See? I told y'all VERY early in this "discussion" TWICE.

Gravity is included in the ballistic calculators otherwise you would have no idea of the amount of drop, how gravity affects the forward velocity of the bullet though is so small it is not included. Extreme spread of most ammo is more than the effect of velocity change due to gravity over the short duration of the bullet shot so is a moot point to include.

I know that….what i meant was gravity isnt a variable in the calculators. As i said, gravity affects every bullet the same, whether its forward speed is 3000fps or zero.

I think where the OP went wrong was he assumed gravity had more or less effect on a bullet shot at a downward angle, which is just a false premise. Gravity affects bullets the same, but adding speed to the downward trajectory shot is a function of muzzle/bullet speed, NOT gravity.

And then he went on the geometry tangent and got way off track…

The geometry is the whole point.

Side squared plus side squared equals hypotenuse squared.

The old 3, 4, 5 rule when squaring something large.

3 squared plus 4 squared equals 5 squared. 3X3= 9, 4X4= 16, 5X5= 25. 9+16=25

To keep things simple from a ranging perspective, the laser read 500 yards out. The rifle was 400 yards up. The bullet is flying the 300 yard distance.

Bullet velocity decay is calculated based on caliber, muzzle velocity, ballistic coefficient as well as density altitude. A measurement of air density. A low DA is thick air, therfore more velocity decay, throughout flight. A high DA is thin air, with less velocity decay. With me using temperature stable powders, and a small muzzle velocity change throughout the year, my corrections change on the same rifle range throughout the year. 600 feet above sea level, but because it is Texas, and I've seen -7° F up to + 113°F, I have also seen DA be -400' as well as +3800'. That starts to really matter at 500 yard or farther shots, though.

Only bullet flight isnt a right angle, it is a arc that travels through air. Pythagorean theory
Does not apply to arcs and distances covered.

The angle compensating range finders are not doing simple pythagorean theory calcs in them, they are using more complex geometry to figure the compensated distance.

The concept is close to accurate, but using it would be as wrong as applying gravity as a variable in the equation. Gravity is a constant. The problem with trying to apply the pythagorean theory to distance shots is you are ranging a target and rarely if ever have any idea the elevation of said target and how it compares to your target. If those numbers are known (like at your range), sure go ahead and do the math and see it is close enough, but the better thing to do is figure the range, the angle inclination or declination and do some angle figuring off the sin/cos or whatever the trigonometry value is…or maybe that is geometry…but either way, it is almost never simple Pythagorean in a real world setting

Yep. Dad taught me there was one formula for life.....

If the angle of the dangle is proportionate to the bore of the [censored], providing that the heat of the meat is constant, then the mass of the [censored] is relative.

You can save yourself a whole lot of college tuition if you learn this formula before hand.

Bullet flight is an arc? I had no idea! Tell me more!

Angle compensating range finders are not doing geometry, they are doing trigonometry. There is a known line length, but it is not level with the world. It is at a down angle or an up angle. Because of the angle, the true flight distance is actually LESS. Angle compensating range finders will tell the shooter the true flight distance of the bullet.

Go back to what I wrote earlier. And look for yourself at a consine indicator that mounted to a scope. They do tell you the angle, and also tell you the cosine to multiply the lasered distance by. Which gives you a final distance for an elevation correction.

https://www.milehighshooting.com/nightforce-a121-angle-degree-indicator-w-mount/

That is a simple gravity based machine. I have one, but it's never been mounted to a scope. My laser range finder does the math for me.

The pythagorean theorem usage is to explain to someone what is actually happening, and why your bullet flight is the distance of one of the sides of the right angle triangle, and not the distance of the hypotenuse of the triangle. With a basic range finder, and no angle compensation built it, one is lasering the hypotenuse. If you dial for a corrections based on the hypotenuse distance, you will be over compensating and the shot will go high.

JG, we are saying the same thing. We both understand what is going on

I thought the birdwatcherdudes were OCD knowitalls.....good gracious.

Goodness! You don't have to compensate for an angled shot unless it's over about 15 degrees. Even then, it's a very minor amount of change by a few yards, which is generally lost in field or hunting conditions. One place we hunt has a stand on a cliff that is about 80 feet directly above a feeder that is 100 yards away. The angle is not steep enough to compensate for a change in POI. If you are in the mountains and shooting up or down about 30 or 40 degrees, yes, you may need to compensate. Most LRF will angle compensate for you automatically.