Stumped at the range.

1shot1kill · Aug 24, 2005

I am getting some odd results from sighting in my smokepole.

I shoot the Knight Revolution with 100 grain of pyrodex pellets and 295 powerbelts.

I am getting very tight patterns up to 150 yards out. Less than 3 inches. At 150 yards there is still no drop like I thought there would be. I am dead center of the target.

But I moved out to 200 yards, got a tight grouping, but it was 11 inches low.

Here is where I get dumbfounded. I dont understand why at 150 yds I am dead on, no drop at all. But only 50 yds further I loose 11 inches.

Has anyone experienced the same results?

Bob D. · Aug 24, 2005

LAST EDITED ON Aug-24-05 AT 02:56PM (MST)[p]It's hard to say without more information. Where are your bullets hitting at 100 yards? Maybe a couple of inches high? Now if you are hitting dead on at 100 yards, and also at 150 yards, then that would be odd, and I think impossible. 11 inches of drop between 150 and 200 sounds about right to me.

DallanC · Aug 24, 2005

LAST EDITED ON Aug-24-05 AT 02:58PM (MST)[p]
Whats not to be expected about that? Here look at this image:

Your trajectory is exactly how it should be... now I guessed your velocity and BC so the actual graph might change just a tad with real numbers but this image will be close enough IMO. Move your target back to about 80 yards and see if you are hitting around 5" high with the 150 yard zero.

Side note: this chart was computed by PointBlank Online, the web version of PointBlank software... which I wrote. Both versions are completely free and available at www.HuntingNut.com

-DallanC

1shot1kill · Aug 24, 2005

I am 3 inches high at 50 yds and 4& 1/2 at 75. At 100 I am just about 5 inches high. Basically just what that graph is showing. It just amazes me a bullet can drop that much that fast.

Thankyou for your advise. I was starting to think I was pulling my shots at 200 yards because of the drop, but apparently thats just the way the bullet flies.

bobcatbess · Aug 24, 2005

LEAD IS HEAVY!!!

YOU'VE HEARD OF TRAJECTORY RIGHT???

MODERN DAY INLINES SHOOT WELL BUT THE SLUG STILL DROPS!!!

MY 600 GRAIN SLUG DROPS ALSO!!!

THE ONLY bobcat WANTING A GUN THAT DOESN'T DROP AT 1000 YARDS!!!

1shot1kill · Aug 24, 2005

Thank you Bess for being so understanding. This is only my second year with a muzzle loader. I was not expecting these kind of balistics out of my gun. I am use to my 7mm. Excuse my ignorance.

bobcatbess · Aug 24, 2005

1shot1kill

WE LIKE TO JOKE A LITTLE!!!

EVERYBODY HAS TO LEARN!!!

THERE GETTING THEM TO SHOOT BETTER & BETTER BY THE YEAR,THEY ARE BASICALLY A MEDIUM POWERED RIFLE!!!

I ALSO SHOOT A 7MAG!!!

I'VE NOTICED ONE THING OVER THE YEARS,NO MATTER HOW FAR IT WILL SHOOT YOU'LL WISH IT WOULD SHOOT FURTHER!!!

I'LL BET IF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW,EVEN THE BALLISTICS ON YOUR 7MM WILL SURPRISE YOU WITH HOW MUCH DROP THERE IS OUT PAST 400 YARDS!!!

I HEAR OF GUY'S MAKING THESE 1200 YARD SHOTS ALL THE TIME BUT IT TAKES ONE HELL OF A RIFLE & SCOPE & SHOOTER TO HIT AT THAT DISTANCE!!!

HANG IN THERE I WAS JUST RAZZING YOU A LITTLE,NO OFFENSE!!!

THE ONLY bobcat THINKING THIS IS HOW WE LEARN IS BY ASKING QUESTIONS,RIGHT???

1shot1kill · Aug 24, 2005

No offense taken bess. I watch this site every day and have been for over a year. Dont post alot because of my lack of experience and big bucks to back up my talk.

I have learned alot about how to hunt from this site. I also really like to watch you go after some one that starts the trash talkin.

Just over a month until I get to chase bambi's dad around Utah and I cant wait. Hoping to have a nice pic to post. Good luck all!

meatmaker · Sep 15, 2005

No matter how the makers hawk their products, a 295 grain 50 caliber is still quite stumppy for its diameter so and range increases and velocity falls off the drop increases dramatically.

A bullet that weighs 295 grains sounds heavy compared the the typical 27 to 30 caliber weights of 130 to 180 but ballistically it is light for it's diameter.

In other words, no matter the hype often associated with modern inlines, they don't shoot as flat as modern cartridges.

ElmerFudd · Sep 16, 2005

I think 5" high at 100 is too much. If you are shooting up or down at much of an angle, it will be even higher. Possibly enough to cause overshooting. Plus you are taking out some of your margin of error. I would rather keep it no more than 3" high at midrange and just worry about hold over on the longer shots rather than worry about holding low on midrange shots.

rost495 · Sep 18, 2005

I'm still thinking-- if the max trajectory height is 5 inches then how can a bullet hit even higher if the angle up or downhill is steeper. Basically its shortening the distance. You see slope distance but are shooting for horizontal distance hence the appearance that you hit higher.

What did I miss?

Jeff

DallanC · Sep 18, 2005

>I'm still thinking-- if the max
>trajectory height is 5 inches
>then how can a bullet
>hit even higher if the
>angle up or downhill is
>steeper. Basically its shortening
>the distance. You see slope
>distance but are shooting for
>horizontal distance hence the appearance
>that you hit higher.
>
>What did I miss?
>
>Jeff

Think about shooting perfectly verticle up or down. Normally your barrel angles slightly up through the line of sight so that your bullet rises and falls back through the line of sight at some target distance. When shooting perfectly verticle you can see the bullet will *never* cross the line of sight the 2nd time. Theoretically it could hit infinitely high over infinite distance.

Now thats a "theoretical" case of course... but if you can visualize this extreme case, you can begin to understand what goes on as you begin to shoot at steeper up / downhill angles. It can indeed hit higher as angles increase.

-DallanC

ElmerFudd · Sep 19, 2005

High School physics. The component of gravity pulling the bullet down is the cosine of the angle from horizontal multiplied by gravity. So if you are shooting at a 45 degree angle up or down, you effectively have 71% of the force pulling it off trajrctory, 87% for 30 degrees. Plus, remember that if you are shooting 3" groups, the bullet could be 1.5" higher than the 5", so you might be 6.5" high to start and still be within your grouping.