Bullet drop from 100 to 200 yds

[NHSHOOTER]

I was at my local range yesterday doing clean up duty. Got to talking to 1 of the guys about a upcoming 200 yd fun shoot. He said to me, not knowing or caring what caliber I would be shooting at the shoot. Make sure you sight in at 50 yds due to the fact that your bullet impact will be dead on at 200, I said I will sight in at 100 since my 223 only drops 1.5 in at 200, he said..NO..all caliber bullets, even the heavy magnums drop 3 in from 100 to 200 yds. I didnt argue but I did check ballistic tables when I got home. He was totally off base. Just goes to show you, dont believe everything you hear at the "club". At the end of the discussion I did ask what the targets were at 200, he said, steel gophers that stand 7" tall.

[FITASC]

You can't fix stupid, but you can change ignorance. Perhaps, in a nice way, you could show him those ballistic tables.......

[NHSHOOTER]

FITASC I had thought of that but I dont see him all that often and there really wouldnt be any point.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by FITASC

You can't fix stupid, but you can change ignorance. Perhaps, in a nice way, you could show him those ballistic tables.......

He wouldn't understand them. And, since he already "knows" all he needs to know about the subject, he wouldn't even try to understand them. They contradict his "knowledge," therefore they are meaningless.

[shootbrownelk]

Yes, some firearms "Know-it-alls" are impossible to correct. I don't even try anymore. I just nod and pretend to agree.

[g.willikers]

Naw, don't attempt to wise him up.
Especially if you're both going to the same shooin' match.
You might make a side bet with him though.

[mk70ss]

Well, you know that guy won't be winning the 200 yard shoot......

[Jim Watson]

If I had a 200 yard target coming up, I would zero at 200 yards.
The rise at midrange is less than the "drop" if you zero at shorter range.

[jmr40]

The guy you spoke to at the range was pretty darn close, within a fraction of an inch most of the time. Sounds like a wise man who should be listened to.

Zeroing with most centerfire rounds at 50 yards will be pretty darn close at 200 yards most of the time. Zeroing most of them at 100 yards does result in an average of about 3" drop at 200 yards. The difference in drops between virtually all rounds out to 300-400 yards is within just a few inches.

I zero all of my centerfire loads dead on at 100 yards and rely on either dials or BDC type reticles for longer ranges. Looking at the cheat sheets for my loads if I'm zeroed at 100 I see the following drops at 200

308/130gr, 3050 fps -3"@200
308/165gr, 2740 fps -3.8"@200
300WSM/180gr, 3040 fps -2.8"@200
30-06/150gr, 3025fps -2.9"@200
6.5 Creed/143gr, 2650 fps -4"@200

Perhaps, in a nice way, you could show him those ballistic tables.......

I'd like to see them too.

I don't know what load you're using, or what ballistic chart you're looking at, but I can't find a 223 load that drops less than 2" at 200 yards with a 100 yard zero. And that is a 40 gr bullet 3650 fps. Most common 55-60 gr loads are going to be between 3-4", just like the guy at the range said.

[Don Fischer]

Good grief! If your gonna shoot a match at 200yds, sight in at 200yds!

[dahermit]

Good grief! If your gonna shoot a match at 200yds, sight in at 200yds!

Well, yes and no. I used to shoot in 200 yard Service Rifle matches. Everybody who did worth a darn used the 6 o'clock hold on the bullseye at that 200 yards, so we were sighted slightly high (to enable hitting the center of the Bullseye), at 200...half the diameter of the Bullseye.

[TXAZ]

Next time you see him, ask him what I should zero my Barrett .50 at to be dead on at 600 yards. This might be fun.

[44 AMP]

he said..NO..all caliber bullets, even the heavy magnums drop 3 in from 100 to 200 yds.

Does a .458 Win qualify as "heavy magnum"? because it will be 8.9" below 100yd zero at 200yds.

According to Hornady, and about everyone else.

The guy is either pulling your leg, or he's an idiot.

[math teacher]

I see people here using the term drop when what they are talking about is trajectory or if you wish "path." Check trajectory charts under "drop," and you will see that the actual drop of a bullet between 100 and 200 yards is usually over six inches. To compensate for this we launch a bullet slightly upward to offset some of the drop which is measured from the line of the bore, rather than from the line of sight. That said, a rifle sighted in for 50 yards might be close at 200 yards, but as stated earlier, why not sight for 200 yards if that is the distance you plan to shoot. Even those who hold on the bottom of the bull are doing their sighting in at that distance, just sighting so that the bullet strikes high in the center of the bull.

[TJB101]

I pulled up my bullet drop app up and dropped in the Hornandy 22 Cal .224 55 gr FMJ-BT sighted at 50 yards. Screenshot below. Tad over 1/2 in drop @ 200 yards. Of course this was default values for temp, humid, alt and pressure.

[NHSHOOTER]

Here is a web page with ballistics zero'd @ 100 yds. drop at 200 anywhere from 1.1 to over 8" 223 with a 55 gr bullet is a drop of 2.4..http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm....allistics.html

[Art Eatman]

A .223 with a 55-grain bullet that's 1.5" or so high at 100 yards will be dead-on at 200. I had to hold about five inches over at 300 yards on prairie dogs.

22" Ruger bolt-action.

[NHSHOOTER]

You are so right Art, 1.5 is not 3 is it...

[std7mag]

I sight in at 200 yards, however this is mostly to do with the scopes that i use.
The Redfield Revenge specifies 200 for the ranging and drop compensator.

The Vortex Crossfire II, and Diamondback make Strelok go a little nuts if i put in a 100 yard zero.

[Mobuck]

"Well, yes and no. I used to shoot in 200 yard Service Rifle matches. Everybody who did worth a darn used the 6 o'clock hold on the bullseye at that 200 yards, so we were sighted slightly high (to enable hitting the center of the Bullseye), at 200...half the diameter of the Bullseye."

Which would be good IF the OP is using open sights.

[Jim Watson]

Or even aperture sights. I have not seen an open sight on an AR except where somebody attaches pistol sights as backup when their scope fogs or their battery goes flat.

[emcon5]

Well, the acceleration of gravity is constant, it doesn't care how big or small the bullet is. Generally speaking the faster the bullet, the shorter the flight time and the less drop over a given distance, but there is another factor that can give the perception of less drop with the same bullet, sight height.

Also remember bullet trajectory is a curve, and not linear, and the relation in any 2 ranges is not the same. I know it sounds wrong, but run the numbers for yourself.

Example, I saw jmr40's post above "6.5 Creed/143gr, 2650 fps -4"@200" and initially thought he was out of his mind, because that is not that far off my 6.5-06 load, only ~175 FPS slower, and mine only drops ~1.5" between 100 and 200. Except that it doesn't.....

I went back and looked, and with a 200 yard zero, it hits ~1.5" high at 100 yards. But, and this is a huge but, if I zero it at 100, my drop to 200 is ~3.0".

How can it have twice the drop? Easy, it doesn't. Both of those numbers are the same, both are 1.5 MOA.

OP, you should rerun your numbers, because to really only have ~1.5" of drop to 200 from a 100 yard zero, a 55gr FMJ would have to be going about 3700 FPS.

The know-it-all at the range gave a decent rule of thumb, if you have no other information available, then zeroing at 50 should get you in the ball park with most rifles.

However, these days when most folks have internet on their phones (or a ballistics app), there is no reason to limit yourself to rules of thumb. Measure your sight height and velocity (if you are able), and run the numbers for 200 yards and see where it would hit at the shorter ranges. I suspect for .223 it will be about 1.5" high at 100 yds.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by NHSHOOTER

You are so right Art, 1.5 is not 3 is it...

Yeah, it is actually.

If you adjust you sights so the point of impact is 1.5" high at 100 yards, how far does the point of impact move at 200 yards?

[T. O'Heir]

"...I don't see him all that often..." That's probably good. He's very confused.
Where you sight in at 100 to be on target at 200 depends a lot on the barrel length, bullet weight and muzzle velocity.
However, a factory 55 grain FMJ gets sighted in 1.4" high at 100(your 1.5" is close enough for a 7" steel target at 200.) and it'll drop 7.1" out at 300.
Gunner's Den is ok except they usually have a sight in distance that's kind of unrealistic. I think they may be using a ballistics program.
"...just like the guy at the range said..." Except for the part he thinks ALL cartridges do that.

[Don Fischer]

To most people the term drop means how far line below line of sight a bullet will drop. The rise is above line of sight.