Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

MARKSMANSHIP IN THE WOODS 177In the West it is different. Much of the gamecountry is open. Often you can't get close by stalking.Shots at 200 yards are common, and muchlonger ones can be made successfully by a welltrainedmarksman armed with a very accurate riflethat drives its bullet at a high and well-sustainedvelocity. I emphasize the words "accurate" and"well-sustained" because there are many rifles thatare inaccurate beyond 100 or 150 yards, and thatstart their bullets swiftly but do not maintain ahigh velocity beyond short range. Their trajectoryfigures are illusory, because trajectory means onlythe average or mean height of bullet flight aboveline of fire at such and such intermediate distances.Take, for example, a .30-30 sighted for 200 yards.Its trajectory at 100 yards is given in the tablesss 5.79 inches above line of fire; but, as a matterof fact, the shots vary so much at 100 yards thatthey may go anywhere from 3.40 to 8.40 incheshigh; at 250 yards, with same aim, they may dropanywhere from 2.25 to 14.75 inches below line offire. Yet the .30-30 is considered a fairly accuratecartridge: there are others, with short, snub-nosedbullets, that shoot much worse.Now, by contrast, let us consider a gun that shootsswift and true at all ranges, for instance one usingour Springfield ammunition. I take the liberty ofquoting from Captain Whelen the followingtable of such a rifle's actual performance, with 150-grain bullet, when sighted for 200 yards, and someof hiscomments thereon:Trajectory Range in Yards100 200 225 300Above line of fire, in. ... 2.5 .... ....Below line of fire, in 1-9 9.Sight allowance, in 5 .12 .5Above line of aim, in. ... 2. .... ....Below line of aim, in 2.02 9.5Mean vertical deviation,inches 8 1.6 1.8 2.4Greatest deviation frompoint of aim, withrans^ \ine=timat^d, in. .. 2.8 1.6 3-82 11.9