mind you, I'm not advocating anything. People should use whatever zero system they want to use. But I think people should at least think about all the possibilities, and have a logical reason that is based on facts, for using whatever zero they decide on.
It's just never made sense to me to take a flat trajectory, and then use a zero that would require me to estimate yardage and make adjustments, when I don't have to. The rifles I use for coyote hunting allow me to hold on fur clear out to 350 yards or more. Essentially, I ignore range altogether, for trajectory purposes - if it is so far I need to hold over, I probably won't shoot. It just seems backwards to zero those rifles in such a way that I can't take advantage of the flat trajectory they offer. But, again, that's just me. I'm not criticizing or advocating. Simply tossing out an opinion.
And I should also add... I think that anyone who is really accustomed to using a short zero, and especially anyone who is really used to using a 100 yard zero, will "shoot over" a lot of coyotes if they switch to MPBR all the sudden. Like I've already said, whatever works for you, great - I wouldn't go changing anything that is working, based on anything I read on the internet.
YMMV...
- DAA