Plenty of shooters want the 50-yard zero and only have an indoor range that stops at 25. That's fine. You don't need 50 yards of dirt to set a 50-yard zero — you need to know where a 50-yard-zeroed rifle prints at 25, and then deliberately put your group there. That's a proxy zero, and it's an old, sound trick.
With an AR-height optic — roughly 2.5 inches above the bore — the bullet leaves the muzzle 2.5 inches below your line of sight and climbs toward it, crossing at 50 yards if that's your zero. At 25 yards it's still on the way up. Over a distance that short the bullet has barely begun to drop, so it sits close to halfway through its climb: for many 5.56 carbine setups, roughly 1 to 1.5 inches below your point of aim.
So the procedure inverts the usual instinct. You do not chase point of aim = point of impact at 25. A rifle that's dead-on at 25 has a 25-yard zero — a different trajectory that prints high at 100 (covered in our 25/100 guide). You want the group centered on a spot below the aim point, and the whole game is knowing that offset precisely.
Notice what drives the number: it's mostly sight geometry, not ballistics. That's why the offset changes meaningfully between a standard AR mount, a lower-third co-witness, and a bolt gun with a low scope — and why "an inch low at 25" is a starting point, not your number.
The Zero Considerations proxy-zero mode does this arithmetic for your actual setup: enter your load, your measured sight height, and the zero you want (50/200, 100, whatever), and it computes the exact point-of-impact offset for the distance you're actually shooting at. The app can also derive sight height for you from your optic and mount instead of making you measure it with calipers.
Our free printable target set includes a sheet built for exactly this job: the Proxy Dot target pairs a point-of-aim diamond with a vertical inch ladder, so "1.2 inches low" is a mark on the paper, not a judgment call.
Nothing about this is specific to the 50/200. The identical method sets up a 100-yard zero from 25 (a slightly larger offset), or a 36-yard zero when your range has no 36-yard line. Pistol shooters use the same reasoning at even shorter distances — see the pistol red dot guide. Pick the zero you want, let the app compute where that trajectory sits at the distance you have, and shoot to that spot.
Roughly 1 to 1.5 inches for a typical AR-height optic; less with a lower-mounted sight. The exact figure depends on sight height and load — compute it, don't guess it.
For many 5.56 carbine loads the far crossing lands in the neighborhood of 200 yards, which is why you'll hear "50/200." It's load- and velocity-dependent, so treat 200 as a nickname until you've confirmed it.
You can, but you'll own a 25-yard zero, which rides several inches high at 100 on a carbine. If that's not the trajectory you wanted, the offset is the honest shortcut.
Zero Considerations — photograph the target, get the measured group and the exact clicks to dial, then keep the DOPE. One-time $9.99 on both stores — no subscription, no account, works with no signal.
App Store — $9.99 once Google Play — $9.99 once What it does Free printable targets
On Android, Google Play gives you 48 hours to ask for a refund — try it on your next range trip and keep it only if it earns its spot in your range bag. Not ready today? Wishlist it on Google Play and Google will notify you if the price drops before opening day.