Question about shooting prone

L

lrdchaos

Inactive
I have just started shooting at longer distances, when I am shooting prone and the gun is tilted to one side because the ground is unlevel i.e. the cross hairs are not level. Does that change the flight of the bullet? It may be a stupid question, it would just seem like whichever way the crosshairs are tilted would be the bullet path. So if the gun is tilted to the right, the bullet flight path would arc to the right instead of vertical. Is this line of thinking true?
 
Yes.

On edit, I just reread, and it is not that simple. Your zero will not be the same, as the zero is based on vertical relationship between the Line of sight and the angle of the barrel.

The bullet trajectory will follow the same path, just the line of sight through the scope will not have the same relationship to the trajectory as if the scope was level.
 
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Does that change the flight of the bullet?
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Nope, the bullet is going to fly the same way, regardless. What's going to change is the relationship between the scope and the bullet and will induce what we call "cant" into the relationship between the scope, barrel and target.

There's a fairly detailed explanation in this article, and they're trying to sell you some products that help you level your rifle. You may or may not need an aid to tell you when your rifle is canted, but at those distances the ability to read the wind is easily as important. It's just another variable to worry about when you're trying to hit a small target, way, way off yonder.

Cant was a huge topic at the Armor School at Fort Knox in the '70s and one of the major upgrades of the M1 series over the M60 series tanks was the inclusion of a cant sensor, along with a turret wind sensor that helped the gunner through the intricate calculations required to hit a tiny target, far, far away.
 
I have just started shooting at longer distances, when I am shooting prone and the gun is tilted to one side because the ground is unlevel i.e. the cross hairs are not level.
Click to expand...

Is it safe to assume you are shooting from a bipod?

If so, one way to compensate for off camber ground.....try shooting from a pack (backpack). Easy to keep the crosshairs level in that case. Sometimes not so easy to obtain the correct pack height for supporting the rifle.

Some bipods allow one to pivot the rifle on the bipod mount, so you can again compensate for uneven ground.
 
the bullet path will not change but your optic angle will. say for instance that you have a gun sighted in so that it is hitting 1 inch above point of aim at any given range, then you rotate the gun 45 degrees and fire, that bullet is hitting the same spot on the crosshairs but it's going to be rotated 45 degrees on the target itself.
 
At short range(under 100 yards) on moderate sized targets(mansized) the difference is negligible. For longer range and/or smaller targets make sure the rifle is level. The computations and guesstimates needed to make a hit are more difficult than adjusting the bipod or stuffing something under the forend.
In dealing with an assisted sighting device for a blind shooter, I've had a lot of experience with the effects of cant/tilt on the POI of an offset scope. This is an extreme instance with the scope over 4" from the boreline but it also shows the effect at much shorter distance. Shooting @ 300 meters, a 10-15 degree cant will move the bullet off several inches.
For those who think 300 meters is a pretty long poke, I've seen a blind shooter hit 75% on a 12" plate at that range. Right now, I'm looking for a blinded in action veteran who wants to go deer hunting. If anyone knows of such a person email me robertthead@hotmail.com
 
If you go find a recent thread on Bipods you are experiencing the reason I hate bipods that don't swivel. Get a better bipod.

LK
 
get a level on that rifle and pay attention to it,,,it will make a difference

i shoot BPCG and all my rifles have levels at the base of the front sight so i can see it,,,not so critical at 200 or so,,but at 500 and on out it is

YMMV

my .02

ocharry
 
The bullet path will be the same... it will attempt to travel in a straight line, and gravity will foil its plans and turn that straight line into a vertical arc. If the rifle is tilted to the right, it will SEEM like the bullet path moved to the right because of the relative position of the scope. It's like if you lay down on your side and watch something fall - from your perspective, it will look like the object is moving from right to left, but in reality, gravity is moving it from up to down.
 
There is major difference in trajectory and its different for each person. I carry a multi purpose scoped rifle. When i go from longe range to close quarters running drills I rotate 1/8th counter clockwise sighting between the rails down the barrell. At 100 yds i have to adjust aim about 4 inches low and holding right of target when barrell sighting even though the reticle is on target.
As stated above if your ground is not suitable for the bipod shoot of a bag, ruck, waist, sandbag whatever, just be careful not to melt whatever you use with the barrel
 
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