As you likely already know, bullets spin during flight, due to the rifling of the barrel. But, you may have asked yourself: why do they need to spin? The answer has something to do with bullet shape. In this article, I'll show you the reason behind bullet spin with regard to bullet shape. Understanding this concept is useful to understand other bullet flight behavior that … [Read more...]
In previous long range shooting articles, I've talked about the effect of light and the error derived from shooting uphill/downhill—both aiming and perspective related errors. In this article, however, I'll talk about another aiming-related error: shooting with the rifle not perpendicular to the ground. When shooting with a canted rifle, the round won't land where you are … [Read more...]
In External Ballistics - Elevation Part 1, I introduced the concept of error derived from shooting at an angle, and gave you a few practical examples. In this article we will examine the real reason for point of impact shift. In many texts around the web, you'll find one common incorrect explanation of this phenomenon: a simplistic approach derived from the formula used to … [Read more...]
In both Bullet Trajectory Part 1 and Part 2, I mentioned how light can act as a variable that affects point of impact. Light doesn't directly affect bullet trajectory, but it changes the way you see the target through the telescopic sight. Essentially, you perceive the target in a different way, e.g., larger or smaller, and/or in a different place, depending on the sun's … [Read more...]
The rifle scope is maybe the most important component in a precision weapon system. It is the connection between you, and the target; it is your fire control system. Your success in long range shooting depend on the quality of the scope, on the quality of the scope's mounts, and on how it’s installed on the rifle. In this article, we are going to examine the desired features of … [Read more...]
So far in our discussion of external ballistics, we've covered bullet trajectory, elevation, the Coriolis effect, light effects, rifle cant, and bullet shape, but we still have one more important ballistics theme to explore: static stability. The concept of static stability is essential to precision rifle shooting; if bullets are not properly stabilized, you'll never get … [Read more...]
