angle compensating rangefinders

[Dutch]

Too much gagetry on a lot of equipment these days IMO. If a person buys in to all the technology out there these days they'd end up with a ballistics compensator/angle compensator range finder, a ballistic compensator system or systems on their scope and for good measure a ballistic program on their phone. lol

I don't use a BC rangefinder but from my survey days we were doing this with simple light pocket sized equipment 30 years ago. Measuring the vertical angle I get that's an important bit of info in steep country. That is extremely easy and low tech. Like 835 says I'd want to know the true horizontal distance, that's all. I'm sure everyone heads to the field knowing whether or not they're ready to take a shot at 300 yards and if so how to compensate for drop be it mil dots on the scope, a dial in system on the scope or old fashion 'Kentucky windage'. Again, measuring vertical angle is dead simple you can get laser levels at the dollar store... so... I'd look for some good optics/accurate range finder that reads the vertical angle and gives you actual horizontal distance. Its all you need.

Agree totally, bells and whistles are great on trains ...

[mike-juliet]

That is what i got for christmas... ( From Nechako Outdoors PLUG) It gives a "Shoot to" distance. Which you apply to either a chart loke you say or you can get an APP for your phone that is a ballistic calculator with the same saved information plus some other important inputs like elavation and wind... I havent put all this togeather yet, just starting. But, i do not want my rangefinder to "Assume" anything and that is what some of these other rangefinders do. If i had loads of money G7 BR2 Programable Rangefinder.

For now Vortex Ranger 1000 Gives the Shoot to distance, you make all other compensations based on this distance.

Bulletflight or iStrelok are what I use to make my charts, Gunwerks G7 Ballistic program online works great as well.

[835]

Thats where the Iphone APP is handy,,, useable "Offline" but still computes, so you can input all your variables as it is happening.

[goinghunting]

Too much gagetry on a lot of equipment these days IMO. If a person buys in to all the technology out there these days they'd end up with a ballistics compensator/angle compensator range finder, a ballistic compensator system or systems on their scope and for good measure a ballistic program on their phone. lol

I don't use a BC rangefinder but from my survey days we were doing this with simple light pocket sized equipment 30 years ago. Measuring the vertical angle I get that's an important bit of info in steep country. That is extremely easy and low tech. Like 835 says I'd want to know the true horizontal distance, that's all. I'm sure everyone heads to the field knowing whether or not they're ready to take a shot at 300 yards and if so how to compensate for drop be it mil dots on the scope, a dial in system on the scope or old fashion 'Kentucky windage'. Again, measuring vertical angle is dead simple you can get laser levels at the dollar store... so... I'd look for some good optics/accurate range finder that reads the vertical angle and gives you actual horizontal distance. Its all you need.

This is were it gets fuzzy for me, I don't understand how the distance changes when you range it wether your looking uphill, downhill or level. Why is there such thing as an actual horizontal distance, when ranging uphill or downhill and why is it a different distance then a basic horizontal rangefinder would read?

[Salty]

This is were it gets fuzzy for me, I don't understand how the distance changes when you range it wether your looking uphill, downhill or level. Why is there such thing as an actual horizontal distance, when ranging uphill or downhill and why is it a different distance then a basic horizontal rangefinder would read?

What happens gh is the bullet is affected the by the horizontal distance traveled not the total distance along line of sight uphill or downhill. Picture holding a piece of rope tied to the top of a 20 foot tree and you've got it stretched out an an angle from the tree top to you on the ground. Now picture the rope untied from the top of the tree and stretched out flat on the ground. The rope will extend past the tree. The distance along the slope is more. The horizontal distance is less. Turns out when shooting uphill or down hill the bullet drops the same amount as it would for the shorter horizontal distance.

So, if you're taking a poke up hill at a 30 degree angle and it measures 200 yards with the range finder the bullet won't drop exactly like it would shooting 200 yards on dead flat ground like at the range. It will drop exactly like it would for the shorter horizontal distance. So you adjust for that, not 200. This means **** all at shallower angles and at shorter ranges at any angle really for hunting purposes. But if you're taking a poke at 300 yards on a fairly steep angle it starts showing quite a bit, enough to miss or worse.

[Lionhill]

http://www.millettsights.com/downloa...ndDownhill.pdf

Counter-intuitively, this error applies to shooting both uphill and downhill. Whether shooting an up or down slant, you must hold low to hit the target.The Basic Rules
This can seem pretty confusing but there’s the good news: You don’t have to understand the theory or my explanation – just faithfully apply the proper compensation and you’ll be fine. Here are the basics for up/down compensation: 1. At close range (100 yards or less) so little compensation is required that it’s fine to just aim dead-on, no matter the steepness of angle.
2. Up and down shooting both require compensation, with the same amount needed for 45 degrees up as 45 degrees down, 30 degrees up as 30 degrees down, etc. 3. You always compensate by aiming LOW. Keep this in mind by visualizing a limbo dancer – YOU MUST AIM LOW -- Low, Low, Low.
4. It’s easy to over-estimate the sharpness of angle – be as exact as possible. 5. Your zero distance is not an issue – the amount of up or down compensation is determined solely by the up/down angle and distance to your target. 6. The amount of required compensation increases significantly with distance and steepness of angle to a maximum of 60 degrees up or down.
Now, let’s look at some ways to calculate the required compensation.
The Precision Solution
First, we’re going to look at the most precise way to calculate the required up/down compensation, and later, a simpler way. Our starting point is to find “Bullet Drop” for the cartridge you’re firing. This is the ballistic measurement of how many inches a bullet falls when the rifle is fired with its barrel perfectly parallel with the earth.Many riflemen do not have access to this data, although cartridge manufacturers have it, and it can be found on-line, as well as in any quality Exterior Ballistics program, such as Sierra’s Infinity Program. Let’s assume that you have Bullet Drop data – here’s what to do with it.
To find up/down compensation, take the Bullet Drop data (which is stated in hundreds of yards) and multiple it by the factors in the accompanying chart, based upon the steepness of angle to your target. For example, your target is 400 yards away, uphill 45 degrees, and you’re firing a .223 Remington, 69-gr. Match round. You already have the data that your Bullet Drop is 36.3 inches at 400 yards. Therefore, you multiply the 36.3 Bullet Drop inches by .293 and find you must hold low 10.63 inches for a perfect hit.

[604redneck]

I have the vortex ranger 1000 it works good, i have used the bushnell arc 1600 bino rangefinder it works awesome for around $1000, best i have used was leica geovid rangefinding bino worth about 2500 but the best piece of glass i have looked thru and u only have to carry 1 piece of equipment, when i have the cash for my own i will be buying them for now i carry the vortex and vortex binos and they work great for what they cost and i hunt from the 1st of sept thru to dec 20th with not many days off between guiding and my own adventures plus about a month and a half straight in the spring and say another 50 days pred hunting

[Salty]

Without packing tables around if you've got a calculator with sine, cosine, tangent on it goes like this:

Cosine of the angle times the slope distance. So if you're measuring 200 yds at a 30 degree angle-

punch in 30 then COS (.08660 pops up) then X then 200 then = (173.2 yards)
Or just get one of these fancy range finders that does that for you. lol