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Text Box: KINETIC ENERGY Page 5 Text Box: Bullets Don’t Rise! Excerpts from North American Hunter’s Website The biggest misconception in all of marksmanship might be the belief that a bullet somehow magically rises once it departs the muzzle of a firearm. NOT SO! The physical law of gravity dictates that a bullet begins to drop as soon as it leaves barrel. However, relative to the line of sight the bullet will travel in an arced flight path from a properly sighted rifle. It will cross the line of sight at two points in the arc - once close to the muzzle and once at some distant point. That second point is the “Sight-in range”. Understanding how a bullet flies - or its “trajectory” - is critical to shooting accurately and getting the best possible performance from your rifles, muzzleloaders and handguns. The reason that some rifles shoot ‘flatter’ than others is simply because their bullets travel faster and are able to cover more distance in a given amount of time. The bullets still drop to the earth at a rate of acceleration of 32 fps, but they simply cover more ground than slower bullets before dropping a given distance. It is necessary to elevate the rifle’s bore slightly above the line of sight so that, when firing, the bullets path rises on a curve that has it crossing the line of sight twice. Because the bullet begins dropping as soon as it is free from the constraints of the firearm. If it were simply fired with the bore pointed at the target, it would hit below the target every time. The line of sight is a straight line from the sights to the target. Vision is not subject to gravity, so your eye and the bullet take different paths to the target. While your eye’s path is as straight as a laser, the bullet’s path will be an arch to compensate for the effects of gravity. The Bullet’s Path. The first time the bullet crosses your line of sight will be close to the muzzle. The exact distance will depend on several factors, such as the height of the sights or scope above the bore, the distance to your zeroed point of impact and the relative flatness of the bullet’s trajectory. However, this distance is usually somewhere around 25 to 50 yards. The next time the bullet crosses your line of sight will be at the distance you have selected to zero your firearm for. At any point in the bullet’s path other than these two, the bullet will be above or below your line of sight. Because a slower bullet takes longer to get to a given distant point, it much arch much higher above the line of sight than a bullet traveling much faster. Lets take an extreme example and compare the .45-70 Gov and the .300 Rem Ultra Mag both sighted for 200 yard zero. The mid-range trajectory is the apex of the bullet’s arch, or the highest point that the bullet will be above the line of sight during its flight. With the .300 Rem Ultra Mag and a 200-yard zero, the mid-range trajectory of the bullet occurs at Text Box: The “A” Zone: LRC Practical Weapons Competition What, exactly, is ‘practical weapons (PW) competition’? Does the term “Combat Match” ring a bell? PW matches are designed to test your shooting skills in scenarios that resemble “real life” situations. Moving and shooting, both in the open and from behind cover, are integral parts of most scenarios, as are the use of both handguns and long guns (shotgun all year long, rifle in the ‘dry’ months). Most competitors are using semi-automatic pistols in 9MM, .40S&W or .45 ACP, but we do have some wheel guns show up once in awhile. The field seems to be evenly split between semi-autos and pump 12 gauge shotguns. We shoot “iron sights” for all three guns, but there have been discussions about using optical sights for the long guns in the future. (Stay tuned for more information). While we run a “cold range”, we do draw fully loaded handguns from holsters, make magazine changes “on the move” and switch from handgun to long guns in many of the scenarios. Safety is paramount! Eye and hearing protection are mandatory for all shooters and anyone observing behind the firing line. Each competitor has a “safety officer” at his or her side as they progress through the scenario and all competitors are charged with being “safety officers” while they are watching the event. That way, we have multiple eyes observing the action and watching for potential safety problems. Ask any of the PW shooters and they’ll tell you how much they enjoy the competition and camaraderie. We all get a kick out of the reactive targets; hitting steel, hearing it “ping” and, with some targets, falling over. We all love testing our shooting skills, seeing how we do against other shooters and against our personal records. Each match has four scenarios so we are able to run two at a time. We try to start the match around 8 AM on the first Saturday of each month and we are usually finished by 3 PM, depending on the complexity of the scenarios for that month. All competitors must attend the safety briefing in order to shoot that day and all shooters are expected to help set up ;and take down the scenarios in order to speed things along. Have you been wondering about the matches and just what goes on out there? Come on out and watch the fun! We will be holding training classes for those who would like to participate but haven’t shot this type of competition and part of the training is observing at least one match Shooters who have participated in similar matches are welcome to join us. Join us on February 2nd at 0800 hours. We shoot, rain or shine. Just ask the 19 who braved the elements on January 5th. Congratulations to all of them for being there!!