Zeroing with bdc

Bgrav

New member
I shoot an ar15 with a 55 g bullet. I have the coyote special bdc 4x14. I'm wondering if I zero at 200 yards, will my bdc be correct with corresponding reticle? I ask this cause it seems(from what I have read) w a 200 yard zero there is very minimal bullet raise/drop from 50 to 200 yards. I hunt s.w. Minnesota where shots can b from 40 to 400 yards. I know the point of calling is to bring them in close.....but we all know this doesn't always work as planned. I would guess that an average shot round here is no more than 250 yards. Just some insight on this matter would help me make my final decision on where to zero my scope. (100or200 yards) thanks all!
 
Every rifle shoots different and the scope height plays a roll as well. on mine sweet spot is 150 yds. I don't have the BDC but as far as point and shoot my drop is minimal out to 300 yds
 
Just get on Nikon's website and load up their Spot On ballistics software. It will allow you to punch all pertinent ballistics of your weapon and most atmospheric conditions and it will compute you a custom printout of your bullet matched with your gun and hold over marks on your scope. It will tell you the range for each holdover mark on your reticle. It's pretty cool stuff and pretty simple to use...plus it's free!
 
Another trick is to make sure you place as many circles on a vital spot on the coyote you can.. You can be a little off on yardage but in the longer shots just line those circles up on the vitals the more the better and more often than not you have a dead dog... Spot On ballistics from Nikon works great too!!!
 
What I remember reading is that you should shoot at a known distance (100 yds) and put the cross hairs on the target and zero there. Then move your target to 200 yds and using the first circle down see where the bullets are hitting. It's explained in the book if you still have yours.

I'm using the 4x14 on my 7mm Rem Mag and the first circle down places the rounds about 1/2" high at 200, which works for me.
 
If you're getting about 3100 fps in the coyote special bdc reticle on 14 power a 200 yard zero will put the second circle at 309 yards and the third circle at 384 and the top of the post on the bottom is at 449 yards. I changed the atmosphere conditions to what the current barometric pressure and elevation are in Marshal Minnesota. I don't know how close that is to you but it should be fairly close. Hope this helps a little!!!
 
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