Hopefully, this is not a totally dumb question that singles me out as the novice in the group...
I have always thought of ballistics in terms of bullet drop. That is, if you zero at 100 yds and the table tells you inces of drop at 100 yd increments beyond that point. For example, my Federal ballistics program says AE 168g .308, 100y zero, no wind, sea level, has 15.1 inches of drop at 300 yds.
My natural instinct is you dial 5moa to counteract this and get a 300 yd zero.
But, my reasoning mind says this is not correct since as you dial up, the maximum rise of the round extends out beyond 100y and therefore you need LESS come ups than you would think for a given bullet drop.
Can someone who knows all about it explain why these ballistics charts exist, whether my thinking is even correct, and where I can get a simple (free) calculator like my Federal program that does both DROP and COME UP. I guess I'm asking if the come up exactly compensates for drop regardless of trajectory.
Thanks!
I have always thought of ballistics in terms of bullet drop. That is, if you zero at 100 yds and the table tells you inces of drop at 100 yd increments beyond that point. For example, my Federal ballistics program says AE 168g .308, 100y zero, no wind, sea level, has 15.1 inches of drop at 300 yds.
My natural instinct is you dial 5moa to counteract this and get a 300 yd zero.
But, my reasoning mind says this is not correct since as you dial up, the maximum rise of the round extends out beyond 100y and therefore you need LESS come ups than you would think for a given bullet drop.
Can someone who knows all about it explain why these ballistics charts exist, whether my thinking is even correct, and where I can get a simple (free) calculator like my Federal program that does both DROP and COME UP. I guess I'm asking if the come up exactly compensates for drop regardless of trajectory.
Thanks!
