Have most of my regular bolt and AR’s zeroed at 100 yards. Currently, my hogster vibe 35 is zeroed at 50 yards on my AR10. Going back and forth if I should zero at 100 yards. Built this AR for possible hog hunting if I ever get the chance. What do you folks have your thermal rifles zeroed at? I do plan on getting out my chronograph and see how fast my rounds are coming out of the barrel, put in a ballistic calculator. Could leave it at 50 yards and adjust my shot according to the ballistics chart. Still unsure.

I had this to play with for about 45 days, so by no means am I an expert on thermal. But, I found it difficult to accurately judge range via thermal. So using a 5.56 I zeroed at 50 to get a pretty flat trajectory out to 200 or so. Worked for the one coyote I bagged.

I have traditionally zeroed most of my calibers around -“ high at 100 with glass scopes. However, I mainly shoot very fast calibers.

With thermals, a consideration many don’t take into account is the fact many sit higher off bore. For instance, the Bering thermals mentioned typically sit about  2.5 inches off bore. This makes a significant change if you plug it into a ballistics chart.  I actually zero my thermals somewhere between .25 and .5 inches high at 100. There are many people that will try to extend their range by zeroing a few inches high at 100 and end up missing a lot of animals in the sweet spot of their range because of the excessive height above bore.

My advice is plug your load information into a ballistics table and see what makes sense for you and then test it out at the most typical distances you are likely to shoot.

All of my zeroing has been based off of ballistic calculations.  I've gone from 50 yards now out to 70 yards while switching up bullets and powders.  All of them landing me on a (close to if not dead on) 200 yard zero.

I prefer to zero closer, versus +1", .5" etc. at a 100 yards because it is easier to see a small target (which I like to shoot at) at a closer range with a thermal.

Think I like this better. Will leave it at 50 yards for now. After I get my ballistic information, will take it out and try 100 yards. Shooting 168 A Max so shouldn't much difference at 100 yards. Can always go back and zero at 100 yards later. The 16 inch faxon match barrel pretty much shoots in the same hole at 50 yards. Thanks for the replies.