Warren-- This should fill in some of the blanks, I hope this helps.
Correction factors:
5 degrees = .0038
15 degrees = .0341
25 degrees = .0937
35 degrees = .1809
85 degrees = .9128
90 degrees = 1.0
As you may see, the changes are small but become more and more critical as range increases. I admire your determination to get it right the first time. You will get a lot of advice from people about how to do things. What most of these advice givers do not understand is the relationship of multiple errors and how several small errors will add up to a big MISS! You may have read a recent post about mil radian spacing, and one advice giver wrote that using an 'estimate' would suffice. Try to imagine a simple shot from 1200 yards with a 30 degree incline and a 4.7 percent ranging error, now....compound that error with the error from using a ACI and the wrong inclination formula. Both errors could sum and cause you to shoot low. Which will result in you shooting so FAR UNDER the target you will be left scratching your head. This is why guys wind up taking "spotter shots". Their methods have these little flaws in them, and they can not understand the interaction of all of the small errors. OOPS....MISSED AGAIN!
Not all errors sum, they can cancel eachother out occasionally, and you could get lucky.....does everybody FEEEEEEEEEL LUCKY? I think in the real world, every one feels Mr. Murphy's presence. What Teo said about the wind is true, but you can learn to deal with it. One shot kills at 1,000 yards are common with todays technology, even in mountainous terrain. We hunted in Utah last year, and had a shooting contest in between Elk and Mule deer season. One shot at an Elk sized torso at 500 yards, if you hit, you are still in, if you miss, you are out. Out of 12 guys in the contest, 3 made it to 900 yards with hits at that distance. 1 of the guys had no formal training, just a car salesman from Salt Lake. The two with training and experience went to 1400 yards, and the winner went to 1500, and could have gone further, just ran out of time.
P.S. The error correction factor for any angle is 1.0 - the angle's cosine.
Keep shooting with precision, and keep thinking with precision, you will shoot farther and straighter than most. I think CrowMag says it best.....
"If you think something is not possible move out of the way so the ones that are doing it can "
[ 10-09-2004: Message edited by: Antslayer ]
