Zeroing distance for a noobie

[jackhockett94]

For someone who is new to air rifles wha is the general
Distance someone who wants to do target shooting should zero there gun too?

I know obviously it change for different things but is there a sort of average distance that
Is easy to adjust with mil dots?

[bullbarrel]

Zero to the range of the target.

If HFT I'd suggest about 30M and then shoot targets at 8-45M to see where the pellet drops so you can use your mildot reticule to work out the hold over.

You might find once you see where they are going you might want to change your initial zero and see the change.

The key is to get out and practice. And spend time perfecting your range estimation

[deejayuu]

Plus 1 for the above reply. I started shooting air rifles 1950 always open sight "hit 'n miss" learn by doing.
Last year I attended an open weekend charity event involving HFT course.
I had no idea what it was all about but fell among friends

Say 10 minutes with my own tackle, a couple of seasoned shooters, and all made perfect sense.
The rest of the weekend was just great fun.

So my advice. Pop to a club or range. Tell the shooters where you're up to and stand back for the blast. They will respond positive and immediate and the rare one that doesn't can be tolerated.

Still can't hit things but know how to.

[baldinio]

Hi mate, what type of target shooting are you doing? Also what calibre rifle?

Chris

[Hsing-ee]

I would start at 10 meters or yards, otherwise sighting-in can be difficult.

A new shooter shooting at 30 yards will find the groups sizes depressing.

10 meters, open sights, until you have mastered trigger-pressing and breathing techniques. You should be able to hit a 5 pence piece with a PCP at 10 meters every time, ten pence piece with a springer.

If no open sights then use the lowest magnification on the scope.

Get an experienced marksman to coach you.

[eyebull]

Remember you have two zeros - if you zero at 10 or 12 yards then it will also be at zero at (roughly) 28 or 30 yards.
You also have something called the Point Blank Range or PBR, which is the portion of your trajectory where the pellet is within a close distance - perhaps 1/4 inch - of zero. Sometimes people try to optimise that so it is long as possible,
I'd recommend downloading the Chairgun program from the Hawke website (it's free!), and playing around with the settings. It will give you a good idea of what to expect from your trajectory. It also has settings for mildots so you can see where they will potentially line up.

Would agree with Hsing-ee about starting at shorter distances.

[angrybear]

As above, Hawke Chairgun will show you what's happening on a graph & explain better than pages written here, just play with it changing the zero range, muzzle energy &/or pellet weight to see the changes.
very roughly speaking .177 zero at around 32yds, .22 zero around 26yds for the flattest, longest point blank range (PBR) which is where the pellet is within 1/2 inch of the point of aim.

When you get a new gun you usually need to start a zero at about 10yds to even have the pellet hit a sheet of A4 paper, because at 25-30yds with a new scope the aim could be several feet off.