Dr Ray
AH legend
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2017
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- Cairns, Australia
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- Sporting Shooters Association of Australia + CRM Gunsports (Cairns)
Shooting long distance
Shooting long distance
Is that the same as the coorsiolis effect where you have had a couple too many silver bullets and can't hit the broad side of a barn?
Coriolis is just one more of the lesser known factors involved in long distance shooting. Nathan Foster addresses it and many other "environmental effects" as he calls them in his book titled The Practical Guide To Long Distance Shooting on pages 166 and following. I've referenced Nathan Foster's writings in numerous posts to AH. For shots in the 1200 to 1400 yard range a click or two scope adjustment is required to compensate for Coriolis. For distances beyond that Coriolis is of greater concern.
Charlie, just for the record, you cannot use Coriolis as an excuse for a less than perfect shot on your Hippo! LOL
For those of you that would like to take a peek at what Nathan Foster has to offer, here is a link to his website.
http://www.ballisticstudies.com/
Nathan Foster has written 5 books dealing with different aspects of long range hunting. They make for some interesting reading, especially during those long flights to Africa or those cold winter nights when there is nothing good on television.
I don't think that is as big of a deal as the bullet will be moving along with the earth as it started at ground level geocentric speed already moving east to west. Shooting east has essentially the same effect as slightly decreasing range as the target is also moving toward the bullet. This is the same as increasing its localized relative velocity, causing it to hit high. Westwardly the opposite is happening. This is the same reason spacecraft always launch to the east. They are using Coriolis to increase their orbital speed relative to earth so as to burn less rocket fuel to reach orbital velocity. On a north/south shot, the bullet is already moving at the same relative velocity east to west as the target so Coriolis is negated. Besides that, as stated above, spin drift and wind are going to almost always rule out Coriolis as the reason you missed.Actually, it will also affect shots bearing 0 and 180 degrees, but in a horizontal direction, as your target is moving with the earth while your projectile is in flight.
So I should site in 1" high when hunting North of the equator and 1" low when hunting in the South.