Bullet Drop Questions

ColorNotColour

New member
As a new coyote hunter, I have a question regarding how flat my .270 shoots.
I have a browning x bolt 270 with a nikon scope (no bullet drop reticle) and I'm just wondering at how many yards should I start thinking about bullet drop?
For example, if I see a yote at 400 yards, can I put the crosshairs at the exact spot I want the bullet to contact? Or will I have to aim a smidge above it? I know a .270 is a flatter shooting rifle, but am unsure where to start compensating. Thanks!
 
I am not a caliber guru but I think bullets rise and then come back to dead zero, then begin the gravity drop. I shoot a Remington ADL 270 and love it. Have for 30 years....but I think it
comes back to zero at about 100 yards or so....I shoot 130 and 150 grain Cor lokt and I wanna say
200 yards the drop is like 3 to 4 inches.....out at 400 though , I think it drops off dramatically, like 25-27 inches.on the 130 grain, almost 40 inches on the 150...double check me on that ....there are dozens of good sites to confirm data on your exact cartridge....try
gundata.org ballistic calculator
 
and just for my 2 cents........nothing like shoot time on the range
if its a gun you love and plan on keeping....nothing like knowing your equipment
what did the Indians say back in the wild west..???

the old Clint Smith quote...." beware the man who only has one gun......he probably knows how to use it"
 
Originally Posted By: SandcountryI am not a caliber guru but I think bullets rise and then come back to dead zero, then begin the gravity drop. I shoot a Remington ADL 270 and love it. Have for 30 years....but I think it
comes back to zero at about 100 yards or so....I shoot 130 and 150 grain Cor lokt and I wanna say
200 yards the drop is like 3 to 4 inches.....out at 400 though , I think it drops off dramatically, like 25-27 inches.on the 130 grain, almost 40 inches on the 150...double check me on that ....there are dozens of good sites to confirm data on your exact cartridge....try
gundata.org ballistic calculator



Bullets don't rise after leaving the barrel. A graft may give the false impression that they rise but the truth is they start losing speed after exiting the mussel and because of that start dropping. Because a scope is mounted above the bore of the rifle, a graft showing the line of sight and the bullet path cross twice. The distance that these two points are, depends on many factors including bullet weight, bullet coefficient, bullet speed and the distance you choose to zero your rifle in at. Here is a chart showing a .270 with a 130 gr. bullet. If you shoot 130 gr bullets this chart will get you in the ball park but you should shoot your gun with the actual ammo you plan to hunt with to know what it will do at any given distance.



You don't state above all the info needed to even give a good guess to answer your question but here goes. If your rifle is zeroed at 100 yds as in the chart, you would be 26" low at 400 yds.
 
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Watch this video all the way through, and it will go a very long ways towards helping you understand external ballistics and what happens during bullet flight. This guy knows his business, and explains it well.

 
Bullets never rise but I would change my point of aim with my 270 zerod at 100 if I was shooting a yote at 200 hit the range and get your notepad out and write down your drops at known yardages. Memorize it and hold over accordingly
 
I used to be a big "dead on at 100" guy with all my rifles. Now with my hunting rifles I like to sight them in about 1-1.5 inches high at 100 or zero at 200. I came to realize that dead on at 100 meant I was low everywhere but 100... Now at normal hunting distances I just hold dead on. After those ranges I dial my scope accordingly. This has helped me put more fur on the ground and venison in the freezer.
 
Originally Posted By: 2lazy2PI used to be a big "dead on at 100" guy with all my rifles. Now with my hunting rifles I like to sight them in about 1-1.5 inches high at 100 or zero at 200. I came to realize that dead on at 100 meant I was low everywhere but 100... Now at normal hunting distances I just hold dead on. After those ranges I dial my scope accordingly. This has helped me put more fur on the ground and venison in the freezer.

Yep... +1

And I like my scopes mounted as low as possible...
 
In terms of physics, a bullet will start to drop as soon as it leaves the barrel. All objects are accelerated by gravity at the same rate regardless of the weight/mass of the projectile or the speed. What impacts drop versus distance is the velocity. If you shot on perfectly flat ground with the rifle barrel perfectly parallel with the flat ground, the bullet would hit the ground at the same time a marble or any other object would hit the ground from the same height as the end of the barrel. Sounds funny but the laws of physics show that to be true.
 
With most modern centerfire rifles if you zero 1 3/4" high at 100 you will be pretty dang close at 200. Some a little more, some less, but most will really close. A 270 shooting a 130 probably falls into the "a little less" category. That will get you close enough if you don't have a 200 yard range, but the best would be to zero dead on at 200. A coyote is a lot littler target than most give credit for, you need to be zeroed good and know where your rifle is shooting.
 
I usually do a 50 yard zero, which puts me pretty much dead on a 200 and no more than 10" low at 300 yards. Best way to figure out what your rifle is doing is range time. At least for me anyway.
 
Shoot your load (at least three rounds) at each range and record it. Tape it to your stock. Even with a chronograph, tables and calculators will only get you in the ballpark but shooting is the only way to know. (You'll also find out how far you are likely to even hit the vitals of a coyote. Think grapefruit size.)
 
This is the good thing about a site like this. Someone can get infor. as to a specific question but it is also the bad thing about a site like this. People should learn some of the basic's before heading to the field. JMHO
 
I've used the MPBR concept all of my shooting life. I understood it and applied it while still a child. For my coyote rigs, I use a 4" MPBR, which for my current hot rods equates to being zeroed at about 300 yards and MPBR's out to about 350. At 100, they are between 1.5 and 1.75 inches high. This allows me to use the same sight picture from the muzzle to ~350 yards, and basically still holding on fur at 400. If a coyote is far enough away that I need to start thinking about adjusting my aim for hold over, I usually start thinking about simply not taking the shot instead.

A .270 has a rainbow trajectory by comparison of course, but the first several hundred coyotes I killed were all with a .270, using the exact same 4" MPBR zeroing technique. The point blank range was just a lot shorter than the stuff I use these days. I used 110's in my .270 back then and zeroed at 225 for an MPBR around 275 yards. Which, meant zeroing about 1.75" high at 100.

Site height plays a role in these calculations, obviously.

Use whatever approach to zero that works for ya, but do understand what you are using and why. It helps.

- DAA
 
Lots of bad information on page one of this thread.

Bullets don't "rise" in terms of any effect that combats gravity, but you have to realize that you are shooting UPWARD. When you shoot a basketball jumpshot, you're throwing a ball upwards AND laterally, it goes up above the basket, and comes back down into it. A bullet is no different.

Gravity acts upon any body on earth, as soon as it's released from support, it'll get hit with 32.17fpsps downward acceleration. BUT, if you're sighted in at 100yrds, you've angled your barrel to shoot UPWARD just enough to overcome gravity for 100yrds.

Quite simply, if you don't shoot UPWARD relative to your line of sight, you'd never be able to shoot anything that wasn't below you, proportionately to the time of flight and the acceleration of gravity. That would mean if you were shooting 700yrds with a 308win, you'd have to be 16ft above the target, otherwise you'd never be able to hit it. For a 100yrd shot, your barrel is actually pointing about 2.5" above the target, for a 400yrd shot, that barrel has to point about 40" above the target. For a 1000yrd shot, you're actually pointing about 30ft above the target!

It always surprises me to see so many guys that do so much shooting that deny that their bullet is ever above their scope's line of sight.

Here's a link that you might find useful. Put in your bullet weight, scope height, ballistic coefficient, and muzzle velocity and you can see where your bullet SHOULD be impacting, or rather, how much hold over you'd need to account for.

Handloads.com Ballistic Calculator

For a 270win, you'll need to hold over to get 400yrds. I'd guess your load will have a Maximum Point Blank Range somewhere around 250-300yrds with a zero of 225-250yrds (MPBR is the farthest range where your "arch" of your shot is never above or below far enough of the line of sight (your crosshairs) such that it'll hit your desired target size with a dead on hold.
 
bullets does rise from your barrel, but they are acutally still dropping. This is a factor of sight height. I wondered why I was still so high at 300 yards from my ar 15. having a sight height of 3" causes this. it also means I need to be mindful of not being too highly sighted in at 100 yards because in some cases I could be 3" more more high. thats too high in my mind on a coyote.
 


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