Tried to Google it or ask for people to explain it but no luck.
In: Technology
Zeroing is when you adjust the scope so that the rifle it is attached to is accurate at a certain distance. You cannot have a scope be accurate out of the box, you have to adjust it for your rifle and your scope mount height, among other things.
You also cant be perfectly zeroed and accurate at all distances, that doesn’t exist because of “height over bore” and also bullet drop. And other factors like type of ammo but let’s keep it simple.
So you choose a distance that you prefer for your use case. It’s common for carbine and smaller rifles (think AR) to be zeroed to be accurate at something like 50m or 100m. For a long rifle you only plan to use for longer distances, you may zero longer distances.
Elevation and Windage are two adjustments you can make “on the fly” to adjust for a particular specific shot. So you lock in a general “zero” at say 100m, but now you are going to shoot out to 500m. You dony re-Zero your scope every time, that would be way too silly and time consuming. Instead, long scopes have knobs on them for Elevation and Windage. elevation allows you to temporarily adjust the scope upward or downward for longer or shorter shots from your zero. Windage allows you to temporarily move your scope left or right, to adjust for wind that is out in the flight path of the bullet.
After the shot, you can easily undo the “click” adjustments you made to elevation and windage to get back to your “zero” position.
TL:DR – zero makes your scope accurate for your rifle and ammo at a specific distance. Elevation and Windage allow for temporary adjustments for specific shots in various conditions
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