Shooting at high elevation

Parker173

FNG
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Sep 27, 2021
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I live in alabama and the elevation is like 115ft, so when i come into colorado we stop by our favorite shooting range and sight in the rifle at about 7700ft. So im dead on at that elevation. However, the unit we're hunting ranges from 10,500-13,500ft in elevation depending where we are at. Is that going to be enough of a change that i would need to aim slightly higher or resight in my rifle again. i know there are alot of ballistic factors lol please don't rip me a new one.
 

sram9102

WKR
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Oct 31, 2018
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IN
I'd look into a ballistics app on your phone. Applied Ballistics works great. Set everything up at home and then adjust your elevation in the app and it will run you a new ballistics table for that elevation.
 

Antares

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My initial reactions is to say "forget about it."

More info would help though. Is your farthest shot going to be 200 yards or 1200 yards? Are you shooting 300 Blackout or 300 PRC? Are you dialing or holding?

If anything, you'll be holding slightly lower, not higher. Less atmosphere, less drag, less drop.
 

ODB

WKR
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There are several online ballistics calculators that use elevation as a factor. Hornady is one.

just running the numbers on one of my loads, going from 0’ to 10,000’ and 59F to 30F shows a difference of 4.8” at 500 yds.

But then again I don’t know what my FPS is at 10000 vs sea level.
 
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Parker173

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Sep 27, 2021
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I'd look into a ballistics app on your phone. Applied Ballistics works great. Set everything up at home and then adjust your elevation in the app and it will run you a new ballistics table for that elevation.
good idea, downloading now
 
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Parker173

FNG
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Sep 27, 2021
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My initial reactions is to say "forget about it."

More info would help though. Is your farthest shot going to be 200 yards or 1200 yards? Are you shooting 300 Blackout or 300 PRC? Are you dialing or holding?

If anything, you'll be holding slightly lower, not higher. Less atmosphere, less drag, less drop.
to get technical, i zero at 200yrds. The farthest shot i would comfortably take would be 500-600yrds. im shooting a 7mm-08 Nosler Trophy Grade 140gr. using a leupold rx1200-tbr range finger. So it tells me how many clicks to dial. i just wonder how much that would change goping up like 3500ft from where i sighted it in at. i know it should shoot slightly higher...just dont know how much
 
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Parker173

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Sep 27, 2021
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Your FPS won't change at altitude, but the air density does.

Bullets will fly further at altitude because there's less drag. Does it matter out to 400 yards? Probably not. Out to 1200 yards, definitely.
so you think if i'm shooting within 400 i should be good? within an inch or 2?
 
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to get technical, i zero at 200yrds. The farthest shot i would comfortably take would be 500-600yrds. im shooting a 7mm-08 Nosler Trophy Grade 140gr. using a leupold rx1200-tbr range finger. So it tells me how many clicks to dial. i just wonder how much that would change goping up like 3500ft from where i sighted it in at. i know it should shoot slightly higher...just dont know how much

Have you verified the the dope your rangefinder gives you actually works? Ive plugged mine into 2 different ballistic calculators and it has been off on what I actually need to dial. Strelok allows you to make adjustments with verified impacts at different yardages, and adjusts accordingly.


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Temperature will have a greater impact than elevation will and more pronounced (of course) the further out the target is.

Colder temps you will hit lower than warmer temps.
 
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Parker173

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Have you verified the the dope your rangefinder gives you actually works? Ive plugged mine into 2 different ballistic calculators and it has been off on what I actually need to dial. Strelok allows you to make adjustments with verified impacts at different yardages, and adjusts accordingly.


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Yes, when we're shooting at the range at 7700ft whatever it tells me to dial is dead on the money. Granted i have to select a different load group in my range finder than what i normally shoot down here in alabama at 115ft. So there probably is another load group to select for an even high elevation, there just isn't a shooting range near our unit where i could try it out.
 

CHAD PEZZLE

Lil-Rokslider
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Sebastopol, CA
so you think if i'm shooting within 400 i should be good? within an inch or 2?
My advice would be to use an online calculator to estimate the drop if you know your average FPS. Not what the box says, but what you actually measured with a chronograph.

I shoot a 7-08 with 140gr Accubonds and a 100 yard zero.

At sea level-ish a 400 yard shot is 2.25 mils or 32.5" of drop. At 10000 feet it's 2.04 mils or about 29.5" of drop.
 
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Parker173

FNG
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Sep 27, 2021
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My advice would be to use an online calculator to estimate the drop if you know your average FPS. Not what the box says, but what you actually measured with a chronograph.

I shoot a 7-08 with 140gr Accubonds and a 100 yard zero.

At sea level-ish a 400 yard shot is 2.25 mils or 32.5" of drop. At 10000 feet it's 2.04 mils or about 29.5" of drop.

Yeah that would probably be the ultimate way, i don't have a chrono though :(
 

CHAD PEZZLE

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
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Sebastopol, CA
Yeah that would probably be the ultimate way, i don't have a chrono though :(
What I would do is take your longest confirmed hit, say it's 600 yards and figure out what your rangefinder told you to dial.

Then I'd plug all the atmospheric conditions from the day you made that confirmed hit and adjust the barrel velocity, so that the calculator spits out a number as close as possible as the one your range finder gave you the day you made said confirmed hit.

Then I'd use all that info and adjust my altitude to about 11,500 feet and use the dope from the calculator on my hunt.
 
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