Bullet Trajectory

[Xen]

just curious, when should i expect to see the bullet starting to drop?? 450 grain hornady buffalo bullets... 6 inches high at 15 yards, 8 inches high at 25 yards, 2 feet high at 50 yards... what should I expect to see at 100? should I be shooting almost exactly on at 50 yards? just kind of afraid it will drop too much at farther ranges, any help would be appreciated. (using 2 60 grain powder pellets, .54 cal) groups are 1" at 25 yards, just high thanks for the info

[lil hunter]

Why don't you try shooting at some farther targets?? Thats about the only way to know.

[Xen]

well, the problem I ran into when I tried to shoot at a 100 yard target, is that I didn't hit paper. With nobody to spot for me, it makes it tought to know if i'm over it, or if it has that much drop that i'm below it. If i could find some way of knowing what the velocity was, i'd be able to roughly calulate the drop. If nothing else, I may have to go out with a big 8 foot tall piece of card board and see where I hit. My wife tries to spot for me, but every time I shoot, she jumps and closes her eyes... Makes it tough for her to see where I hit

[lil hunter]

How big of targets are you using? I use approx 2 ft by 2 ft, with a paper target in the middle.I really don't think a bullet should drop very much between 50 and 100 yards. Maybe 4-5" max.I could be wrong.

[Xen]

well, the targets i have are 12"x12" - I got reading some data however, and the drop with the load I am shooting is supposed to be only 1 inch between 50 and 100 yards, this is figuring that the muzzleloader is zeroed in at 100 yards, it is 1 inch high at 50 yards. so, i'll start by setting it to be 1 inch high at 50 yards and see where I hit at 100. I hope I can come in here tomorrow and let you know that I was successful.

[AJ]

Do you have a scope on this gun? You need to sight in zero at 50 yards and see where it is at 100. You are shooting 2 feet high at 50 yards??!! The bullet is still climbing at 100 yards. You could be 5 or 6 feet high at 100 yards.

[jnrbronc]

Try to guess the necessary values needed to be input into the following URL:
http://www.sav10ml.com/pages/load_da...basic_dat.html
If you have chrono data and ballastic coefficient of the bullet, you should be able to achieve some sort of reference point.

[Xen]

Thanks for the web page link. Also, AJ, yes, I have a scope on it. It is just a plain 1 power Sightron. I have never had any problems with the open sights, but my father gave me the scope for my birthday so I was trying to get it sighted in for the elk hunt this weekend. I was just busy during all of October with deer hunting. I got a couple of nice bucks and spent most of my free time getting them boned-out and in the freezer.
http://www.xenalo.com/Downloads/3point.jpg
http://www.xenalo.com/Downloads/4point.jpg

Anyway, I took the muzzleloader out today, got it set 1 inch high at 50 yards and then took it to the 100 yard range.... I hit paper but was still high. I guess with the powder/bullet I am using, my bullet is still climbing somewhere past 50. Not sure where it levels out so I'm going to take the scope off for the hunt, stick with my open sights and then spend time out in the hill this summer shooting at 10 yard intervals. Once I can see where I'm hitting at different yardages, I'll feel better about using the scope for hunting. I don't mind shooting animals, but I refuse to injure or main something because I was too busy to properly sight in my scope.

Thanks again for all the help and the info guys. I really appreciate it.