thewall_13

If you are shooting up or down at a deer does the bullet go high or low at say around 200 yds

Hiawatha

Not an expert by any means but my CSI watching days and common sense lead me to beleive that the bullet will make contact where you aim. It will pass through the deer in the angle that your on compared to the deers position.

Coastie

When shooting at a sharp angle, either up or down, your bullet will tend to strike a bit above your line of sight. This is because the horizontal distance traveled is shorter than it seems. Draw a triangle with a short horizontal at the top, a long vertical at the side and then connect them with a third line. The vertical line represents your position where you shoot from and is the vertical distance from you to your target (top of cliff to ground level at target). The Horizontal line is the actual straight line distance between you and your target (the distance gravity has to work on your bullet) the last (angled line) represents the path the bullet takes from muzzle to target and is what you see when you attempt to judge the distance.

At relatively short ranges this doesn't mean much since many cartridges and loads are very flat for the first couple of hundred yards and the difference in actual bullet travel and the horizontal are not that much. At longer ranges and at extreme angles (>45 deg.) then this may give you a problem. Practice will help and a good balistics program will give you an idea of what you are up against. Good luck.

Deerslayer_37

you bullet strikes high when shooting from an angle, because gravity does not act as much on it when it travles at an angle. i researched this for a report in physical science class, and this is the information i found.

slayer

Elkcrazy8

Well put. I shoot alot of archery tournaments. The forces come into play even more with a bow but react the same with a rifle. I have taken shots with the bow at extreme angles where the 25 yard pin is used on a target that would seem to be 50 yards line of sight.