What range does the military sight in ACOGs?
- Thread starter kcub
- Start date
My understanding is that each of the BDCs is set up for a 100y zero on the center dot with some specific military ammo, barrel length, height above bore and for zero altitude. I believe if you contact trijicon, you can find out for any given model what those settings are, and I think even get raw reticle data in mills and/or MOA.
Of course all this may not match your caliber, cartridge, barrel length, sight height, and altitude. What I did for mine is to run my config in a ballistic calculator and adjust the variable I had control of (zero height at 100y) until the rest matched up as well as possible. In general, unless the cartridge the ACOG is made for and the cartridge you're shooting are very different, this will work. In my case it was a .308 ACOG made for M80 ball and I was shooting 6.8 SPC. I was able to get it to match well out to 600 or so.
Of course all this may not match your caliber, cartridge, barrel length, sight height, and altitude. What I did for mine is to run my config in a ballistic calculator and adjust the variable I had control of (zero height at 100y) until the rest matched up as well as possible. In general, unless the cartridge the ACOG is made for and the cartridge you're shooting are very different, this will work. In my case it was a .308 ACOG made for M80 ball and I was shooting 6.8 SPC. I was able to get it to match well out to 600 or so.
ndking1126
New member
https://goo.gl/photos/fF8UHPpsX5WtCS4d8
This is how I sighted in mine when in Afghanistan. I've never heard of a service member who did it differently.
This is how I sighted in mine when in Afghanistan. I've never heard of a service member who did it differently.
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I'm sure that's what everyone does, and if your circumstances EXACTLY match what the reticle is set for that's great.
If you want the more distant hashes to be of any use though you'll need to tune for your actual circumstances. For example the different between sealevel and one mile up in the Afghan mountains is 36" less drop at 800y. That's actually far too much to correct for by lowering the 100y zero, which is fundamentally the problem in using BDCs for shooting way out - they're always wrong.
For the M4/M855/high elevation scenario zeroing 1" low at 100" would substantially improve the 600 and 700 yard hash while not hurting anything else too bad. The 800y hash is hopelessly low.
If you want the more distant hashes to be of any use though you'll need to tune for your actual circumstances. For example the different between sealevel and one mile up in the Afghan mountains is 36" less drop at 800y. That's actually far too much to correct for by lowering the 100y zero, which is fundamentally the problem in using BDCs for shooting way out - they're always wrong.
For the M4/M855/high elevation scenario zeroing 1" low at 100" would substantially improve the 600 and 700 yard hash while not hurting anything else too bad. The 800y hash is hopelessly low.
There are multiple ACOG models in the DOD supply system with differing reticles.
The Army zeros all optics and irons at 25 meters. We use an offset target, so you aim at the E type silhouette and the bullets impact about an inch lower and point of impact.
The best zero though is the 300 meter zero, but we only go through that pain with SDMs or units that take the time to check out a full scale range with pits.
I cannot speak for how the Navy, Marines, or Air Force zero an ACOG to a rifle.
Jimro
The Army zeros all optics and irons at 25 meters. We use an offset target, so you aim at the E type silhouette and the bullets impact about an inch lower and point of impact.
The best zero though is the 300 meter zero, but we only go through that pain with SDMs or units that take the time to check out a full scale range with pits.
I cannot speak for how the Navy, Marines, or Air Force zero an ACOG to a rifle.
Jimro
No, with military 5.56 a 25 yard zero is 5-7" high between 100-200 yards and back to zero at 300 yards. Doesn't make sense to me, but that is how they used to teach it and may still do so. A 100 yard zero makes much more sense to me. We've been missing a lot of bad guys by shooting too high at the ranges where they are most likely to be.
I have never served in any armed forces, let alone knowing anything about the contemporary acog.
But I set almost all my rifles in "battle sight", iron or optics. Zeroed to 200yd. The poi will be no more than 3" above or below poa, from 0 to 250 yd. Good enough for hunting or, God forbid, combat purposes.
-TL
But I set almost all my rifles in "battle sight", iron or optics. Zeroed to 200yd. The poi will be no more than 3" above or below poa, from 0 to 250 yd. Good enough for hunting or, God forbid, combat purposes.
-TL
No, as I wrote earlier we use an offset zero target. You aim in one place on the E Type, but the bullets impact lower on the target in the zero zone.
One of the members of Arf.com scanned a zero target, it's pretty self explanatory: http://s139.photobucket.com/user/amynruss/media/M4M16A4.jpg.html
Jimro