Shooting from an incline/decline

[ADJ]

Hi all, i need some advice on shooting from on top of a hill and from the base of a hill. Went hunting the weekend that passed and really battled with shooting at an incline and decline, and my confidence has taken a dip.

My first shot from the top of a hill at a blesbok grazing about 80m down went above the animal and was a complete miss. My second shot was at a blesbok about 70m uphill and i ended up shooting off both his front legs, dispatched him with my next shot, but could have been a lot worse.

On both the shots my crosshairs were on the shoulder. The advice i got later was when shooting downhill aim aim an inch or 2 low and the when shooting uphill aim an inch or 2 high.

Do you guys agree with the advice i got?

[SSP]

Hi all, i need some advice on shooting from on top of a hill and from the base of a hill. Went hunting the weekend that passed and really battled with shooting at an incline and decline, and my confidence has taken a dip.

My first shot from the top of a hill at a blesbok grazing about 80m down went above the animal and was a complete miss. My second shot was at a blesbok about 70m uphill and i ended up shooting off both his front legs, dispatched him with my next shot, but could have been a lot worse.

On both the shots my crosshairs were on the shoulder. The advice i got later was when shooting downhill aim aim an inch or 2 low and the when shooting uphill aim an inch or 2 high.

Do you guys agree with the advice i got?

Im no hunter or sniper but I think that the calculation of true ballistic range is more complicated than that. The angle of the incline, as well as the range to target play a role.

[Lian]

i would assume that shooting downhill... would be to pretend as if there's "less" gravity to affect bullet (smaller arc).
shooting uphill.... pretend there's "stronger" gravity (sharper arc).

adjust your calculations/guestimates as required :)

[Pirate]

Nope.... if you shoot at an angle (up or down), the bullet travels a shorter horizontal distance, meaning less bullet drop, regardless if you're shooting up or down. Put otherwise, your point of impact will shift above your point of aim. It's all in the physics.

:- P

[G-force]

You need to take the horizontal distance as the distance for ranging NOT the actual distance that the bullet will travel.Depending on the angle you can shoot at something say 300m away in bullet flight but only say 190m "gravity affected horizontal distance".

[JS4]

i would assume that shooting downhill... would be to pretend as if there's "less" gravity to affect bullet (smaller arc).
shooting uphill.... pretend there's "stronger" gravity (sharper arc).

That sounds like a physics fail.

Gravity is a myth. The earth sucks.

More specifically, the earth sucks with equal force on all objects, whether they are high or low, travelling uphill or downhill.

;o)

You need to take the horizontal distance as the distance for ranging NOT the actual distance that the bullet will travel.Depending on the angle you can shoot at something say 300m away in bullet flight but only say 190m "gravity affected horizontal distance".

That's how I understand it as well.

Think of a right-triangle formed between you, your target and the horizontal. Your bullet will only drop as much as on the horizontal distance, while you are seeing the slant range, which is more and (mis-)leads you to overcompensate for bullet drop.

[THOMAST]

Agreed. Plays a big role over longer distance and high angles. Angles below 15º I don't bother with adjusting over normal hunting distances.
However if you do a wind adjustment it needs to be for the actual distance, not the horisontal distance.

[klippies]

^^^ what he said, up or down, you tend to hit high. The bullet is only affected by the horizontal distance, not he ranged distance. I have a diagram somewhere that explains this, will look for it

[rboshoff]

What G-Force and JS4 said. Always aim a bit lower when shooting up or down.

ADJ, can you give us an indication of the angle?

[gertjie87]

What some of the guys said gravity works on the bullet over horizontal distance something like this.

bullet drop.JPG