Best distance to zero .22 rifle

This is the first video of yours that I've watched, and I must say, I am completely impressed with your shooting rest equipment! A side-view mirror, a rolled up T-shirt and a paper plate with a hand-drawn target!! Sir, you are spectacular! Keep it simple and old-school, and you will never go wrong!

Sub-sonic 22 LR are great for being quiet (esp with a sound moderator) but they are very susceptible to changes in distance, uphill or wind. If zeroed at 50m, a typical 22 sub-sonic will drop by 1/2" to 1" at 75/80m and a little more by 100m. You can use the mil-dots on the reticle if you have them, usually aiming a mil-dot below the crosshairs will help compensate for shooting out to 80m.

I zeroed my Ruger 10/22 at 50 yards, and found that it was also zeroed at 30 yards. The arc of the CCI Mini Mag has the impact dead center at 30 as well as 50 yards. At 75 yards I have to hold 2 inches high, and at 100 yards 5 inches high. It is well worth the hour or so figuring out how your rifle and ammo perform. Thanks for an informative video. That is a good looking rifle you have.

I've got a Chinese copy of your CZ that I've had for years. When I bought it, I went to the range to test it. It put 5 shots in a group the size of a dime at 50 yards with iron sights. After years of it sitting in my closet, and my eyesight getting worse, I finally put a scope on it. A 9-24x40 so I can reach out and touch something. I can't wait for the weather to improve to take it out and have some fun.

its not often you see videos of this kind coming from Ireland we need more of them

Nice discussion. I have a CZ in 22 and a Tikka in 17hmr. Both are very accurate and a joy to shoot.

I believe that it's far more important to know where your rifle shoots throughout it's effective range than what specific distance it's zeroed at. After the initial experimentation that many of us go through, with fire-power from semiautos and pumps, listening to "expert" opinions on the optimum distance to sight in at and what ammunition to use, I've been using the same set-up since 1978. That's an Anschutz Mod.1422 (54 sporter), using standard velocity ammo, sighted at 50m. The rifle was horribly expensive back then and the equivalent still is, but I think that I've had my money's worth. Mind you, I've seen many later rimfires which were just as accurate, such as CZs at a third of the price and some others which were embarrassingly cheap. Bottom line, sight in at an appropriate range and practice until you really know your rifle.

If it's done right the bullet will cross the "sight" setting twice, and your targets do demonstrate this ---you are not sighted in at 50 yards however ---you are sighted at 25 yards with the bullet trajectory still rising, being a half inch or so high at 50 yards and may still rise another 1/4 inch or so before dropping back to a second true siting distance around 75 yards and ending up just a bit low at 100 yards ---the "never over or under" x amount can be enhanced by having a higher mounted scope than a super low mounted scope ---I had a combination where the first intersection was a 22.5 yards and it gave me a one inch high to one inch low all the way out to 110 yards ---which is also dependent on the ammo used and barrel length ---so there is a lot of fun experimenting with this

Thank you sir, great work. I have a Tikka .22, but I do use the exact same ammo (also suppressed), and I really like it. Your work confirmed everything I’ve been looking at doing. Again, thank you!

Most of my .22 shooting is Precision Rifle, to distances up to 500 yards, so my zero is different. Our closest target is match heads at 25 yards, so that's my POA and POI for all rifles I shoot (others may do differently). Once there, every following distance is aimed according to my balistics calculator (Strelok), which will calculate MOA or Mil, depending on which rifle I'm shooting. From 25 to 100, my Mil is just under 7 inches (6.95), so I up two clicks and there I am. Some day I may go back to hunting (77 now) and could possibly use your target size for zeroing. Nice rifle, good shooting, my Friend. Thanks for the chat.

I did enjoy this, its a new way to look at Zeroing in my .22 LR.

If you turn the target 45 degrees you can cut the corners of the square with the cross hairs.

For his shorter ranges with slower ammo, not a bad suggestion. For typical 1240 fps ammo I suggest 1 inch high at 50yds. Your POI won't blow out your POA and your actual zero will be moved out to ~73 yds, ~3" low at 100yds which is a convenient 1 mildot (mil radian).

in my experience, best zero range depends on intended use; for target shooters zero for target distance; for plinking or small game, a zero range that keeps your bullet inside the vital area so it does not rise above or fall below where you want to strike. the load used in this video rises to within 1/2 inch of line of sight at 10 to 15 yards and falls below 1/2 inch at about 60 to 65 yards. according to nikon spot on ballistics calculator it should fall to almost 8 inches below line of sight at 100 yards. changing zero range to 75 yards yields a drop of 4 1/4 inches at 100 yards but at the cost of rising 1 1/2 inches or more between 30 and 55 yards. of course a ballistics calculator only provides a guideline; after using it to determine how a load should perform one should fire test shots at all ranges to confirm how the load behaves with your equipment. hope it provides some insight.

This is exactly the information which I was seeking, thank you.

If I EVER see a Rabbit with a head as big as that circle I'm gonna RUN because that sob is gonna get MAD when you hit it...!!

I agree also with the sub sonic stuff too…got a 77/22 as all weather with modified trigger and it loves the stuff… don’t like all the flyers with hyper ammo…👍🏼

Great video George, thanks and greetings from New Zealand in Down Under.

Thanks for this video. For an even better sight picture, rotate the square 90 degrees and put the crosshairs on the intersection of the lines making the four sides.

The first thing I do with a new .22 rifle is to find an ammo that places shots consistantly. After that , sight in range is a matter of personal preference. I have one of mine that groups C.C.I. Quiet rounds very consistantly at 100 yards