great stuff, folks. thank you.
i've been playing around with the federal site and, surprisingly, even at my altitude of around 6500' the ballistics don't change much from sea level.
i originally zeroed the ar about 1.5" (instead of 1.75-2.0) up at 100 yds, but after running the numbers, i'm going to go with the following:
ar: this will be used dayscope for calling coyotes, nightscopes for coyotes w/o calling most likely. in either case i like jpk's reasoning, and i'm going to go with a 100 yd zero. max drop of 2.2" at 200 yds and think it'll be inside that day or night. .223 hp 69 gr.
.270: dayscoped mainly for deer and antelope. deer can be mostly 150-200, but antelope in the open 200-250, so the 200 zero, down 2.5 at 250 is the ticket, which is where it's set now. 130 gr sp
.300wm: dayscoped for mainly elk (155-250+), occasional bear (100-150), so again staying w/200 zero, down 2.6 at 250. 180 gr. sp.
will change the ar zero in the next few days. still snowing....
i sure appreciate all the good thoughts. and brian, great photo!