What is the correct sight in distance for a Scoped 458 win mag?
How about a Scoped 375 H&H?

I depend on where you are hunting and for what.

When I went to Namibia for plains game I sighted my 375 H&H in at 2 inches high at 100 yards which is just about dead on at 200 yards and 10 inches low at 300 yards.

When I go for Buff next year I will probably sight it dead on at 100 yards.

If you shoot from the same position,the 458, shot dead center at 25yds(not an inch or more,here or there),should be dead center at 100yds.

Nuts on at 25 should give you a 2 or 3 inches high at a hundred.

If it were I, I'd sight it in dead on at a hundred, cause I wouldn't need to shoot anything with a 458 any further than that.

50 yards for a heavy, like a .458.

200 for everything else, including a .375.

That's what I do and it works just fine.

Pretty much irrespective of caliber and use, I advocate 150m zero.

For the .458 it could probably be less as the shooting distances may be shorter, but I have a hard time seeing you going wrong with the 150m zero as you'll be within +2"/-4" up to 200m.

If yards are your preference, I certainly subscribe to Jeff Cooper's principle of zero @ 200yds: this'll give you about 4" low @ 250yds, and about 2" high @ 150yds.
For the metric 150m sight-in you'll be approx. 10cm (4") low @ 200m (180yds), and approx. 4cm (less than 2") high @ 100m (90yds). With this zero, usually you'll be i.r.o. 10" low @ 300m. This pretty much irrespective of caliber.

For all practical shooting IMO 200m is pretty much the max. and if you wish to go over this, you'll need a flat-shooting magnum and you'll need to know the ballistics.
Not only is bullet drop a factor, but wind drift even more so and that it a helluva lot more difficult to assess than bullet drop.

- Lars/Finland

I have a scoped 375 H&H with QR mounts. I sight the irons @ 50 yds and the scope @ 100 yds.

Will be sighting the 500 Jeff at 10 yards as I will be using it as a stopping rifle at short distance only...

Do you really need sights at 10 yards?

I beleave that 100yds for rifles, but some
rifles have more power
,150yd for other rifles. But you always have to keep that this rifle is sighed in 3" high.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
Do you really need sights at 10 yards?

Up until two weeks ago, I would have said no but then I took out my new 12ga home sweeper w/pistol grip and 18.5 barrel and thru some 00 buck and 1oz slugs at a 18" swinging steel target at 10yards.

My natural instink was to pull too the left, missing the target completely, even with the 00 buck shot.

I really didn't think that was possible at this distance but was I ever wrong. I need more pratice... lol

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:
Will be sighting the 500 Jeff at 10 yards as I will be using it as a stopping rifle at short distance only...

You'll find that it will change the POI over a 50m zero by perhaps an inch at that distance but at longer distances your trajectory will be much more pronounced than with a longer zero.

The rifle will be used as a stopping rifle when I am on walking safaris with guests.

The last thing you want is to kill an animal while with guests taking photos.

When the animal enter the 10 meter zone he will be committed with the charge and only a well placed round will stop him.

Even if you are an inch high it might be to high to stop him.

I will confirm where the rifle shoots at 50 meters as well.

Indeed, my point is that you have about an inch of mechanical offset at the muzzle, so from the muzzle to 50m you have an inch of variance. Whereas with a 10m zero you will still have an inch of offset at the muzzle, etc. So truely short zero distances have never been an option for me.

I understand.

But then you sight in your rifle for hunting and not as a stopping weapon.

quote:

When the animal enter the 10 meter zone he will be committed with the charge and only a well placed round will stop him.

I have had a lot of experienced elephant guys tell me that same thing but I know from personal experience it isn't always true!

Be careful with those jumbos.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:

quote:

When the animal enter the 10 meter zone he will be committed with the charge and only a well placed round will stop him.

I have had a lot of experienced elephant guys tell me that same thing but I know from personal experience it isn't always true!

Be careful with those jumbos.

Thanks Will,

Trust me I dont want to get guests in a situation where they are in danger.

Thats why I will rather be safe than sorry and I had the 500 Jeff build to get the job done when the brown stuff hits the fan...

For MY .458 WinMag(1x Red Dot, NO scope)...50 yds. I'm not shooting anything with that rifle at an appreciably further distance.

MY scoped .375...depends A LOT on where and what I'm hunting, which loads, etc,etc.

For the 458wm, opens at 50yds, scope at 100yds.

For the 375H&H, opens at 50yds, scope 2" high at 100yds.

Also, RyanB is correct. If a rifle is sighted in for 25 or 50yds zero, it will shoot LOW inside of that distance, not high.

With open sights the rifle will shoot low by about an inch at the muzzle with that decreasing as range increases to zero yardage. Same with a scope, but the offset at the muzzles is about 1.75" is the scope is properly mounted low.

If one is to err on elephants, it is better to err low.

A too low frontal shot which passes under the brain will break the ball joint at the neck/skull junction or spine the ele. If the error also includes windage, their is more dense bone below the brain, which will transmit bullet energy, unlike the honeycomb above the brain.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
For the 458wm, opens at 50yds, scope at 100yds.

For the 375H&H, opens at 50yds, scope 2" high at 100yds.

Also, RyanB is correct. If a rifle is sighted in for 25 or 50yds zero, it will shoot LOW inside of that distance, not high.

With open sights the rifle will shoot low by about an inch at the muzzle with that decreasing as range increases to zero yardage. Same with a scope, but the offset at the muzzles is about 1.75" is the scope is properly mounted low.

If one is to err on elephants, it is better to err low.

A too low frontal shot which passes under the brain will break the ball joint at the neck/skull junction or spine the ele. If the error also includes windage, their is more dense bone below the brain, which will transmit bullet energy, unlike the honeycomb above the brain.

JPK

Correct,

I just prefer to know that I am spot on at 10 meters instead of trying to remember to compensate for where the bullet might go.

Does not matter if it is elephant, buff, lion any other animal...

I remember that shooting moving targets at very close range is harder than shooting at longer range. I can remember a demonstration at Ft Benning with guys standing in a circle wearing MILES gear (laser detectors) and a guy in the middle sparying blanks with a laser transmittter, full auto in a circular sweeping motion. He missed most if not all.

Another good example is 10 meter 3 position air rifle. The targets need to be hung at different heights due to the steep angles at such a close distance. 50 meter smallbore has the same target for all 3 positions and it is just fine that way.

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
For the 458wm, opens at 50yds, scope at 100yds.

For the 375H&H, opens at 50yds, scope 2" high at 100yds.

Also, RyanB is correct. If a rifle is sighted in for 25 or 50yds zero, it will shoot LOW inside of that distance, not high.

With open sights the rifle will shoot low by about an inch at the muzzle with that decreasing as range increases to zero yardage. Same with a scope, but the offset at the muzzles is about 1.75" is the scope is properly mounted low.

If one is to err on elephants, it is better to err low.

A too low frontal shot which passes under the brain will break the ball joint at the neck/skull junction or spine the ele. If the error also includes windage, their is more dense bone below the brain, which will transmit bullet energy, unlike the honeycomb above the brain.

JPK

Correct,

I just prefer to know that I am spot on at 10 meters instead of trying to remember to compensate for where the bullet might go.

Does not matter if it is elephant, buff, lion any other animal...

I understand what you are saying, but the same issues arise if the elephant is actually at 9yds, or 8, or 11. But it is an utterly un-critical issue, even for a rifle sighted at 50 or 100yds. There is more error built into the size of the bead.

Further, the rifle sighted at 10yds, while marginally low inside of 10yds, will be shooting critically high at longer ranges, making it useless for general hunting or back up use in situations where the game is not "right there."

Using a 458wm shooting 450gr bullets at 2150fps for an example, a rifle with open sights sighted for a 10yd zero will shoot about 2.5" high at 25yds, 5.75" high at 50yds, 8.25" high at 75yds and a whopping 10.25" high at 100yds.

JPK

For general hunting, I would sight dead on @ 100yds. That is still pretty much on @ 50yds. For a stopper, I probably wouldn't thave a scope on a 458, but dead on @ 25yds seems right.

i see the differences in end use plays a big part in the distances quoted. For myself I have my 404 sighted in at 55 yds, but the aperture on my 7x57 is zero'd at 150 and the scope at 200.

Von Gruff.

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
For the 458wm, opens at 50yds, scope at 100yds.

For the 375H&H, opens at 50yds, scope 2" high at 100yds.

Also, RyanB is correct. If a rifle is sighted in for 25 or 50yds zero, it will shoot LOW inside of that distance, not high.

With open sights the rifle will shoot low by about an inch at the muzzle with that decreasing as range increases to zero yardage. Same with a scope, but the offset at the muzzles is about 1.75" is the scope is properly mounted low.

If one is to err on elephants, it is better to err low.

A too low frontal shot which passes under the brain will break the ball joint at the neck/skull junction or spine the ele. If the error also includes windage, their is more dense bone below the brain, which will transmit bullet energy, unlike the honeycomb above the brain.

JPK

Correct,

I just prefer to know that I am spot on at 10 meters instead of trying to remember to compensate for where the bullet might go.

Does not matter if it is elephant, buff, lion any other animal...

I understand what you are saying, but the same issues arise if the elephant is actually at 9yds, or 8, or 11. But it is an utterly un-critical issue, even for a rifle sighted at 50 or 100yds. There is more error built into the size of the bead.

Further, the rifle sighted at 10yds, while marginally low inside of 10yds, will be shooting critically high at longer ranges, making it useless for general hunting or back up use in situations where the game is not "right there."

Using a 458wm shooting 450gr bullets at 2150fps for an example, a rifle with open sights sighted for a 10yd zero will shoot about 2.5" high at 25yds, 5.75" high at 50yds, 8.25" high at 75yds and a whopping 10.25" high at 100yds.

JPK

Correct,

Luckily I have a ghost ring on the rifle that I can adjust the elevation.

So when it comes to general hunting and guiding as PH work it will only be a matter or re adjusting the sights at 50 yards for the Jeff.

That will then take care for any shots out to 100 yards.

I will for interest sake make sure where the rounds print on 25 and 50 yards when the sights are set at 10 yards...

For general hunting with a big bore rifle 50 yards would be to best distance. You should not be shooting at game thats not wounded further than 50 yards. Unless the habitat where you hunt forces you to take longer shots...

And I thought you hot rods did this all instinctively, one handed, with your eyes closed.

Back when I had my Heym I got to the point of just snap shooting. Seemed to work pretty well. Luckily I can claim to be too old to have to prove that now!

I got out my Barnes manual and checked the trajetory for a given zero with a 500gr bullet in 458 caliber.With a velocity of 2100fps and a 100yd zero,you get a -1.5 at 0 yds,a .34 at 50 yds,and a 0 at 100yds.So,this does confirm or comes really close to what I get.A dead center shot at 25yds will give you a dead center shot at 100yds.I would expect my rifle to shoot an inch low at 5 yds or less.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
And I thought you hot rods did this all instinctively, one handed, with your eyes closed.

Back when I had my Heym I got to the point of just snap shooting. Seemed to work pretty well. Luckily I can claim to be too old to have to prove that now!

Ha ha ha

Good one Will.

I never claimed to be a hot rod.

I have done a lot of IPSC shooting and I know what needs to be done to get steel on target very fast every time.

Now I starting to play with the big bore to get the same results.

Steel on target very fast every time...

Difference now is that when you dont get the steel on target when it counts someone is gonna have a very uncomfortable encounter...

So the more I practice the luckier I will get...

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
For the 458wm, opens at 50yds, scope at 100yds.

For the 375H&H, opens at 50yds, scope 2" high at 100yds.

Also, RyanB is correct. If a rifle is sighted in for 25 or 50yds zero, it will shoot LOW inside of that distance, not high.

With open sights the rifle will shoot low by about an inch at the muzzle with that decreasing as range increases to zero yardage. Same with a scope, but the offset at the muzzles is about 1.75" is the scope is properly mounted low.

If one is to err on elephants, it is better to err low.

A too low frontal shot which passes under the brain will break the ball joint at the neck/skull junction or spine the ele. If the error also includes windage, their is more dense bone below the brain, which will transmit bullet energy, unlike the honeycomb above the brain.

JPK

Correct,

I just prefer to know that I am spot on at 10 meters instead of trying to remember to compensate for where the bullet might go.

Does not matter if it is elephant, buff, lion any other animal...

I understand what you are saying, but the same issues arise if the elephant is actually at 9yds, or 8, or 11. But it is an utterly un-critical issue, even for a rifle sighted at 50 or 100yds. There is more error built into the size of the bead.

Further, the rifle sighted at 10yds, while marginally low inside of 10yds, will be shooting critically high at longer ranges, making it useless for general hunting or back up use in situations where the game is not "right there."

Using a 458wm shooting 450gr bullets at 2150fps for an example, a rifle with open sights sighted for a 10yd zero will shoot about 2.5" high at 25yds, 5.75" high at 50yds, 8.25" high at 75yds and a whopping 10.25" high at 100yds.

JPK

Correct,

Luckily I have a ghost ring on the rifle that I can adjust the elevation.

So when it comes to general hunting and guiding as PH work it will only be a matter or re adjusting the sights at 50 yards for the Jeff.

That will then take care for any shots out to 100 yards.

I will for interest sake make sure where the rounds print on 25 and 50 yards when the sights are set at 10 yards...

For general hunting with a big bore rifle 50 yards would be to best distance. You should not be shooting at game thats not wounded further than 50 yards. Unless the habitat where you hunt forces you to take longer shots...

That makes sense to me. If you index the elevation adjustment for the two settings, you could even switch back and forth without resighting.

JPK