You can imagine that gravity will pull the bullet slightly off of its path - it won't travel in a perfectly straight line like before. Let's say it's 25 yards away from the base of the cliff on the ground. Now imagine a target (target #2) that's almost directly below you. 90 degrees (any more than 90 degrees is really just less than 90 degrees facing the other way). This is the steepest angle we can shoot, i.e. How far will the bullet deviate off of its original path due to gravity? You're right it won't deviate at all! It'll fly straight down to the target. Imagine laying on the edge of a 500-yard cliff and shooting at a target (target #1) directly below you against the base of the cliff on the ground. This is true whether the target is above or below you - don't believe me? Let's do that math!įirst, a thought exercise.

How high depends on the degree of the angle and the target's distance. Remember it this way - if you ignore the angle, your bullet will impact high.

Therefore, less elevation adjustment is needed in order to hit a target at an angle than a target directly in front of you.

When shooting at an angle, the bullet won't fall as far off of its original path. Easy, right?īut, if the target is above or below your position, the corresponding angle that you're shooting (up or down) may well require a change to your typical “flat-ground” elevation adjustment for a target at that distance in those conditions. Therefore, once you know exactly how much elevation adjustment on your scope or sights is needed in order to hit a target at a certain distance across flat ground in certain environmental conditions, you can use that elevation adjustment again in the future when you want to shoot another target across level ground in front of you at the same distance and in the same conditions. However, for the purposes of this article, let's focus only on angle and assume that all other conditions are exactly the same.

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