High shot, do you adjust for angle?

[streamer]

I found a deer hunting spot where I could sit and watch a large area but I am elavated about 150 to 200 feet, and would be shooting no more than 250 yards to the tree line from the rock ledge. Never sat so high up, do I adjust for the angle of the shot? I shoot a 7mm mag.

 

[schmalts]

I found a deer hunting spot where I could sit and watch a large area but I am elavated about 150 to 200 feet, and would be shooting no more than 250 yards to the tree line from the rock ledge. Never sat so high up, do I adjust for the angle of the shot? I shoot a 7mm mag.

Trig out the distance. Most likey you should aim lower

 

[Gunner46]

Base line the horz. scope hair right on the bottom chest line & squeeze. If you have properly sighted in your 7mm Mag, that should drop it right into the Got'Cha zone !

 

[Carl]

Thats only a 11 to 15 degree angle. At that range and angle your looking at under an inch of trajectory difference on account of the angle. I wouldn't adjust your hold at all, vs flatline at 250.

 

[csutton7]

I'm with Carl--no need to adjust as it's not steep enough of an angle....chris

 

[Der Aulte Jaeger]

I use .9, .7 and .6 for angles of 30, 45 and 60 degrees. The numbers are easy to remember and in years of mountain hunting I've never had to use the 45 or 60 degree slope multipier. You multiply the actual range by the numbers I gave dervied from the trig tables. http://www.leveldevelopments.com/ball-bubble-tiltmeter.htm easy and better than estimating.

 

[streamer]

Thanks for the info. Based on what if heard I'll probably hold right on if not a hair low because the distance is not that far. Just wanted a someone elses advise hope this spot pans out.

 

[mtmiller]

I dind't do the math, but I will guess Carl is right on.

 

[Randy11]

Another thing to clarify is that regardless of angle, your bullet will never hit higher than flatline.
If someone says "hold low", they really mean "don't give as much for bullet drop".

 

[highmountian]

Yep, stick w carl advise!

 

[streamer]

Well I'll hold right on then, I sure hope a hog comes out in front of me so I can show a good out come to this question.

 

[elk_hunter]

streamer, you'll do fine - be steady, aim dead on, breathe and squeeze...

 

[Zach]

Thats only a 11 to 15 degree angle. At that range and angle your looking at under an inch of trajectory difference on account of the angle. I wouldn't adjust your hold at all, vs flatline at 250.

At what degree would you start adjusting and at what yardage?

 

[Carl]

Zach, a good start is that within your point blank range (PBR), you generally don't have to take angle into account. Just so we're on the same page, by PBR I mean using typically between a 200 and 300 yard zero (depending on the chambering and your comfort level), and holding dead on to a little past that on game, often 250 to 350. (I do shoot farther than this, but use turrets or dots for correction) Since what angle primarily does is reduce the distance that gravity has to work on the bullet - effectively shortening the range, if the true range falls within the PBR so will the effective range (barring very high angles and a maxed out PBR).

Beyond that, the greater the range and greater the angle, the more quickly it matters.

Here is a drop chart for my 7/08 AI, I used JBM's free software. Drop is in inches (normally I use MOA, but inches makes much more sense in this discussion). The colored numbers are the CHANGE in inches for the angled shot vs a flatline shot, at the given range. I decided that under 1.5 inches change I would consider noise, so the numbers in red are for situations I'd ignore the angle, and the numbers in blue are for where I'd try and factor it in.

Using the logic above, it does actually turn blue at 150 yards at an angle of 45, but since I have a modest sight in distance, I'm still only 3.1" from point of aim, which I'm comfortable with for big game. For most practical purposes, angle EXTENDS the distance at which a dead on hold is appropriate.