Sighting in at 13 yards
 

I have heard that you can sight in a muzzleloader roughly out to 100 yards by sighting in dead on at 13 yards. Does this also apply to sighting in a slug gun.

Don't know where you heard that, but I would look up how you actually sight in any gun and you should always end by shooting it at however far you intend to shoot at game. You can take shortcuts sighting in to get it close on paper, but always shoot on out at the distances you'll actually be using it in the field.

rochelle, point blank ranging is a useful tool but not one to be used exclusively for sighting in a firearm. Especially one as variable as a muzzleloading rifle. With all the different bullet weights and powder loads that are available for muzzleloaders and also powder types of varying power, you need to shoot and practice at all ranges that you intend on taking game at. What you are referring to is known as point blank sight in and some also call it arch ranging. At 13 yards, your bullet is still on the rise portion of the arch and at 100 yards it could be on the same level on the downward portion of the arch. This, again especially with muzzleloading rifles, can not be depended on to be anywhere near accurate. For one reason, if you sight in to be dead on at the 13 yards first, you will more than likely be in the dirt at 100 because of the sight angle. But if you sight in dead on at 100 you may well be dead on at 10-13 yards. Look at a few trajectory charts and you will be more able to wrap your head around that.

Using my Nikon Spoton software (which is pretty accurate, I've found) you'll end up hitting 3 to 6 inches high at 100 if you sight in at 13 yards with a 50 cal inline firing 250 grain Shockwaves. There might be a combination of muzzleloader, bullet, and powder charge that will be zeroed at both 13 and 100 yards, but honestly, I'd just prefer to get it on paper at 25 and 50 yards then fine tune the sights to 100.

Thanks guys. The reason I'm asking is because I read an article by Gary Clancy about it

If your rifle has iron sights, sighting in at 13 yard should bring you fairly close at 100 yard. Of course you will shoot at 100 yard, before you take the rifle hunting.














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By your using something such as the Hornady Ballistic Calculator you CAN start at closer range. With at least a BC, sight height, bullet weight, and velocity you can set a zero range and get very close off the trajectory of your calculator. At least for my rifles and where I zero them, typically you will be hitting low at close range.

You still have to shoot at range to know where you are grouping. Isn't spending time at your zero range the only way to really know what the POI is for the range you are attempting to zero your rifle at?

Another reason to practice at your hunting ranges is to make sure your gun is in order. This just happened this weekend. I spent Saturday initially sighting a gun known to be accurate with a used scope at 50 yards before heading to the range today. I find possibly a defective scope or a bad mount, brought upon by a POI variation between 3 and 9x while shooting at 200 yards. Now its time to address the problem. A rare occurrence that wouldn't be very noticeable at close range, enough to inhumanely injure an animal, brought to light by sighting in at longer ranges. Enough said!!!!

the bullet must cross the line of sight.... in order to be dead on at 100, 200, etc...

kind of like a football,

none the less I think it would be easier to just sight in at 100yds or 50 or 200 etc...

a scope adjustment of 1 click = 1/4 at 100yds... would be greater the closer to point blank...

buy a scope laser bore sight to get it close then sight it in at 50...100...200