The default zero of the precision rifle world: one clean crossing at 100, everything past it lives in your data book.
If precision rifle shooting has a universal convention, it is the .308 zeroed at 100 yards. Match courses, published DOPE, drop charts printed on turret caps, every ballistic app's default — all assume it. Zero here and every number you encounter in the discipline is already in your language.
One hundred yards is close enough that wind and shooter wobble barely pollute the zero — a 168gr match bullet drifts almost nothing in that distance — so the group you print reflects the rifle, not the conditions. That makes it the most repeatable zero to verify, which is exactly what you want your baseline to be.
The philosophy is dial-up: past 100 you read the drop from your data (start with the table below), dial or hold it, and press. A .308 gives up nothing inside 150 — the bullet stays within a couple inches of the sight line — and beyond that, precision comes from known corrections, not from stretching an arc.
Bullet path relative to line of sight, .308 Win, 168gr match at 2650 fps, 100 yard zero, standard atmosphere. Plus is above your aim point.
| DISTANCE | BULLET PATH | HOLD (MOA) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 yds | +0.1″ | 0.1 DOWN |
| 100 yds | 0″ | — zero |
| 150 yds | −2.2″ | 1.4 UP |
| 200 yds | −7.0″ | 3.4 UP |
| 250 yds | −15.5″ | 5.9 UP |
| 300 yds | −28.7″ | 9.1 UP |
| 400 yds | −76.3″ | 18.2 UP |
A 100 yard zero assumes you will correct for drop beyond it — with this load you are already dialing by 200 (see the table). If your use is hold-center hunting at unknown distances, the 200 yard MPBR-style zero is the better tool; that page covers it.
Different jobs. The 200 yard zero buys a hold-center window for field shooting at the price of a midrange rise; the 100 yard zero buys a wobble-free, wind-free baseline for dialed precision at the price of dialing sooner. Match and data-book shooters almost universally choose the latter.
Yes — print this page's setup through the custom generator with your paper distance and it computes the offset aim point: put your group on the offset mark up close and you are zeroed for 100. It is the tool's founding trick and it works for any centerfire.
No — 168gr and 175gr SMK-class loads leave at different velocities with different BCs, and the drops diverge visibly past 300. The numbers here are computed specifically for 168gr at 2,650 fps. Generate a custom target for your exact load; it takes ten seconds.