• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Loadout Room

The Loadout Room

Professional Gear Reviews

Hardcore Gear and Adventure

Menu
  • Shooting
        • Pistol
        • Pistol Accessories
        • Rifle
        • Rifle Accessories
        • Shotgun
        • Machine Guns
        • Air Guns
        • Ammunition
        • Optics and Sights
        • Weapon Lights
        • Tips & How-To
        • Concealed Carry
        • Holsters
        • Suppressors
        • Precision Rifle Shooting
        • Firearms Training
        • 1A Gun to Ride the River With: The Smith & Wesson 686
        • The Tristar folding shotgun is ready for your wilderness adventuresThe Tristar folding shotgun is ready for your wilderness adventures
        • maxim defense cqb stock (8)The Maxim Defense CQB Stock: Short and Sweet
        • Perfecting your zero | A little help goes a LONG wayPerfecting your zero | A little help goes a LONG way
    • Close
  • Gear Reviews
      • Mission Gear
      • Camping Gear
      • Survival Gear
      • Medical Gear
      • Adventure & Travel
      • Knives & Tools
      • Overland
      • Disaster Preparedness
      • Footwear
      • Womens Gear & Clothing
        • RIP-MVehicle Preparedness: Fast access to essential items | Grey Man Tactical RIP-M
        • Midland radioOverland Essential | Midland Radio MXT275 | GXT1000
        • ppGrab your gear and go | Here’s everything you’d need to build an adventure go bag
        • Scrubba Washbag: Keep your clothes clean in the fieldScrubba Washbag: Keep your clothes clean in the field
    • Close
  • Men’s Lifestyle
      • Fitness
      • EDC
      • Eyewear
      • Watches
      • Electronics & Technology
      • Downtime
      • Mens Clothing & Accessories
      • Manly Skills
      • Style & Grooming
      • Gentleman Drinks
      • Crate Club
        • The Outdoor Edge ParaClaw: A concealed stingerThe Outdoor Edge ParaClaw: A concealed stinger
        • How to determine how long you have before the sun setsHow to determine how long you have before the sun sets
        • fireWilderness survival expert breaks down how to build a fire
        • 5.11 Tactical Expedition Long Sleeve Shirt5.11 Tactical Expedition Long Sleeve Shirt, SWAT Tested and Approved
    • Close
  • News
  • Video Demo
  • Shop
Precision Rifle Shooting

Long Range Shooting: External Ballistics – Angle Shooting

May 22, 2018 by Alessio Baldi Leave a Comment

Long Range Shooting: External Ballistics - Angle Shooting

In many texts around the web, you’ll find one common incorrect explanation of this phenomenon: a simplistic approach derived from the formula used to calculate compensation. You may have read that your shot will land high because, when shooting at an angle, gravity has less effect on the bullet trajectory, since the horizontal distance traveled by the bullet it’s shorter. That’s not exactly the case. The amount of drop due to gravity is not a function of distance, but a function of time of flight, which remains constant because the linear distance to the target is the same. Actually, when shooting at an angle, there is a small change in drop due to gravity, which slows down a climbing bullet and accelerates a descending bullet, but its amount is negligible.

The accurate explanation for why the bullet flies high derives from a perspective fact. To fully comprehend this, you need to understand the difference between bullet drop and bullet path. Bullet drop is the distance from the line of departure to the bullet trajectory at a given distance. Drop is measured vertically (as with a plumb-bob), irrespective of the line of departure angle.

Bullet path on the other hand, effectively is where you would see the bullet along its trajectory, through your aligned sights. The distance that we can measure between line of sight and bullet trajectory (so it can be positive or negative), but it’s always measured perpendicular to the line of sight. This difference is the key of the concept, and you can see why analyzing the image below:

Long Range Shooting: External Ballistics - Angle Shooting
Explanation diagram of the uphill/downhill error.

As you can see, when you zero for a distance (R) on a level range, you set the line of sight at a certain angle relative to the line of departure (in reality it is generally less than 1°, here it is exaggerated for clarity) to compensate for the bullet drop at that exact distance. In this case, the bullet path at distance R is equal to 0 (zero) because the line of sight intersects the trajectory. In other words, the point of aim corresponds to the point of impact.

When raising the elevation angle by 45° to shoot a target above the firing position, you can see how the angle between line of sight and line of departure remains the same, because of sight regulation. Trajectory also remains the same. What actually changes is bullet drop. Since it is measured vertically, the distance measurement for R falls on the nearest point along the bullet trajectory. That point is the point of the trajectory that you must now aim to be able to hit the target. As you can see, at that specific point, the trajectory is above the line of sight (that is zeroed to a point further along the trajectory) to a degree, which means that when aiming dead center, the shot hits high. Hence, you must adjust your sights to the amount of bullet path to be able to hit the target.

The same concept applies for depressed angles in the same way. There is only a subtle difference in trajectory between uphill and downhill shooting, due to the effect of drag acting respectively downward and upward, causing the bullet to drop more or less quickly. The difference in trajectory is slight—roughly 5in at 1000yds with an elevation or depression angle of 60°.

In the future “how to” section I will show you how to to gauge elevation/depression angle, and how to calculate compensation for it. But in my next article, I’ll focus on the effects of light and mirage, and how they affect point of aim and, consequentially, point of impact.

The fetured image, an example of an elevation angle gauge, is courtesy of shootingUSA.com.

 

Share This

More From The Loadout Room

Comments

Primary Sidebar

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates daily and to hear what's going on with us!

Find Us on Facebook

The Loadout Room

Recent Comments

  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: Astronaut uncovers relic aboard the International Space Station
  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: The right gear for chemical attacks (or for when you forget your gym bag in the trunk)
  • berniyin on Gear in the Wild: Divers work to recover bodies of lost WWII bomber crew

Tags

9mm AIR FORCE SPECIAL OPERATIONS AR-15 arms guide CCW concealed carry defense EDC Erik Meisner everyday carry firearms fitness GBGuns gear Glock Guns Handgun Headline loadout room LONG TAB MARSOC Military Navy Seal pistol preparation preparedness PT PT PREP Rex Nanorum Rifle Selection self defense sfas Shooting socom SOF SOF PT sofrep Special Operations SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES Survival TAG thearmsguide Training US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES

Latest From SOFREP

Africa

US Provides Armored Personnel Carriers for the Fight Against Terrorism

Fitness

Holistic Health: A New Way to Train for the Army

Videos

Watch: US Submarines, the Silent Service

Military

Watch: Released Video of Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines

© Copyright 2021 SOFREP Media Group · All Rights Reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertisers