I'm heading out to the range tomorrow and will be zeroing in my 270 Win and 338 WM. In your experience, what's the most useful zero (or max height) for a pair like that?

Nebraska,
I like your choice of rifle caliber, .270/338 is the ideal combo in my view.
Keep things nice/simple.
Sight in for relative open farmland with frequent wood lots for 200 yards.
For wide open conditions (antelope hunting) sight in your .270 for 300 yards.You will be about 9 inches to a foot low @ 400 yards ( depending on your load).
Leave your .338 sighted for 200 yards zero, and check your bullet drop at 400 yards.( you will be low about 8-10 inches @300 yards depending what load you shoot.)
You will use your .338 I assume for big animals like moose and elk. At such animals Kentucky windage will be easy since the chest height of a bull moose is around 33- 36 inches and a decent bull elk about 28-34 inches.( here in Alberta).
Chest heights vary in race and region. Check it out.
Not sure what terrain you hunt. We have a range of terrains in Alberta. Boreal forest in the north, parkland in the center and wide open native prairie in the south.
The above mentioned sighting in for the .270 and .338 work fine in the above terrains.

What Strike said is correct. I sight my .338WM to print +2" at 100 yards, for a 200-yard zero (give and take an inch or two). This translates to perhaps -7" to -10" at 300 yards, depending on bullet weight.

The .338WM is very popular with Alaska hunters, way up there with the .30-06 and the .300WM.

For many, many years now, I've zeroed my "longer range" rifles three inches high at 100 yards. My two favorites are my old .280 Remington and my nearly-as-old .338 W.M. Also same with my .308 Win. and my .243 Win. That zero has worked fine for me with shots out to 415 yards. I haven't shot at an animal farther than that, and for all practical purposes, I was benchrested across a large boulder to take that shot at an elk. Killed him with my .338.

My Marlin and Winchester .30-30 rifles are zeroed about one inch high at 100 yards, 170 grains bullets.

Those work for me.

L.W.

I'd sight 'em both 3 inch high @100 yards .

For my none mildot/balistic plex scopes I site them in 1.5 inchs high at a hundred. I am slowing getting rid of my none multi aiming point scopes as the multi aiming points of mildots or multi cross hairs make it so much easier to hit with at longer ranges.

Know the range pick the right aiming point aim dead on hit your target.

My .270 and .300 Win Mag are both 3 inches high at 100 yards.

Best of luck......Jayco.

3" high at 100 ha always worked for me. have a dope sheet so u know where u will hit at the longer ranges include wind drift in the chart. i keep mine on the buttstock.

cold zero

I sight my 7mm Mag in at 3 inches high at 100 yards. That allows me to hold on hair for any deer or elk out to about 375 yards, which is as far as I'm going to shoot at an unwounded animal.

Mac

I zero my rifles @ 200 and then practice @ 300.

Hey Nebraska, What ever method you use, stick with it. It is no good at all to ingrain one sight-in method and then switch to another one, or at least it didn't work well for me.

I shot Irons for a very long time and got used to compensating with a bit of "KY Windage and Elevation" for longer shots. When I began using scopes, I could really appreciate the benefits of them, even though they were nothing at all like the excellent equipment we have today.

I read about sighting in for 3" high (in maybe the mid `70s) and decided the Gun Rag Writer must know what he was talking about. So, I switched my scopes over to 3" high. End result was that my ingrained "compensator" took over and I ended up shooting w-a-y over two Deer that should have been easy kills.

That in no way is disagreeing with any of the above posters who use the 3" high @ 100yds and enjoy it. Just doesn't work for me.

I'm pretty sure I have all my Hunting Rifles set up to be 6"-8" low at 300yds which puts them all very close to right-on at 200yds. Quite similar to what Wstrnhuntr is doing. Then the "non-calculated" - actually-shot-at-distance Drop Chart comes into use "if needed".

Extremely rare for me to take a real long shot any more, so the 6"-8" low at 300yds does well for me. You would think the various Bullets with multiple Ballistic Coefficients in multiple Cartridges/Rifles would make this impractical, but on Deer size game, I've not found it to be an issue at all.

You made good points, Hot Core.

I have always zeroed mine +2" at 100 yards, but for Alaska hunting +1" to maybe +1-1/2" is good enough, since shots could be taken from a few yards away to "maybe" 300 yards. I have only shot one moose at 300, but that was my first moose ever. Nowadays I get much closer. Now, for large open fields, then +3" or more probably is OK.

One thing for sure: When I walk through the brush in bear country, I would worry a little if the bullet hits too high at 50 yards. It's easy to panic and shoot high, anyway.

Nebraska:
Those are my "go to" rifles as well. I don't think there are 2 calibers that go together as well. My .270 is the one I go for when sheep or caribou are on the menu and in a pinch, I'd use it on moose as well - picking my shot of course.
As to your question. I too read about sighting in at 3" high years ago and that is still the method I use. Also, when any of my rifles need a complete re-sight in, I always begin at 25 yards and sight in dead-on. For most rifles, this will put the impact at about +2 1/2" at 100 yds. At the very least, you'll be on the paper. I see quite a few guys at the range strating out at 100 yds. with their favorite magnum and having no idea of their bullet impacts.
BTW, with a +3" sight-in, I get about 6 1/2" of drop at 300 yds. with a 225 gr. Northfork out of my .338. I too tape a drop table on my stock. Hope this helps some. Later, Bear in Fairbanks

I personnaly sight my high powered big game rifles (7mm Rem Mag and 300 Win Mag) to be zeroed at 250 yards (this would put the bullet about 2.7" high at 100 yards). I do not like to be more than 3" above line of sight (which comes at 150 yards). With a decent spitzer and the kind of velocity these cartridges will give my bullet will be less than 3" above line of sight at 150 yards and right at 3" low at 300. So basically on any big game animal from deer and larger one can hold center on vitals and not even think about the trajectory out to 300 yards. Most shots at big game should be well under 300 yards. Rufous.

Nebraska,

Ever since I can remember I've used a 3 inch high at 100 yards sight in for my big game hunting rilfes. The only thing is that scopes with large objective bells that have to be mounted in high rings will shoot way too high mid range with this sighting. All of my scopes are in low rings. This does < !--color--> make a difference and is often overlooked.
Rich Elliott.

I used to zero at 200. Last year I went over my records and realized my average shot for the last several years has been about 80 yards due to vegetation and terrain. The longest (feral goat) was 150 yards, and the closest (feral cow) was about 10 feet. I also realized that I had badly overshot on one occasion because I was zeroed for antelope country instead of the jungle. Because of that, I revamped my training exercises to focus on fast shooting inside of about 150 yards with a scoped 308, 9.3x62 or 35 Whelen, and I find that a 150-yard zero (about +1 at 100) works perfectly. I can reach a bit farther if necessary, but given where I hunt, that would be exceptional. If I still hunted open country, I'd probably zero +3 @ 100.

Okie John

I have converted to a conservative maximum point blank range (MPBR) approach for the smallest animal i may encounter, and adjust my scope reticle (either ballistic reticle or simple plex system)such that it can be used as a MPBR rangefinder for the largest animal i may encounter. Once practiced this system will allow u to apply the full advantage of the rig u are using without having to do any range guessing or math in your head (when time allows).

I set all open country zeroes at 3.5 inches high at 100 yds, regardless of caliber.



I prefer scopes that it is easy to reset your zero back at 100 yds with no fuss, like a Leupold or Weaver.



So I use the point blank range of the cartridge to set my limits, that varies by caliber, but it allows me to be a consistent shooter at 250 to 300 yrds.



I think that is the ethical and moral limit to shoot at game for me personally. I think all hunters need to set their own personal limitations/



Cheers and good shooting

seafire

I zero both all my rifles 2" at 100 m, only my 9.3x62 is spot on at 100 m I don't shoot much longer shots with my 9.3

I sight my .264 in 3" high at 100 yards which is 8" to 9.5" low at 400 yards. I shot over the first two antelope I shot at with this setting since I obviously misjudged the distance. Now, if I think the target is farther than 200 yards, I hold on the top of the back. If the bullet hits the ground then I've again misjudged the distance and the animal is too far. This hasn't happend yet, though.

I sight mine in 1" high at 100 yards. I do most of my shooting between 100 and 200 yards. Since I very seldom shoot over 200 yards why sight in for longer distances. I do shoot my guns at the longer ranges but will just hold higher if I need to make a long shot on game. Sighting in at 25 yards and thinking you will be on at 200 is b.s. Most of my rifles when zeroed at 25 yards tend to be 8 to 10 inches high at 100. Sight the gun in at the distance you usually shoot and compensate for longer distances. On my precision rifles I sight in at 100 and click the scope for longer distance.

I shoot mildot and sight mine dead on at 100 yards, Maybe Im stupid but it works for me.

For years I sighted my rifles 2" high at 100 yards. Then, thanks to the myriad of gun writers out there, I got caught up in the MPBR syndrome like many other folks and switched to whatever zero was afforded with the bullet path no more than +/-3" from line of sight out to my maximum point blank range. I've lately been rethinking that paradigm.

I took a nice mulie buck at 375 paces (however far that actually was) with my 7mmRemMag back in 1970. The rifle was set up 2" high at 100 yards. I practiced a lot, I knew my rifle, and just compensated for the additional yardage. I've not taken a single shot at anywhere near than range since, so I've been wondering lately why my rifles were set up for such long range shooting. I'm far more likely to encounter game and shoot inside 250 yards. Why not zero a little closer to the distance I'll actually be shooting most of the time and know where I hit at other distances? The bullet path will be closer to line of sight at any range I'm most likely to shoot.

I'm going back to a flatter trajectory at more reasonable distances when I sight in for hunting this fall. If I have the opportunity for a long shot and circumstances are ideal, I'll probably also have the time to settle into a solid shooting position and estimate the distance and make any allowances necessary.

Just for grins, I just ran a ballistic program for my 7-08AI with a 225 yard zero. I'm 2" high at 100 yards and only 5.2" low at 300 yards. If I can honestly settle in for a 300 yard shot, I can easily hold over by a mere 5".

My dad thinks it's a little funny that I knew this at age 17, but I'm just now learning it all over again. The older I get, the smarter my dad was.

I zero everything at 200.