Have you ever missed a shot because of a steep angle?

[THOR]

Ever since i missed a couple nice bucks at steap angles I pulled out my old trig book and figured it out. The left side of the chart is the angle. the top line is the ranged yardage. where the yardag and the angle come together on the chart is what yardage you should shoot for....

thought it might help because i was not sure what the device is that this gentlman came up with.

 

dont mind the bottom chart that is just the my ballistic plex yardage

Mark

[CouesWhitetail]

Don't forget to email me with your name and address if you posted a steep angle story here so I can mail out your prize.

 

amanda@coueswhitetail.com

[EBB]

Got it Amanda. I never even considered how much difference the angle makes.

Thanks!

EBB

[Elkhunter1]

Several years ago my buddy and I was chasing pigs down in 36A. We found ourselves on a finger with a steep slope to one side and wouldn't you know it that is right where the pigs were, at the bottom. It became clear they were in the wrong spot at the right time (for them). Out of options I decided to take the shot, a 50 yrd down hill shot that promptly went right over his back sending them in all directions. That failed shot was the last at that steep angle.

[JLB]

So, here is the story of how all this started back around 2003. Let me know if there are any questions....

 

Accura-Shot Article for Coues Whitetail:

 

 

In the late 90’s, my long time hunting partner John and I drew a December whitetail deer tag for unit 22. We spent a lot of time getting ready for the hunt as we had decided to pack into a very rugged part of the unit with a tent, our sleeping bags, guns, food, binos, etc. for the whole trip on our backs. We hiked into the area the day before the season opened and opening morning found us high in the mountains with nobody else around. Later that morning I spotted a buck about 400 yards above us at a very steep angle. I think the angle was around 35 to 40 degrees looking back on the shot. I had a good rest for the rifle and my gun was sighted in for 300 yards so I placed the cross hairs just above the back of the deer to account for the expected 9 inch drop and squeezed off the shot. John said that the shot was high and went over the back of the buck and he ran off. I now know the reason for this result and I hope I can help you not repeat this scenario.

 

When you shoot at the rifle range, you are in a very controlled environment with everything in your favor. You have your gun on sand bags or on a vise, you have a very steady place to sit and your target is not moving. The last fact is that you are shooting across level ground. It is this fact that leads to a lot of missed shots in the field. Most hunters don’t know how to compensate for shots taken when they have up and down angles that can be small or relatively large given the terrain features of Arizona.

 

I have an electrical engineering degree and I have taken many math and physics classes in my day. Not to bore you with the details of all of that, but what you learn in physics class is that gravity effects all objects with the same force. This includes a bullet fired out of a rifle or an arrow shot out of a bow. The important things acting on the bullet once it leaves the barrel are gravity and wind. The reason that the trajectory of a 7mm magnum is flatter than a 30.06 is the initial velocity (ballistic coefficient of the bullet and other environmental factors are also important in long range shooting). This is why many hunters opt for the magnum cartridges for hunting. When the bullet comes out of the gun faster and gets to the target quicker, there is less time for the earth’s gravity to act on the bullet. Heavier bullets due behave differently due to ballistic coefficient and sectional density differences, but gravity is pulling down on the bullets with the same force. This is why that if you drop a bowling ball and a BB from any height they will hit at the ground at the same time. This is also true if you shoot a gun straight across the range at the same time you drop the bowling ball. Both the ball and the bullet hit mother earth at the same time. The only difference is that the bullet is hundreds of yards away from you when it hits the ground.

 

For the purposes of this story, I have tried to simplify the explanations for trajectory. There are certainly many factors that effect your bullet during its’ flight to the target. Some of these are initial velocity, ballistic coefficient of the bullet, sectional density, altitude, air temperature, humidity, and cross wind.

 

Being able to compensate for your angle to the target will improve your first shot success in hunting situations. This is very important when shooting at targets at over 300 yards. If you take a shot at game at over 300 yards and don’t understand the effects of the angle to the target, you may likely miss or wound the animal. Neither of these outcomes is very desirable. The other very important point to make is that mother earth doesn’t care if you are shooting at up or down angles the effect of gravity is the same on the bullet. This is because gravity only works on the horizontal component of the distance to your target (if you shoot a bullet straight up or straight down, there is no trajectory to the shot). When you use a laser range-finder, it gives you the straight and true distance to your target. If this is on level ground, everything is good to go and you can take the shot with great confidence. If there is an angle between you and your target, the distance you get from your laser is the hypotenuse of a triangle and the horizontal distance between you and the target is actually the cosine of the angle to the target multiplied by the laser range to the target. It is this horizontal distance leg of the triangle that gravity effects. At small angles the effect is very minimal and hunters will hit the target accurately. If the angles start getting steeper, then you must compensate or run the risk of a missed shot or poorly placed shot.

 

For instance, let’s say that you are shooting a 30.06 rifle with 180-grain bullet that has an initial velocity of 2600 feet per second (fps) and sighted in to zero at 100 yards. If a target is at 300 yards with an up or down angle of 45 degrees you have the following situation. Your bullet on a level shooting range will drop to minus 24 inches at 300 yards. With the angle to target of 45 degrees, your bullet will actually drop only 16 inches. This 8 inch difference might be enough to completely miss a target animal. This is especially true if you are shooting at small targets like Coues deer. If you have spent any kind of money to put yourself in this position (maybe it is a book buck), this is a sad story waiting to happen.

 

Even if you shoot a magnum caliber and sight in for 300 yards, the effects of angle to your target are important. Therefore, you need to have a way to measure the angle.

 

Enter the Accura-Shot device shown being used below. This unit can give you the angle to your target in just seconds. I carry a laminated card in my pack showing me the effects of angle (and crosswind) on my bullet. This information allows you to make a more accurate shot in hunting situations. By knowing the angle to your target, you can more accurately place your shot.

 

 

 

The Accura-Shot is a hand-held unit, made of high quality aluminum, is light-weight and rust proof. It comes with a camo pouch to carry in your day pack or fanny pack. It is easy to use. You just sight thru an aiming tube and the unit indicates your angle to target simply and quickly. Once your angle information is found, your true shooting distance to the target is the laser distance to the target times the cosine of the angle between you and the target. Use the provided look-up table for the shooting information. This will allow you to take a more accurate first shot and you will have more confidence in the field.

 

This device will help your shooting, but I am a person who does not condone shooting at long range unless you have practiced a lot and know the trajectory of your bullets really well. Wounding an animal and having it get away from you will stay on your mind forever.

 

I hope this information and this unit will help everyone be a better shot in the field. Happy Hunting !

 

Thanks, Jim Boyd