Q: I’ve been told that when shooting at a steep angle, whether uphill or downhill, my rifle will shoot high. This doesn’t seem logical to me. Can you explain why this happens?
Carl Jose
A: Whenever you take a rifle that was zeroed along a horizontal line and shoot it at an angle, the trajectory and point of impact are changed and the bullet’s point of impact at any distance will be higher on the target than it would be if you were shooting across flat terrain.
It makes no difference whether the angle is uphill or downhill; it makes no difference how close or how far away the target animal. The bullet will still hit above the equivalent horizontal sighting line.
The amount higher will be the same for an uphill or downhill shot if the amount of angle away from the horizontal is the same. A 45-degree uphill shot will hit the same amount above the sighting line as a 45-degree downhill shot.
Many modern rangefinders have the facility to dope out the hold needed to score a hit when shooting at any angle.
Why does it happen? Simply because of the angle at which gravity is affecting the bullet. Gravity is constant but shooting angles are not.
A bullet flying horizontally is pulled downwards, away from its initial path. If, at the other extreme, the bullet is travelling vertically (up or down) gravity will still pull it downwards but it will not affect the bullet’s path at all. As such, relative to your line of sight (your aim), the vertical shot will hit ‘higher’.
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