Shooting at Angles | Long-Range Rifle Shooting with Ryan Cleckner

When shooting at angles gravity affects your bullet differently. Learn from NSSF's Ryan Cleckner how to apply an angle killer to correctly compensate for bullet drop when shooting either uphill or down.

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#longrangeshooting #precisionrifle
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[bigpappaful]

I attended Army Sniper School in 2004, And this is the best explanation I have heard, and actually understood. Thank you.

[Sean-xmsp]

This dude is UNBELIEVABLE! i cant seem to find the ten thumbs up icon? in my twenty plus years of shooting long range (and winging it) he has clarified all the mystery in about an hour. What an incredible instructor!

[Haulinbassntrawlinass]

Better math teacher than i had in school 

[ELDoro]

I just got out of the Army Infantry.  If I were to stay in I would have showed my soldiers your videos.  This is some very helpful information for anyone shooting at distances not just snipers. The Army never taught me these details of shooting.  I had to research and figure it out on my own.  The Army would greatly benefit it they signed this dude up for some educational videos.  Not that their leaders and drill sergeants aren't good, its just that many are not taught themselves how to teach and train soldiers.  This guy does a fantastic job of teaching.  

[mrlespaul]

I learned more relevant math in this video than all my math classes in high school combined. 

[michaelmoslak]

I learned sines and cosines in HS about 35 years ago and even after all these years listening to this guy makes it all clearer than ever!! If only my teachers would have put it in shooting terms and real world situations it would have made so much more sense and made it interesting for everyone especially the guys!! They would have been eager to learn it then!! He really should make a video series for schools to use!!

[jamesheath]

Your class brought back to me those classes I sat in as a Marine LCpl over 50 years ago. Thank you. Numbers don’t change.

[XFITLIFE]

also best explanation of mils/angles/wind etc I've seen yet.

[barrsteve]

"I'll never use this trigonometry stuff again in my life!", said everyone.

How about now?

[degorovi]

Now I have a true appreciation of Trigonometry. Great instruction.

[harrymiles]

So glad I found this channel. I've been shooting for 45 years and this guy is the best I've ever seen explaining these concepts. This is a long way from years ago where you'd get to know your rifle and scope and guestimate hold over and angles.

[dem]

Ryan's videos are the best. He explains everything in such a logical and easy way to understand. I am new at long range and am so happy that I found these videos so I can start off the right way and not suffer too much while I am learning.

[mikuhatsunegoshujin]

I was looking at a ballistic calculator of my chosen round and found that something is off. In the example if you had a total of 400 yards to the target and 308 yards is your "x-component" (tangent to the surface of the earth from you and the shooter).
I'm having trouble with the conceptual understanding of it. The time of flight would be the same as if you are shooting level with the target at the same distance. so gravity is going to act on it for the same amount of time as if you were shooting level (in my case .53 seconds). Remember that gravity is 32 feet per second per second so in the level calculation my bullet will drop 54 inches (from true level, from the exit of the muzzle, assuming I fired it straight and not at an angle like all rifles do (this isn't from my zero, from my zero it's 24 inches)). Now I know for a fact that the bullet drop isn't the same in your example as if you were shooting at a target at 308 yards, because if you were shooting a target at 308 yards the time that it will be affected by gravity would be shorter than that angled shot.
I think how reality works is that the bullet (being shot at an angle) now has gravity affected by an angle. This means we have to separate them into a "x and y" component (components that your scope can measure) so we can be able to hit the target. The factors causing the bullet to go down is the "y" component of the velocity of the bullet since you're aiming it down, and the "y" component of gravity. The "x" components causing your bullet to go towards the target is the full velocity of the bullet (since you're pointing it at the target, _mostly_) and the "x" component of gravity _accelerating towards your target_ (strangely the balistic calculator says it's the same flight time but _I think_ it's slightly shorter because of this, or maybe not air friction might cancel this factor just right in this case). I might've messed up with the reference frame a couple of times and I'm taking about two different 2-d planes but that's my general idea of how shooting a target at a 40 degree angle decline at 400 yards is completely different than shooting a target at 308 yards level. That said your process might very well work but conceptually it seems off (to me). The angle of the bullet to the center of gravity of earth is 40 degrees so the cosine of 40 by the normally 54 inch drop is about 41.6 inches. Now, it obviously didn't hit higher, you're shooting at an angle of decline so the path of the bullet is a lot more lower, the elevation from you to the target to be exact, but in relation to the "true level, from the exit of the muzzle" it will drop 41.6 inches. The 308 yard level shot may also have dropped about 41.6 inches but due to the different nature of shooting at a decline the bullet trajectories are completely different due to the the factors that I broke into components listed above.
I would like to have feedback on your understanding of this physics and whether or not these actually are worth considering (or they are negligible). I believe that conceptually we should look at it as the forces acting on the bullet from the distance exiting the muzzle (at ~2700 feet per second) to impacting your target. practically it would be easier just to understand cosine angles and multiplying that by the distance from your target measured by the moa's in your scope and assumed 5ft height of the target. Since you already know your dope you're good to go. I saw you use the calculator for the cosines so I assume you don't know it in the field. What do you do if you do shoot out in the field(mountains) without a calculator?

[jwwasher]

Ryan, you really are a great instructor. I hope you write a book some day. I'd be happy to be a reviewer ;-)

And, once again, thank you for your service to our country.

[lilwhiteexpresstruck]

I've been in the marine corps for 9 years and this is by far the best explanation I've ever heard regarding range vs elevation

[jamiesloan]

Very thorough, and easy to understand explanation. I went up to a new spot today, to start coyote hunting. It's on the top of a huge hill, looking down into a field(lots of rabbits). I have an old range finder that shows its about 125 yards to the bottom, but it's a pretty steep angle down, I need to figure out what that angle is, and compensate for it. This video will help me a lot. Thanks! I don't have any fancy tools, but I think I can use a level, and a carpenters square, and figure it out pretty close. I'll sit my rifle on a table, point it at the bottom of the hill, place the level on my barrel, then use the square to figure out the angle. I'm thinking it's about 30-35 degrees.

[twoscoops]

Outstanding! I couldn't imagine a way that this information could be put into a video any more effectively. Thank you very much!

[robriley]

Excellent teaching technique, clear, concise, effective.

[aubreylukebird]

By far this was the best vid I saw ...short n sweet ...crisp n brief ... awesome ...thank you mate

[TheStampeder]

I love this guy ... Best instructor ever 💙