Zeroing in biathlon: how to read point of impact and group, adjust the sight with your coach and account for wind and light. With IBU safety rules.
The honest answer: Zeroing means setting the sights of your rifle so that the hits land in the middle of the target under current conditions. The IBU describes it as the time before the competition in which athletes adjust their sights to confirm that the shots hit the centre of a paper target; the coach shows the athlete on a magnetic board where the shots landed [1]. Then there is "clicking": with a small metal knob on the sight you adjust step by step for the wind just before shooting [1].
And here is the part almost nobody tells you up front: there is no study that supports a best zeroing procedure, and we name no shot counts or click values. What is established: performance in biathlon shooting depends, besides the preceding load and the shooting time, on changing weather conditions and features of the range [2]. That is exactly why one zeroes beforehand. And a study with 26 national-squad biathletes found that aiming accuracy, cleanness of triggering and timing of triggering together explained 80 percent of prone shooting performance [3]. Whoever does not pull the trigger cleanly cannot sensibly set the sight. All moves below are coaching practice and carry no source number.
Realistically: this is an intermediate skill. You learn it with a coach, and you never decide alone whether to adjust.
Clarify beforehand: where do you shoot, which times apply, who supervises? All shots go only at the targets [4]. The rifle is loaded and unloaded with the muzzle pointing towards the targets or upwards [4].
Milestone: You can recite the safety rules of your range.
Shoot a series of five on a paper target and aim for a calm sight picture. The goal at first is a tight group, not yet the centre.
Milestone: A group whose hits lie close together.
Check with the coach where the group sits. A tight group that lies shifted is a case for the sight. A wide group is a case for technique, not for the click. The study with 26 biathletes shows that hold, aiming and triggering each contribute to performance [3].
Milestone: You can say whether your deviation is a sight problem or a technique problem.
Adjust the sight with the coach in small steps, only one thing at a time. Then shoot a new group and assess it. The exact number of clicks depends on your rifle, so we name none.
Milestone: After the adjustment the group lies in the middle of the target.
Read the wind flags on the range: they show direction and strength [1]. Just before shooting you can click for the wind [1]. With changing light or weather you repeat the check, because weather changes affect shooting performance [2].
Milestone: You can justify whether you click at this wind or not.
Keep a zeroing log: date, weather, wind, target, position of the group, what you changed. After a few weeks you see patterns, for example that your rifle sits differently in the cold. That is coaching practice. The IBU names as an aid the magnetic board on which the coach shows the position [1]; a log makes this information permanent.
You set the sight before the competition so that the shots hit the centre of a paper target under current conditions. The coach shows you where the shots landed [1].
You turn a small metal knob on the sight, click by click, to compensate for the wind just before shooting [1]. How many clicks at which wind depends on rifle and conditions; we name no number.
We name no fixed number. In practice series of five serve to read the group. Your coach sets the procedure.
No. Shooting takes place only on the range, at authorised times [4]. In Germany operating a range needs a permit under section 27 of the Weapons Act [5].
If the group scatters widely, the cause is often hold or triggering and not the sight. The study with 26 biathletes shows that stability of hold and cleanness of triggering contribute to performance [3].
Trigger Control in Biathlon: Pulling Through Calmly Without Jerking the Shot