downhill woodswalk

ok, probably been adressed before ,but when shooting downhill at a clanger( and i mean sometimes almost straight down!) whats the best hold on the target?Got a woodswalk coming up where most targets are shot from a ridge down into a swamp,great club

Point of impact is always higher when shooting at an angle. Doesn't matter if it's up hill or down hill due the force of gravity no longer being perpendicular to the flight of the projectile. How much depends on the angle, mass and time of flight. They have programs online that will tell you your change of impact. Most of the time it doesn't make as much of a difference as people think unless ranges or angles are large.

What he means is hold/sight low of the target/intended impact point.

Actually ... the TRUTH is that you hold, as you would nornally, for the “horizontal” distance to the target!

Flint62Smoothie said:

Actually ... the TRUTH is that you hold, as you would normally, for the “horizontal” distance to the target!

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Which sounds like it contradicts what everyone else has said but it doesn't. If the target is at 45 degrees up or down then the actual horizontal distance is going to be shorter than the actual range of the shot by an order of 30 or 40 % (I'm guessing the % based off a chart I found earlier that gave the exact measurements but I cant find the dang thing now!)

Flint62Smoothie said:

Actually ... the TRUTH is that you hold, as you would nornally, for the “horizontal” distance to the target!

Click to expand...

BINGO!!! :applause:

Many grey squirrels would wish (if they were able), that I'd never figured this out. :haha:

Simple. Works.

Best regards and good luck at your woodswalk, Skychief.

exactly.

I will tell my kids to pick a tree trunk near the target, then follow the tree up to horizontal (or level with you). That will help judge the distance.

For those that didn’t catch on ... gravity acts upon the roundball the same whether aiming level, up or down ... that is why only the true horizontal distance to the target matters (in this sceanario).

Skychief said:

Flint62Smoothie said:

Actually ... the TRUTH is that you hold, as you would nornally, for the “horizontal” distance to the target!

Click to expand...

BINGO!!! :applause:

Many grey squirrels would wish (if they were able), that I'd never figured this out. :haha:

Simple. Works.

Click to expand...

Most squirrels I shoot around here are at less then 20 feet, horizontal and/or vertical in any plane.
So yeah, I can point to "hold on" and "bark' the squirrel instead of mashing meat with a body shot issue.
Are you trying to say that a 60yard shot at a 45-60° angle (up or down) is the same?

All you guy's are saying that the magical muzzle loader round ball is different then even a 22 let alone a CF at extended ranges facing steep angles?

I mean unless you guy's are shooting at squirrels 40-60 yards up a tree, while standing 10 feet from it. I must be wrong.

Ya need to try a woods walk, Where the guy's putting it on want to make it a challenge,
20° down a hill in the swamp below the trail at 40ish yards is a target the size of a skunk,, with a white spot on his chest..
(if you and your buddies don't even see the "skunk" and take the shot, you guy's walk on past, you loose.)
hint; shoot a little bit low of the white spot.

The idea that only the horizontal distance needs to be considered when figuring the drop of steeply uphill or downhill shots is wrong. It's one of those ideas which hangs on in spite of it's being totally wrong, and seems to be impossible to kill.

Better information is available. Lyman, for instance.

Spence

George said:

The idea that only the horizontal distance needs to be considered when figuring the drop of steeply uphill or downhill shots is wrong.

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Wow Spence ... in all the years I've followed you, this is the 1st time you've been you've been wrong ...

Please look up 'exterior ballistics' ...

Flint62Smoothie said:

Actually ... the TRUTH is that you hold, as you would nornally, for the “horizontal” distance to the target!

Click to expand...

:thumbsup: .....................

Flint62Smoothie said:

Please look up 'exterior ballistics' ...

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Your right,, but let's just add a few words to it like "Exterior ballistics shooting up hill" and do a simple search. http://www.exteriorballistics.com/ebexplained/5th/33.cfm

Then we find this confusing bit of reality;

Because of the firing elevation angle, the bullet trajectory no longer intersects the line of sight at the slant range Ro. In fact, the bullet passes well above the line of sight at that point, as Figure 3.3-1 (b) shows. In other words, the bullet shoots high from the shooter’s viewpoint as he or she aims the gun,

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and further;

, and at steep angles it may shoot high by a considerable amount at longer ranges.

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Darn Science, :youcrazy:
Understanding all that can be so hard sometimes, :redface:
I'll try to help, when;

the bullet shoots high from the shooter’s viewpoint as he or she aims the gun,

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and the shooter still wants to hit his target,, he needs to aim low.

Ya wanna try to discuss what happens when you shoot at a bunny rabbit running on the ground at 30 feet?

I'm with spence. It may be an ok estimate that works most of the time but it is wrong.

I'm with Spence too,

It's one of those ideas which hangs on in spite of it's being totally wrong, and seems to be impossible to kill.

Better information is available. Lyman, for instance.

Click to expand...

Well this might be why it is impossible to kill. You simply state that it's wrong and your only reference is "Lyman". Lyman who? Lyman what?

Necchi, I tried that link, and it would perhaps be understandable if they actually posted a legible figure when they reference it.

Ya wanna try to discuss what happens when you shoot at a bunny rabbit running on the ground at 30 feet?

Yes lets.

Running bunny at 30 feet with a rifle.....miss (that's just me though) :idunno: Now that's assuming it's the bunny rabbit that's running. Oh never mind, If I we running I'd still miss.

It can be done. All that has to happen is you need to be about 12 years old with an old 22 rimfire single shot and the rabbit is running out there around 60 feet away and you snap shoot and the rabbit dies. I did it once so I don't ever have to do it again. :blah:

When on a "woodswalk" or when squirrel hunting, I always aim dead on...A clanger is usually a pretty big target and all you have to do is hit it. I never adjust for up or down angle and I never miss :wink: ....The ranges just aren't far enough. It is range not angle that is the critical factor.
The external ballistics just don't come into play.

I've never been to a woodswalk that had you shoot something the size of a squirrels head at extreme range...As the range increases, so does target size....Usually.

Moving targets are a different story.....

Kansas Jake said:

It can be done. All that has to happen is you need to be about 12 years old with an old 22 rimfire single shot and the rabbit is running out there around 60 feet away and you snap shoot and the rabbit dies. I did it once so I don't ever have to do it again. :blah:

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My son at 12 yrs old jumped outta truck and grabbed .22 ruger SA outta holster and shot a running tree rat at about 30 feet FROM THE HIP. I was out with binos looking in tree as I thought he missed. He walks over and grabs the tree rat and perfect head shot. He too will never try again :hmm: I explained patiently that "anyone could do that with a cartridge gun" I asked that he please try with the ROA and he still refuses to this day?