Angle firing

[camies]

Hi All

You are shooting at an elevated target which when viewed is 60 degrees up (at 1 oclock. Range 50 yards from your laser RF.
The calculated actual range is Cos(Angle) X Visual Range i.e.
Cos(60) X 50 yards = 25 yards.
Fine, no problem BUT what happens to the power at the target. As the range has halved, has the power doubled or, as the pellet actually flys the full 50 yards is the power what it should be for a level 50yard shot?

[o2bmark]

I'm having trouble remembering but I think it involves vectors relative to gravity. When you fire straight up you are having to overcome gravitational force as well as air resistance. When you fire horizonally you are not really counteracting gravity but just air resistance. In theory, if you were to fire a bullet from a barrel parallel to level horizonal over a flat surface, the bullet would fall to ground at the same rate as a bullet simply dropped from height of rifle (32fps per second minus air resistance). The faster the bullet is shot, the further it gets before striking ground. As you vector the shot upward, you are counteracting gravity which is why the bullets "falls" less and you hit higher relative to aim. If you shoot straight up the bullet doesn't "fall" at all relative to sight line. So for hold purposes the range is shorter as you angle up (or down) from level. For air resistance the distance is total flight path with a little extra drag from gravity. Sorry for the long post I'm reasoning as I type and I'm too tired to edit....
Short answer: If you shoot 50yrd straight up you have 50yds of air drag to expend energy on and also expending energy counteracting the full force of gravity on projectile. If you fire horizonal 50yds you still have 50yds of air to get through but none of the energy in the projectile is being expended overcoming gravity.

[blackscale]

Not sure but i doubt a 50yd shot will be a 25yd aimpoint at 60 degree angle.
More like 40yd (at a guess)...

[sniperman]

Where is your zero?
if you have zeroed further than the target then the poi will be lower
if you have zeroed closer then the poi will be higher.

Or
on close zero you shoot like the target is closer
on long zero you shoot like the target is further

Not 100% sure

about the energy, i think the more you increase the angle the greater the energy loss.

[blackscale]

You just shoot knowing your pellet will strike higher...the greater the angle the higher the strike.

[18 Wheeler]

The aerodynamic drag on the pellet is purely a function of the distance that it flies (other atmospheric factors being equal), this is unchanged by the angle. This is the greatest retarding force acting on the pellet.

The angle will have a small bearing on power, but at airgun ranges not significant. Putting some figures into Chairgun gives no measureable difference graphically. Think of the extremes, ie straight up/down.

In both cases the pellet still has to contend with drag through the air, whilst the upward shot is also slowed by gravity and the downward is accelerated by gravity.

However, the aerodynamic force is much the greater and so the upward shot whilst slightly slower also experiences less drag, as the downward shot has gravity helping it, it will fly slightly faster, but drag will tend to counteract this acceleration ( because the pellet has been fired at a velocity greater than its freefall velocity), meaning that at our ranges this is effectively insignificant with regards to power.

[blackscale]

As has been said, power is hardly significant, the poi though will be higher the greater the angle, as gravity has a lesser effect on the Trajectory
(whether shooting up or down)..though i think i may be answering a question you are not asking!...