sanginreaper: I am new to long range shooting but knowledgable about physics, and the principles involved in ballistics. I can write the equations to solve for trajectory given intitial conditions, drag coefficients, gravity, etc. I know that the positions of the projectile (bullet) in the vertical and horizontal directions are independent of each other. The X equation has nothing but X (horiz) variable in it like its initial position and the velocity in the X direction. The Y equation considers the intitial Y position (one of which is "how low below the centerline of scope is the bullet; perhaps 1.5 to 2 inches" and the relative orientations of the bore and line of site (parallel or 20MOA down). The 2 equations are both necessary but not solved simulataneously because you don't have X and Ys in both (or either). But you need the flight time to determine where it goes. So getting the VoY (initial velocity up) is the key needed first. The longer the shot, the higher the barrel is pointed above the line of sight so that as it travels across the earth gravity can bend it back down until it hits something. In other words, flight time from muzzle to target is determined by how fast the bullet moves to its target and that that time determines how long gravity can act on the bullet to pull it back towards the center of the earth. What I don't have is experience to know how these various initial conditions (mounting a scope on a rifle which is not made perfectly) affect the desired outcome of hitting your target at long range. I am old enough to know that experience is invaluable which is why I joined this forum. Experience is as important as knowledge. I don't have experience. My shooting has been limited to hunting situations where I sight in my Browning Stainless Stalker 300 Win Mag at 200 yds (about 1.1 inches high at 100 yards, And I generally don't have shots over 300 yards, where I might be 5-6 inches low. I am now setting up a rifle for shots to 1000 yards. I have a Rem 700 , 5R 300 Win Mag, Vortex PST Viper 6-20X50mm, a Nightforce steel 20 moa base coming and Burris XTR 30mm rings. I have discovered that my mass produced rifle is probably not perfect and anxiously awaiting mounting that scope and taking that first shot to see how well the barrel and action are aligned. I have learned from here that I need to determine if my 1 piece base needs to be bedded and will do that if necessary. The other issue has to do with what to align the scope reticle with? I don't think we can alter the squareness of the stock and action as that is determined by how they were made and how well they fit together. Once I get mine in a vise I am going to put a level on the base (once mounted to receiver) and check if the centerline of butt plate is perpindicular to the base (and the rings should be parallel to base). But it is what it is. As someone else said here, if you don't keep your rifle butt plate vertically oriented but had your reticle parallel to that line, what have you gained? You should expect lateral errors exacerbated at long distances. With humbleness I believe that having the reticle aligned with gravity (e.g. hanging weight in distance) is probably the most important thing and the further the better for smaller angular errors. Then when taking a long shot you must know that the reticle is aligned with gravity. I don't know how you could ever know w/o a level bubble attached to your scope. Now at some distances (and this is where experience comes in) it will not inroduce enough error to miss your target. I have shot deer at 360 yards w/o worrying about how aligned my stock was to action when mounting my scope. The discussion about canting the rifle got me thinking about these things. My guess is that if you cant your rifle the same everytime AND you made your reticle plumb with gravity when mounting scope AND you knew the cant was the same when taking a long shot , it should not matter. How you could know though seems impossible w/o a bubble OR the shots are not far enough yet to make you miss your target and you are repeatable with the same can't. Thinking about a bipod, I am assuming they let you rotate the rifle about the barrel axis (never had one - no experience) so that you can align the reticle plumb with graivty? I mean how level is the ground when you set up? I don't claim to know anything about long range shooting. I am here to learn. I am just trying to make sense out of the various discussion and reconcile it with what I know are basic principles. And I know experience is invaluable. When I was asking a surgeon IF he could fix my son (hole in intestine and he is fine now) at 10 years old, I did not ask him where he went to school, where he ramked in his class, etc. I asked him "Have you seen this before, have you fixed it before, Can you heal my son?" He had done it many times and said he could do it in his sleep (although I asked him to stay awake). It was then that I realized experience is invaluable. There seems to be a wealth of experience on this site for which I am grateful. I am an Engineer and have a Master's Degree but I realize that doesn't count for anything with regard to experience. I will keep reading these threads and soaking up all the experience. Thanks
