Thread: Bipod, uphill shooting issue.

Hi one and all.
Harris bipod.
Few years back I took an uphill shot off a bipod. Brilliant shot. Clean kill. Shame it was a country mile off of where it was supposed to be.
A few months back I took two shots at an animal. Close range. Uphill again. Same bipod. Total miss. I could have throw the rifle and knocked it out!
I never had issues shooting off a bag.
Is there something I'm missing?
Recently I've not had good mojo but that doesn't explain the shot years ago.
Go down the range and all good.
Wonder if the bipod reacts differently to uphill shots.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers Me Dears
FC
Going back to the backpackpod

Are you accounting for the shooting angle in your drop?

Imagine a right angle triangle like this.
You are at the bottom of the hill, and your target is at the top (or vice versa). If you range find the target without a corrected distance that accounts for the angle, it'll tell you the distance of A, and not the distance of B, but the distance of B is longer than A.

Basically when you're shooting up or down hill you are shooting over a longer distance than if you were shooting in a flat line, so you need to use a corrected distance when shooting up or down hill.

Originally Posted by fluffchucker

Hi one and all.
Harris bipod.
Few years back I took an uphill shot off a bipod. Brilliant shot. Clean kill. Shame it was a country mile off of where it was supposed to be.
A few months back I took two shots at an animal. Close range. Uphill again. Same bipod. Total miss. I could have throw the rifle and knocked it out!
I never had issues shooting off a bag.
Is there something I'm missing?
Recently I've not had good mojo but that doesn't explain the shot years ago.
Go down the range and all good.
Wonder if the bipod reacts differently to uphill shots.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers Me Dears
FC
Going back to the backpackpod

now you are saying close range so elimination 1) ZERO was the rifle correctly zeroed 2) scope set up -all tight 3) ammo -good stuff- all the same -3 ) uphill angle well you said close range so should not be a factor unless your close is actually 300 yds 4) your shooting ? more importantly your hold and trigger control uphill 5) if you are shooting well on a range but shots uphill not working and its close range my bet is hold is the problem to work on - are you putting pressure somewhere is your hold different to shooting level on a range - and just to make sure there's nothing about your bipod set up thats putting pressure on barrel somehow ??

Originally Posted by ChrisW

Imagine a right angle triangle like this.
You are at the bottom of the hill, and your target is at the top (or vice versa). If you range find the target without a corrected distance that accounts for the angle, it'll tell you the distance of A, and not the distance of B, but the distance of B is longer than A.

Basically when you're shooting up or down hill you are shooting over a longer distance than if you were shooting in a flat line, so you need to use a corrected distance when shooting up or down hill.

Attachment 230708

This is only if you are using google earth etc. to judge range. If you are using a LRF then the distance it spits out is precisely the distance between the LRF and where the IR splash hits regardless of angle.

The change when shooting at major angles up or down is that the ballistic curve acts very differently due to the change of the angle the gravitational pull has on the projectile. Over very shot ranges like the OP is posting about this should be pretty minimal and might only shift the POI by an inch, not causing total misses.

Gravity affects the bullet. (We all know this!)
And gravity tries to pull the bullet straight down vertically.

So while you’re shooting at an animal 300 metres up a steep hill the gravity doesn’t pull the bullet in towards the hill but rather it pulls it straight down (as it does a plumb-bob)

So your bullet is only affected by gravity for the distance of the base of the triangle as per the pic supplied by ChrisW.

Of course I may be completely and utterly wrong!!!

We could speculate all day over why you're missing. Have you been able to spot any of your misses? Did you cock up and get a bad range reading? Was your turret a full turn off? Etc...

Would really need to observe to see exactly what's going on. Ideally through your eyes. It could have nothing to do whatsoever with switching from a bag to a bipod and this is a distraction from what's actually going on.

Cartridge and rifle weight? Lighter rifles in bigger cartridges become increasingly unforgiving to subtle changes in position and hold.

Originally Posted by Mintie

This is only if you are using google earth etc. to judge range. If you are using a LRF then the distance it spits out is precisely the distance between the LRF and where the IR splash hits regardless of angle.

The change when shooting at major angles up or down is that the ballistic curve acts very differently due to the change of the angle the gravitational pull has on the projectile. Over very shot ranges like the OP is posting about this should be pretty minimal and might only shift the POI by an inch, not causing total misses.

Yep true, depends how the range has been ascertained. Gist is you gotta use the corrected distance, regardless of how you get to that number. Close range its not going to make too much difference, but the further you get out the more it matters. I cant see where the OP has mentioned a distance.
My rifle has an ACI on it (angle cosign indicator) so you can get a corrected distance without a fancy range finder. You can range it with mildot or whatever then times the number by the angle cosign and get a corrected distance without LRF

Possibly either torque on the stock (while trying to aim in an awkward position) twisting the action or causing the stock contact he barrel, or parallax issues fromm awkward positioning, I.e. not looking directly down the tube/ line of sight at an angle to the reticle

Either the way you are loading the bipod, or lack of. Equally shooting angles will affect your impact. Gravity only works vertically, not diagonally along the shooting angle

Loading the bipod differently to shooting off the flat bench. POI change, lot to be said for shooting off a pack , I always find it consistent. As the range gets out there the angle and actual distance can really add up.
My 5 cents worth.

If I've Interpretted "go down to the range, all good" correctly you have confirmed zero after the miss.
I was going to suggest potential of forend touching barrel when loaded on bipod but doubt that would make you miss at ranges close enough to throw rifle at, has me more thinking it's to do with recoil pad position against your shoulder when shooting on a steep uphill angle (taking from your post the rifle was on a steep upward angle relative to your body position) and the butt of the rifle dropping under your shoulder under recoil resulting in shot going high.

The best thing you can do really is find a spot to shoot at a target on steep angle, from bipod, with spotter and do some practice and comparison of results (bipod vs bag) in that scenario. Otherwise you will just be left with speculative answers about what the cause was.
If the miss was from as close as your post suggests I'd be most strongly suggesting it was a body position/shooting technique issue.

yes our mate distant stalker on to it time for some practice with that bipod and without what works uphill for you

Whoooaaa so much feedback. Thank you. Yes short range so thinking it is the rifle butt in the shoulder that is the potential issue. We're talking close so cosine not really an issue.

Originally Posted by ChrisW

Imagine a right angle triangle like this.
You are at the bottom of the hill, and your target is at the top (or vice versa). If you range find the target without a corrected distance that accounts for the angle, it'll tell you the distance of A, and not the distance of B, but the distance of B is longer than A.

Basically when you're shooting up or down hill you are shooting over a longer distance than if you were shooting in a flat line, so you need to use a corrected distance when shooting up or down hill.

Attachment 230708

Correction needed: the actual distance your projectile travels is the line "A", therefore you need to aim lower. Most uphill/downhill shots go over the target.
Secondly, you will get a different point of impact shooting over a bag, and using a bipod. Experiment with both over the same range on flat ground.