Sight-in distance for 17 HMR

[TxAggie94]

I just picked up a Savage 93r17. So far, I like the gun. For now, I just put a cheap Tasco scope on it (yes, I've sworn I'd never do that, but...)

Anyway, I was curious: at what distance do most of you zero your 17 HMRs?

Right now, mine is zeroed at 100. I'm planning to set it to at least 150, maybe 200.

[Reeek]

I'd leave it at 100 and learn the drop and windage adjustments for the loads you shoot for the further distances but that's just me. When you upgrade your scope you can look at those with calibrated drop adjustment marks on the reticule.

Out to about 150 you are probably looking at 6" or less of drop which is not too hard to estimate through a scope. As long as you learn the POI during target shooting the rounds you plan to use there is not a lot of adjustment to make with common varmint distances for the .17

The fact is we seldom get to shoot at the exact distance we are sighted in for anyway so learning to adjust on the fly is crucial in long distance shooting.

[TxAggie94]

I do have a Fullfield II with the ballistic reticle that's not on a gun right now. I bought that scope in anticipation of putting it on a 7 mag I'm planning to get. I may end up just putting the fullfield on the 17 and then getting something else to go with the 7 mag down the line.

Decisions, decisions.

I was using a ballistics program a while back, but it was a trial and it expired. I may just buy that program so I can play around with the ballistics for different bullets and see how close I could get the 17 to the graduations on the Fullfield.

Anyway, thanks for the thought.

[TxAggie94]

Thinking about it some more, I guess the other part of the question for distance shooting is wind compensation, particularly for this light bullet.

How hard is that to estimate and compensate for?

[IndyMatt]

Wind will be your enemy with this light of a bullet. It is flat shooting but loses a lot of energy and is really effected by the wind.

Here some decent info:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/17HMR.htm

Also, please do not try to use this round on coyotes as it doesn't have enough energy to achieve a decent kill 100% of the time.

[BEEFCAKE-NMCB1]

Check out the Sweet 17 made by BSA you will sight it in at 100 yards and can dial it out to 300 yards its an inexpensive scope but loads of fun and accurate.

[jnclement]

I sighted mine in at 100. I think Varmint Al's webpage has the charts showing the 17 hmr ballistics. I read really good things about the Pentax 6x mil-dot on the Savageshooters website. The dots were almost exactly on at 25 yard intervals. Claimed to be great optics for $99. The Sweet 17 they tested crapped out on them after about 6 months.

[vafish]

Mine is sighted in for 100 yards. 2.5" low at 150 and 8.5" of drop at 200.

Another option is to sight it in dead on at 25 yards. You then are within 2" vertically all the way out to 175 yards.

As for Wind Drift, the .17 HMR is better than the .22 mag in the wind.

Wind Drift is a function of velocity (ie time to target) and the Ballistic coefficient of the bullet. It has nothing to do with the weight of the bullet so don't believe those that say it gets blown all over the place.

If your .17 HMR is getting blown all over the place so will any other round.

Do learn what your bullet does in the wind so you can compensate for it.

Varmint Al has a bunch of good stuff:

http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

[bscman]

Originally Posted by vafish

Mine is sighted in for 100 yards. 2.5" low at 150 and 8.5" of drop at 200.

Another option is to sight it in dead on at 25 yards. You then are within 2" vertically all the way out to 175 yards.

As for Wind Drift, the .17 HMR is better than the .22 mag in the wind.

Wind Drift is a function of velocity (ie time to target) and the Ballistic coefficient of the bullet. It has nothing to do with the weight of the bullet so don't believe those that say it gets blown all over the place.

If your .17 HMR is getting blown all over the place so will any other round.

Do learn what your bullet does in the wind so you can compensate for it.

Varmint Al has a bunch of good stuff:

http://www.varmintal.com/17hmr.htm

This depends a LOT on how high your scope is off the bore...
If you're using a scope with a 30mm objective and low mount rings, and someone else is using a 50mm objective with extra tall rights, they are going to see VERY different results zeroing at 25yds.

I'm also not a fan of using the 1.5" or 2" 'Max Point Blank Range" sight-in method. There are a lot of times where sub 2" accuracy is needed, or you need to know exactly where the bullet will hit. Simply knowing "I will be withing 2 inches of where I aim" is not always good enough...on small game, that can mean the difference between a hit or miss, or wounding vs. cleanly killing.

The best method, IMHO, is to sight in at 100yds. This is a common distance for target shooting.
Then print out the ballistics for the round, out to ~200yds, and tape it to the stock. It's much easier to calculate bullet drop, and figure out EXACTLY where to aim to get the hit you want.

FWIW, I haven't heard much good about the BSA Sweet 17...many people over on rimfire central are having problems with it maintaining zero. It is a novel concept, but the quality just isn't there.

[Fox72]

TxAggie,

If you have access to a chronograph, go to www.biggameinfo.com . They have a free ballistics calculator that I use for .223, .22-250, and .308. It is almost exactly the same as when I compare it to actual shooting.