Targets I use to sight in my rifles
Years ago, before the rage of high BC bullets and a plethora of scopes with target-style turrets, I would sight my rifles in to maximize the max-point-blank-range for a given cartridge and target size I was hunting. With this said I have targets with varying impact points over the aiming point for different cartridges. Since around 2013, I now sight all of my rifles to be zeroed at 100 yards and use the 4-up target download below.
Max Point Blank Range Target Thoughts
For my deer and elk rifle loads I like to sight my rifles in at 2 1/2 inches high at 100 yards. This is a little higher than the traditional 2 inches that you have always been told to do.
With the ballistics that are achieved with the 243 WSSM and my 270 WSM I get roughly a 350 yard max-point-blank range on a 7 inch target. What does this mean? It means that I can hold dead center on a 7-inch diameter target and be able to hit that target from 0 to 350 yards. So from 0 to 400 yards I can hold on an elk or deer with no holdover required. Now, I do hold on the lower part of the shoulders for basically a heart shot when I am in the 100-200 yard range and I hold for a high shoulder shot in the 400 yard range.
Now, when I am shooting the 243 WSSM 55g Ballistic Tips over the 4,000 fps barrier, I like being sighted in for 1 1/2 inches high at 100 yards. This gives me a nice 300-yard zero. Perfect for taking the smaller Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, Rock Chucks and the like out to around 350 yards without any drastic hold over or under.
Printable 4-up target with a 3-shot group from an X-Bolt 28 Nosler rifle. See load data for this load: 28 Nosler Handloads
Shooting with Adjustable Target Turrets
In 2013, I started getting Vortex Viper rifle scopes with target-style elevation turrets. With these scopes, I like to sight the rifle in to be dead on at 100 yards and then dial in the minutes of angle for the specific shot with the target-style turret. With these setups, I prefer to use the Four Up target shown below.
If you click on the images below you will download PDF files that you can print out. The grid pattern on the targets is a half inch apart, except the MRAD targets are set to 1/10 MRAD at 100 yards or 1/10 MRAD for 100 Meters. When printing make sure you do the following to get the proper sizing of the targets. To get the correct sizing when you select print in Adobe Acrobat, select the "NONE" option in the "Page Scaling" menu. If left on the default option, which is "Shrink to Printable Area" your target will be reduced in size, making the half-inch grid somewhat smaller.
Rifle Target PDF Printable Downloads
 1 1/2" Sight-in Height |
 2" Sight-in Height |
 2 1/2" Sight-in Height |
 MOA Four Up Target |
MRAD Four Up Target at 100 Yards |
MRAD Four Up Target at 100 Meters |
 Muzzleloader Target (10-inch circle, 11x17 paper required) |