Why start at 25 yards??

[Adui]

This may be a dumb question, but assuming you are on paper farther out, why start grouping at 25 yards when working up a load? I mean wouldn't it be more time effective to start at 50Gr (.50 cal PRB) and move up in 5 grain increments firing at 50 yards to begin with?

Just curious

 

[Glenfilthie]

I start at about half that. A sighter dot at about 12 yards seems to put me a smidge high at 50 and dead on at around 75.

But if your method works for you, smile and use it! The important shooting is done on the trail.

 

[wattlebuster]

What Glen said :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

50 yards is fine, but if your sights are way off 25 yards is better than wondering where they went. ;-)

 

[necchi]

It eliminates a variable.
When in load development, it starts with a rather wide range of charges. The idea is to look for the tightest grouping within that broad range of charges.
When a charge is found/proven the best, then move out further and re-work the load in smaller increments tuning other variables like lube properties and bore condition.

Once you've been in the game awhile finding a charge and haveing an idea what a gun will like by it's groups/behavior get's easier

 

[Dphar]

This may be a dumb question, but assuming you are on paper farther out, why start grouping at 25 yards when working up a load? I mean wouldn't it be more time effective to start at 50Gr (.50 cal PRB) and move up in 5 grain increments firing at 50 yards to begin with?

Just curious

25 yards is only useful for getting the sights initially inline for windage and approximate for elevation.
Shooting a rifle at 25 yards, unless its a squirrel rifle is not going the accomplish much more.

Dan

 

[Adui]

so, from what Ive read here, you start at 25 yards or less with a new, or new to you rifle.

I am preparing to work up a more accurate load for my .50 but I have it sighted for 100yds. I did this long ago with fairly high charges (90 gr FFG as memory serves.) I never went to the trouble of finding this rifles most accurate load, and since I do mostly target shooting now anyhow I don't see the need for such a high load if it can be accurate at lower loads. Besides, from what I have learned so far here even if I was hunting with it 100 yards is about the max I'd want to use it at, so a 75 yard zero will make sense and 50 yards is a good place to work up the load at. (Besides all that, I dont think I can see out to 100 reliably anymore without cheating so whats the point in sighting her in that far out LOL)

 

[necchi]

If you are completely confident in your own ability and have a decent bench technique, then doing load development at 50 is fine.
Where a person set's his zero is really up too that person and his uses.
I'm familur with the Gun Ranges I shoot at and adjust my sights accordingly a few days before the event.
Most factory rifles today are fully capable of one ragged hole at 50yrds and a practiced proficiant off hand shooter should be able to do that too, with many shooting better.

It really is all about putting the time in to finding the load combo your rifle likes and time on the trigger for the shooter.
I shoot awfull at the begining of the season, I need at least 10-12hrs range time just to get back in the groove,, and nothing has changed with the rifle

 

[Rifleman1776]

Using a bench, 25 yards is useful only for getting the sights to aproximately where they should be. That range will tell you (almost) nothing about grouping ability.
Later move to 50 yards and work up your most accurate load. Then do fine adjustments with the sights. Later you can move to 100 and see what hold/sight/load adjustments you might have to make for that range.
25 yards is a fun range for practice and casual shooting.

 

[Fred_Dwyer]

I don't think you use 25 yards for working up a load. That should be done at normal target distances.
25 yards is for the first shots out of a new gun or a gun with new sights. You should be able to hit a standard target at 25 yards easily.
I think (memory may be slipping) but most guns have a zero-crossing point near 25 yards; the axis of the barrel crosses line of sight near 25 yards.

 

[RC]

if ya already shootin further out an hittin. why go back,,? I think "starting out @ 25" means first shots out of a newly acquired or changed gun..'that said jus esier to find out where you are hittin ..easier to miss at 50-75 than 25.. :thumbsup:

 

[ohio ramrod]

Most people who start at 25 do so just to ensure hitting the paper to start.New sights are seldom close, most shoot low due to front sights being left high to allow for filing down! :idunno: :idunno:

 

[rafterob]

What Fred D states is the reason I was tutored on. At 25 yards the trajectory path is on the rise and is crossing, or has crossed, the line of sight/bore line convergence. I was then schooled to find a load that provides the highest POI and tightest group at that range. Typically, for target work use the smallest load that will accomplish this. That does not mean you have to zero your sights at that distance. At fifty yards most BP rifles will be approaching the apex of their trajectory and somewhere about 70-80 yards will begin to drop. The increasing size of a bullseye from 25-100 yards is in part to account for the trajectory (when using a 6:00 hold) That is why a 6:00 hold works great if shooting strictly bullseye targets. Not so great when you transition to other types of targets, silhouettes or hunting. I have found that zeroing my sights at 25 works well and is still the sight pattern at 50 yards. 100 is where I need to make adjustments.

 

[longcruise]

25 yards to get your sights roughed in.

at least 100 yards for serious group testing.

I started a nice little .50 at 25 and got the sights roughly on, then went to 50 and great groups. Next came 100 yards and the groups opened up to around 12 inches. :shocked2:

Patches were ripped to pieces. The effects did not show until the ball got out there a ways.

 

[hanshi]

At 25yds I pretty much stop if it's a squirrel rifle.

 

[buford87]

I agree, I don't think I could see a squirrel well enough at 50 yards to try to shoot it...................watch yer top knot................

 

[rafterob]

Oh, you could always try to shoot it. Might get lucky and bark it.

 

[FRJ]

Its simple stuff. Getting it on at 25 makes it a lot easier to get it on at longer ranges.If I'm on at 25 and I mean really on. Then I move to 50 and on down the line. Remember if your 3" left or right at 25 that will put you 6" off at 50 and off the paper at 75. Its much easier to get it on in just a few shots at 25 and work your way out. FRJ

 

[Darto]

Modern deer rifle guns, from a slow 30-30 to fast 7mm mag, etc. are usually sighted to shoot dead on at 25 yards instead of say 10, 40, nor 50, nor 70, etc. Then the rising bullet will fall back to dead on again at somewhere between 200 to 275, depending on a slow poke or magnum, and then be a few low at somewhere between 225-350 yards.

That way you don't have to make any allowances at all from 0 out to a long distance, just aim dead on. Much better strategy than sighting in level to bullseye at 100 yards! You would then be a couple feet low at 300, instead of a few inches.

Muzzle loader trajectories are much different and slower, maybe 25 is used out of habit?

 

[54ball]

It seems I read that 12-15 yards with a muzzleloader is the same as 25 yards with a centerfire rifle.
Dead on at 25 with a .30-06 would be about 1nch high at 100 yards. Dead on at 12 to 15 yards with a muzzleloader would give about a inch high at 50 yards.
The bottom line according to what I read, You pretty much half the distance with a ML.

I always start at 25 yards, just habit I guess.