When looking at trajectory tables to find bullet drop at fixed ranges you’ll nearly always see high by an inch or so at 50 yards, dead on at 100 yards and a significant drop at 150 yards.
What causes the early rise? My guess is that it has to do with the recoil’s effect on shooter and barrel position and that if you had the gun barrel clamped in such a way that it couldn’t move, you would stop seeing the rise at those close ranges.
Would someone who actually knows educate me. I hate living in ignorance ;).
This is because the bullet begins to drop as soon as it leaves the barrel. To hit a target at 100 yards you effectively have to “lob” the bullet upwards a tiny bit so that it hits the target on the way back down. At 50 yards the bullet would be more or less at the peak of its trajectory and thus hit a target higher than it would at 100 yards.
You could re-zero the rifle so that it hit a 50 yard target dead-on but it would hit slightly high at 25 yards and a couple inches low at 100 yards.
Right. The bullet doesn’t “rise” so much as at 50 yards you’re just pointing too high. To get the bullet to hit the zero at 100 (or 200 or 500) you have to aim so as to compensate for drop. A 500 yard zero might have 72 inches to make up for compared to a 100 yard zero, so at 100 yards the bullet is zooming 6 feet above the bull, but isn’t “rising”.
And, of course, this rise is vital if you’re shooting at anything more than a few yards away.
Draw the flight path of the bullet. Draw another line perfectly straight from the end of the barrel to the target.
Now lift & tilt that line up so that the “near” end intersects where your scope would be. You’ll find that the bullet passes through this line “up” near to you, and falls back through as it hits the “ranged in distance.”
If you were at Zero at all distances from muzzle end to target, you’d not be accounting for any drop due to gravity of the bullet once it’s in freefall after leaving the gun.
Okay, so it is not a matter of physics so much as firearms manufacturers are building their guns so that zeroing at 100 yards is pretty standard since that probably is average distance in the field when hunting, with easy modifiers to remember (aim one inch low at fifty yards, 4 inches high at 150…). Essentially the sights build in the ‘lob’ versus the sight line being perfectly parallel to the bore. I’m I getting it now?
Other ballistic charts can also be calculated, and accomidated by the firearm. Many high power rounds (varmint rounds, light FAST bullets) are often Zeroed at 200 yds, with a corresponding change in the +/- at 100yds/300yds, or whatever your desire is.
The aim point is set by the sights (scope, or iron/open sights), not by the manufacturer.
That said, I’d probably not try to zero my .30-30 used in New England for 200yds, though the round would still kill deer. We’re lucky to be able to see 50yds in the woods of New England. I still zero at 100yds, as the + at 50yds is negligible in the hunting results.
It makes for some funny looking targets, too. I was bragging about a target I shot, nice tight group with just one shot a little off, but all of the holes were about 2" above the bullseye. A guy at work wasn’t impressed, I missed the bullseye with every shot. This was sighting in a rifle at 200 yards to shoot at 500 yards (turned out it was a little low at 500, but right on at 450).
But wouldn’t out-of-the-box open sight settings be the (gun) manufacturers? That’s what I was getting at.
Yeah, my .30-30 zeros at about 50 yards (that way when I acquired it). When target shooting in the woods at 100 yards, I’m always thinking it would be a rare circumstance that I’d take a shot at this range (north GA mountains, thick underbrush, and limited either sex days means you’ve got to be looking in the eye before you pull the trigger). I’m a die-hard open sight hunter too for some reason, I always get made fun of for that.
My local landscape, and apparently butler’s too, make that sound so strange. It only guys I know that even practice shots at anything like those ranges are the “way too into it” crowd (no offensive, around here it is just so rare to have that kind of visibility) or the guys whose land leases include either timber company cut overs or power line right of ways.
Out of the box is just default. the “about” is about as close to 50 as it actually is. It’s just as likely that you could have gotten one zeroed at 100 yds, or 25 yds. Though, truth be told, as the 30.30 is such a quick round out of the barrel it’d not be too far off of nearly ANY default zero to the first 50 yds… When I bought the Wincheseter Model 94 Trapper for my wife (short stock, short barrel, big boobs) it was about 3" low @ 100yds, and 4" right, so I really don’t think any effort was placed into a “rough setting,” but rather, “it’s attached near enough to the middle, the end user will fine tune.” Which makes sense, it’s all to easy to bump a sight, or scope in transit.
Sounds like NH… except for the land lease concept. Thankfully we can hunt anywhere that “isn’t posted” with very few exceptions… and there is lots of public land stuck in here and there (though it’s archery & shotgun only). Very few clubs in the area even HAVE a range >200yds around here. They tend to be the specialty clubs (expensive) anyway, with too many folks that are “way too into it” and not enough hunters. <Insert grumbles about Granite State Bowhunter 3-d shoots here>
Well, I’m “way too into it”, as I consider any shooting range with only 100 yard targets suited only for pistol, but I’ve also hunted cantaloupe in Wyoming. There are good reasons around these parts to have a brush gun and a tack-driver, imho.
No offense intended. I watch those hunts on TV where the guide says, “400 yards, this is as close as we’ll get – take your shot.” Here 400 yards is back in the truck from your stand. And I understand how the needs of a firearm change with where you are geographically. Around here a man just needs a brush-gun (.30-30) and a heavy-brush-gun (12 guage). Anybody carrying a .270 is hoping to get a chance to go hunt elk someday with having to buy another gun to do so.
That’s cool, hunting is way different between our parts of the country. I hear stories of folk who have headed east to hunt whitetail… Weird. Hunting from a stand with a shotgun? That’s crazy talk. Still, I don’t know how a fella can keep house without a levergun.
Antelope have freaky-good eye sight, the bastards.