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Mobley317 · Member

I have a quick question. When I'm shooting sparrows off my powerline I'm shooting at roughly a 45 degree angle and I can aim dead center on them. But when Im shooting them out of my tree off of my back porch it is straight up. I try to aim dead center on them but always miss and I dont know wether to holdover or under can someone please help???
Thank you

Mobley317 · Member

SOrry about the double post my computer is acting slow today =(

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Mobley317 · Member

LOL Thanks

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

You should aim lower when shooting upwards. Because gravity is not affecting your trajectory. When you shoot straight out, the pellet will fall let's say one inch. Since you have it sighted in accordingly, it the point of impact is exactly where you aim at. However, when you shoot straight up, that one inch drop won't happen, so you'll be shooting one inch high.

Make sense?

Slavia · Moderator

Roger's is a good, simple explanation - and it also explains why you aim low when pointed straight down.

The airgun program "Chairgun2" has a visualization screen that lets you see what happens. Click the "extras" button, then choose "visualization," and you'll get a graphic of a bunny and scope reticle. You can adjust inclination +/- 90 degrees to see what happens:

http://www.chairgun.com/offset/chairgun2.htm

Mobley317 · Member

Thank you for the information I'm relatively new to this hobby and no one in my area has this newfound interest that I have in air rifles. This forum is very helpful and I appreciate all of your help. Laughing

aircube · Veteran Member

basically if you shoot horizontal at a target lets say 50 yards away the pellet drops 2" by the time it gets there so you adjust your sight/scope to shoot 2" high to compensate , but if you shoot straight up the pellet goes more straight up and straight down, like previous posts say, no gravitaional effect on drop in the vertical plane, only horizontal. As you drop the angle from straight up back to paralell with the groud the drop will change.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

rsterne · Moderator

Another way to think about it.... the pellet appears to drop about the same amount for the same HORIZONTAL distance to the target.... If you are shooting up at a 60 degree angle (up or down), and the target is 30 yards away (measured line of flight) then it is only about 15 yards away (horizontally).... and the drop will only be about half as much.... at 90 degrees, the drop is zero....

Since your gun is sighted in so that the pellet crosses the line of sight at a relatively close distance (near zero is typically 5-15 yards for an airgun).... beyond that the pellet will impact progressively higher than the line of sight the steeper the angle you shoot on....

Use ChairGun.... you can specify the angle up or down and print out a trajectory chart showing the difference.... Cool

Bob

aircube · Veteran Member

oh yea i did't see Rogers post Embarassed

His is more to the point.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

It's difficult to site in at an upwards trajectory since its hard to get a target up high to shoot at. However, I've been able to actually see the pellet flying high above birds I've shot at and missed. So I know firsthand that pellets go high when shooting upwards.

aircube · Veteran Member

We have very tall white poplars around here. The bark is smooth and white, so when a pellet hits the hole is a visable wood color, with a bright green border looks much like one of those target where the paint chips off so you can see where you hit. Works great for checking vertical shots Smile

I guess it does'nt help the trees any though Neutral

Midichlorian · Veteran Member

Aim about a line under your scopes x.
That is the sweet spot for vertical shots.

Same thing if you aim for a target shooting down
Just reverse it (aim higher up on the scope)

Uzi Shooting

Slavia · Moderator