ORIGINAL: Ridge Runner
ORIGINAL: driftrider
1) the bullet rises as it goes downrange
It does, for a little while, unless you're shooting downhill... but it's falling the whole time.
Mike
See, No mike, the bullet never rises above a straight line of your barrel, when you shoot above POA its because the position of the scopes erector tube or rear sight forces you to have the rifle pointed at an upward angle, or your line of sight is pointed down to put the sight on target.
ever watch your crosshairs from a vised rifle when you turned the scope in the up direction? your crosshair moves down, so you raise the muzzle up to get back on target. your line of sight and bullet path (even before it starts to drop) are not parralel lines. the bullet goes above line of sight because the barrel is pointed at an upward angle from line of sight.
This is why a sloped scope rail will give you more "up" adjustment in your scope than a flat one will.
RR
RR
When you put it that way, then yes, of course. I was talking about relative to the ground, not relative to the axis of the bore. If you shoot at a target that is at the same altitude as the muzzle, the bullet must rise above that altitude at least briefly in order to decend back to the altitude of the target to hit it. We are both correct when we consider each others frame of reference.