Will elevation affect trajectory of a bullet?

R

Robbie

New member
If like in 'Shooter' you have a height advantage on your target. If a .243 shooting at ground level zeroed at 200yds shoots say -6.7 at 300yds and you go up 6.7 you will hit dead nuts on. If you are ranging the same distance from a pretty tall roof to the ground and shoot that at 300yds will the trajectory(-6.7) change?
 
altitude does not matter

however, you must know the HORIZONTAL distance between you and the target.

For instance, if you were on a building roof that was 300 yards tall and used your range finder to find a guy who was standing on the ground was 500 yards away you'd have two of three sides of a triangle.



Distance to target would be the hypotenuse, and the height would be the height of the building in yards. However, on a flat surface you'd adjust your rifle for 500 yards. Because you are elevated, you'd have to solve to find the 'base' distance to adjust your rifle to.

Thanks to A Squared + B Squared = C Squared you can solve it and find the base is 400 yards.

Off of a 200 yard zero using a 308, a 500 yard horizontal shot would cause the bullet to drop 52 inches off of POA, so you'd aim 52 inches high. However, as 400 yards is the REAL horizontal distance, and 400 yards is only 23 inchs off of POA from a 200 yard zero, you'd shoot about two feet over the head of your target.
 
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