# Sighting in at 25 yards - 1970



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Here's how to sight in a firearm starting at 25 yards. The chart is from the 60s-70s. I'm guessing this document came with the Weaver Scopes I bought when I got out of high school some 45 years ago; can't remember now for sure. I still use the chart today. At one time or another I underlined the calibers important to me.

It's fascinating to see what calibers were popular, "standard commercial ammunition", in 1970, like the 225 Winchester, the 256 Winchester Mag, and the 6.5 Remington Magnum.



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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Still the best way to sight in a rifle if you ask me. Cool chart and I'm glad the 25-06 made your list of important cartridges.---------SS


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

My dad always sighted in his .270 at 25 yards, of course I don't recall him ever pulling the trigger on any game past 150 yards either. What's amazing to me is the 350 yard max range on the chart, it shows how much the mind set of shooters has evolved in the last 40 to 50 years even with some of the same cartridges popular today.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Springville Shooter said:


> Still the best way to sight in a rifle if you ask me. Cool chart and I'm glad the 25-06 made your list of important cartridges.---------SS


The 25-06 wasn't all that popular back then, more of a varmint round then. I used a .308 more than any caliber in the early 70s. I don't know why it's not underlined.

I wish I could find an electronic copy of this chart. All I have is a copy of a copy and I'm not exactly sure who's owner manual it came from.

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## reb8600 (Sep 8, 2007)

I feel that 25 yds works for getting it on paper but you should still shoot at 100 or 200 yds for the final sight in. If you are off 1/4" at 25 yds puts you off at least 2" at 200 yds.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I believe that at that time way back in the early 70's late 60's that you wanted to sight in at 25 yards and then move out to 100 yards for the final sighting in. You have to figure that if you mounted your own scope back then odds were that you didn't own a bore sight and the best that you could do was to aim at the door knob through the bore of the rifle if it was a bolt action across the room and adjust the scope to that. Then if you had a pump, lever, or semi-automatic then that plan was no good and you just had to aim down the side of the barrel.

It was funny that when I first installed a scope on a rifle I took the rifle to the high school metal shop to drill and tap the receiver for the mounts, my how times have changed.


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

reb8600 said:


> I feel that 25 yds works for getting it on paper but you should still shoot at 100 or 200 yds for the final sight in. If you are off 1/4" at 25 yds puts you off at least 2" at 200 yds.


Yes, a small error at 25 yards translates to a big error at longer range.

The ideal range to sight in your rifle is the actual range for which you would want the rifle to be sighted in. This method will minimize errors. For example, some factory ballistics tables are unrealistically optimistic. If you use their ballistics chart and sight in at 25 yards you are going to be shooting low at 200 yards due to the difference between factory ballistics and actual ballistics from your rifle. However, if you sight in at 200 yards you will be right on at 200 yards, aside from the fact that your shooting inaccuracy might leave a little residual error.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

We're talking sight in as opposed to Zeroing here. Sight in at 25 yards then zero at whatever range you want. Save a lot of ammo and frustration vs trying to sight in at 100 yards or further. I usually sight in 1" low at 25 yards, then move to 100 for fine tuning of zero.------------SS


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Springville Shooter said:


> We're talking sight in as opposed to Zeroing here.


I didn't realize there was a difference. I learned something today. Having reached my goal of learning something new each day, I can now quit learning for the rest of the day.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Springville Shooter said:


> We're talking sight in as opposed to Zeroing here. Sight in at 25 yards then zero at whatever range you want. Save a lot of ammo and frustration vs trying to sight in at 100 yards or further. I usually sight in 1" low at 25 yards, then move to 100 for fine tuning of zero.------------SS


Yes, good points. I always tried to match bullet holes at 25 yards and then go from there.

It goes without saying you would move out to longer distances and "zero" in the gun or load. When I hunted exclusively in the Midwest I would move out to 100 to 150 yards and "sight in". That was enough, even for varmint hunting. In Wyoming I move out to longer distances to "sight in"; 100 yards, then 200 to 400 yards depending on the firearm and/or load.

At 25 yards I made sure there was only one hole in the paper using a 30-06, 270 or 308. With my 25-06 or 22-250 I would shoot for one bullet hole directly under the other, just touching the bottom of the first hole.

When sighting in long distances with reloads it's important to shoot paper; not rocks, or cans, or balloons, or grebes out on the lake. :smile: Some of the modern "aerodynamically-enhanced" projectiles can be really fussy when it comes to rate of twist. The bullet may appear to be cutting the paper at 25 yards, or even 100 yards if you don't look close, but at 400 yards the bullet hits the paper sideways. I learned my lesson there shooting long distance on an antelope hunt using .243 ballistic tip reloads.

I posted the chart to show popular cartridges for the period, as much to sell sighting in at 25 yards as a way to save time and ammo.

I have a SiteLite laser boresighter and find it to be very accurate (with the exception of a couple calibers where the O-ring is too tight.) Using it at 25 yards works the best for me.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

massmanute said:


> Yes, a small error at 25 yards translates to a big error at longer range.
> 
> The ideal range to sight in your rifle is the actual range for which you would want the rifle to be sighted in. This method will minimize errors. For example, some factory ballistics tables are unrealistically optimistic. If you use their ballistics chart and sight in at 25 yards you are going to be shooting low at 200 yards due to the difference between factory ballistics and actual ballistics from your rifle. However, if you sight in at 200 yards you will be right on at 200 yards, aside from the fact that your shooting inaccuracy might leave a little residual error.


If I match bullet holes with 150 gr 30-06 or 270 at 25 yards they will be high at 200 yards with my bolt actions and my shorter-barreled pumps.

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