Optimum Point Blank Zero

by Harley Ayre

Want to get maximum usefulness out of your airgun with minimum aiming hassle? Here's a concept that is extremely useful: Optimum Point Blank Zero.

What is Optimum Point Blank Zero? It's the fine art of zeroing your air rifle or air pistol at the range that will give you the greatest span of ranges at which a directly aimed shot will produce a point of impact close enough to "get the job done." Getting the job done, of course, might involving knocking down a field target, taking small game, or something else.

So, for example, suppose you have an air rifle that launches pellets at 820 fps and the sight height is 1.5 inches (from the center of the sight to the center of the bore), and you decide that it will be acceptable if your pellets land within a .25-inch radius of your aiming point . . . then if you zero your sights at 33.2 yards, all shots from 11.2 yards to 36.9 yards will land within a quarter-inch of point blank if you are shooting correctly. That's a range of 25 yards where all you have to do is point and shoot. Is that cool, or what?

As they say in the infomercials: "But wait, there's more!" Suppose you decide that it would be satisfactory if your shots landed within a half-inch radius of your point of aim. If you zero at 38.6 yards, you get a range of 34.4 yards (from 7.5 to 43.9 yards) in which you can point and shoot.

Now, I can almost guess what you're thinking: "Optimium Point Blank Zero sounds great, but how am I going to figure it out for my rig?" The short answers: you don't have to! Just go to www.airgunexpo.com/calc/calc_opbz.cfm, and you’ll find a neat online calculator, devised by Steve in NC, that will figure it out for you. Just plug in the sight height, muzzle velocity, and vital zone radius, push the CALCULATE button, and it will produce a chart that tells you what you need to know.

There is also a very slick online demo of Optimum Point Blank Zero at www.arld1.com/trajectorypbr2.html. There you can play with different variables (sight height, vital zone radius, muzzle velocity and ballistic coefficient) to see how they have an effect on the point blank range.

Optimum Point Blank Zero is a very powerful concept. Once your airgun is set up for it, it’s a tremendous confidence builder and aid to shooting more accurately.