# Sighting in Knight Red Hots (POI at 50 yards)?



## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Right now I'm in the process of sighting in my .54 cal knight in-line with 90 grains pyrodex, 325 grain knight red hots (same bullet as the barnes expander under knight packaging I'm told) and was wondering what my trajectory would be witht this load. After getting zeroed at 25 yards I took a shot at 50 yards that was about an inch high, and two shots at 100 yards, one was about 2.5 inches high and the other was about 3 inches low (probably pulled big time on this one). 

I know a lot of people like to sight in 2 inches high at 100 yards with both centerfires and muzzleloaders to extend their range some. When I shoot at 100 yards with my red dot sight (no magnification) I feel like there is quite a bit of room for error on my part and maybe loose groups or outlier bullets can be blamed on my shooting. When I cut the distance in half to 50 yards I feel a lot more confident that I can put the shots where they need to go and a difference between point of aim and point of impact can be attributed more to the rifle and less to my shooting abilities. Because of this I was wondering where point of impact should be at 50 yards to put me approximately close to 2 inches high at 100 yards. Are any of you familiar with this load or a similar one and might be able to help me with my question and understand its trajectory. If I do sight in for 2 inches high at 100 yards, where might this put me at 150, 175 and 200 yards. Is this 325 grain bullet even capable of very flat trajectory at those distances?


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## El Matador (Dec 21, 2007)

Get ahold of a ballistics calculator, they are everywhere online. I use the one here: http://biggameinfo.com/BalCalc.aspx

The BC for that bullet is .204, diameter .500. You are probably going around 1450 fps with that load but there's no way to be sure without chronographing a few. Assuming you are using a scope 1.5" above the barrel and shooting 1450 fps you would sight 2.7" high at 50 yards to be 2" high at 100. You'd be right on at 121 yards, 4.6" low at 150, 10.3" at 175 and 17.8" at 200. This load is plenty potent at 200 yards to kill stuff if you can hit what you're shooting at.

If you really want to dial in your load for longer ranges, here's what I'd do: Put a 3-9x scope on for your work at the range. Shoot targets at 100 and 200 yards. This way you can measure the bullet drop (using a ruler or by using clicks on the scope) and adjust your ballistics chart accordingly. If 200 is the furthest you plan on shooting in the field you don't even need a chronograph. Take the data from the range and play around with the ballistics calculator until you get a trajectory that matches your own. You can adjust the muzzle velocity, BC, zero range, etc. until your 100 and 200 yard marks line up. Then the chart will tell you where your bullet will hit at 50, 100, etc. Once your load is worked up you can put the red dot back on and sight in at 50. Make a few shots at 100 or 200 just to verify you're on. Then you'll have a gun and a load you have perfect confidence in.


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