Shooting Downhill.

[scsims]

Anyone know what the effect of shooting downhill is? My rifle is zeroed in at 215 yards. Ballistics software says it should be about 2.24in high at 100 yards. I'm actually getting about 3 to 3.5in high at 100 yard but the way my land lays at 215yards it's fairly flat but at 100 yards there is a natural drain so I'm shooting down. My question is, is this normal what I'm seeing in this situation?

[Larry Carter]

Yes. Figure the slope for the distance like it's level.

[GSP]

A rifle sighted in at 100 yards on level ground will hit high at 100 downhill <b>OR</b> uphill

[RTC]

"or uphill"? That doesn't make sense to me. Shouldn't it be shooting lower?

[RTC]

http://www.gamecalls.net/upanddown.html

now it makes sense....

[scsims]

Thanks RTC that's a good article, do you know if there is a formula out there that calculates it?

[scsims]

This is also a good link. It looks like you can calculate it roughly by just by taking the the bullet drop a at a givin distance example 300 yard is 7.10" and theangle I will be shooting is 15 degrees. Take 15 cosine multiplied be the drop 7.10 and you will get 6.85" drop if shot at an incline or downhill.
http://www.horusvision.com/hv.cfm?pg=ballistics#jump3

[cbs]

OK I don't even have my first rifle yet, But Ive got to ask the same question about shooting down hill, If your rifle is set zero' at 100 or 200 yards, That means the barrel is tilted ever so slightly high, as the bullit travels, It arches through the air hitting the target exactly center, (this arch is gravity pulling the bullit back down), Now lets exaggerate a down hill shot, lets say you leaned over a cliff edge and shot exactly straight down to your zero yardage,(no gravity to pull shot off line), The bullit must be hitting high on the target. Is this the same for an up hill shot?, (if you could shoot sright up)you would not have gravity pulling the bullit off(down)It's travel, so again, It should hitt It's target high, IS HITTING HIGH, ON BOTH SHOTS CORRECT?, HOW WILL I EVER BE ABLE TO LEARN TO COMPENSATE FOR THIS CORRECTLY, AS SHOOTING RANGES ARE FLAT?

[GSP]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">HOW WILL I EVER BE ABLE TO LEARN TO COMPENSATE FOR THIS CORRECTLY, AS SHOOTING RANGES ARE FLAT?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!
If you are shooting *most* centerfire deer rifles that are zeroed at 200 yds, you just hold dead on at 100 yds. You'll hit a couple of inches high.
I've said here a few times, *most* people are not capable of taking an <i>accurate</i> shot at 300+ yards. A rifle is no different than shooting a bow or throwing a baseball. You have to know what you can hit.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

[scsims]

cbs I usaully sight my rifles in at a given distance appropiate for what I'm hunting and the environment I'm hunting (open fields or woods) and use a ballistics program to calculate the bullet drop at any given distance. You will need to know the muzzle velocity, the ballistic coefficent of the bullet and the zeroed in range and it does everything else. Then you can carry it with you in the field.