.22 Balistics Question

[JonInNY]

This is really just a curiosity question, but I'm sure some of you ammo people out there could answer it easily.

We had a "turkey shoot" at our range the other day, and one of the challenges was to break an egg at 100 yards with a scoped .22 rifle. Not many people had success, and eggs that were broken I believe were just from being lucky.

I know that there would be a dropoff as a .22 loses its velocity. The question is, how much higher than the target would you need to aim at 100 yards to hit the target. Is there a way to figure this out ahead of time?

I assume they were using typical high-velocity 40 grain .22LR cartridges.

Any thoughts?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[goldshellback]

Takes a few minuets at the range. I used to use big cardboard boxes (fridge and washing machine boxes) with water ballons tacked to them at 50, 75, and 100 yards.

We kids did it for the sake of competitive bragging rights, but I bet it'd work here too.

I had to raise my Marlin Model 25 up about 3 or 4 inches ( maybe more?) with the standard velocity"milk carton Wally-World .22's".

[Ram Rod]

My 40 grain solids I used for silhouette competition....with a sighted-in point blank range of 25 yards was still right on at 50yds, takes 15 clicks to be on at 75 yards, and another 19 clicks to be on at 100 yards----a total elevation adjustment of 34 (1/4" clicks) total from 25yds to 100yds with the Remington 22T ammo. Why I stuck with the same ammo all of the time for the matches......different brands tend to be different in trajectories...some vary more than others. There should be some ballistics charts out there you could use to calculate and get pretty close. If I was shooting prone or from a bench, I could have probably hit the egg first shot with zero to calm winds since my heavy 10/22 is already set up for the ranges, and I'd be using my familiar ammo. Cross winds are pretty rough on the little 22lr.
Scope Adjustments and Ballistics
.22 LONG RIFLE - STANDARD VELOCITY & TARGET LOADS

[JonInNY]

Thanks RamRod. Good advice!

Takes a few minuets at the range. I used to use big cardboard boxes (fridge and washing machine boxes) with water ballons tacked to them at 50, 75, and 100 yards.

I like that idea too. Although not scientific, it certainly will provide positive feedback.

[farronwolf]

I keep my Marlin model 60 sighted in at 100 yds. I use an inexpensive 4x10 scope on it. I shoot empty shotgun shells stood on end. About the same size as an egg, a bit narrower but about the same. With the stock barrel, I get some drift as the barrel warms but it isn't too bad. A heavy or bull barrel like RamRod uses would be better if your going to be doing a lot of shooting at those ranges.

It is very challenging and fun to shoot. At closer ranges it is a bit high, I just adjust the aim point for things closer.

Try it some time at the range, you don't burn nearly as much ammo as jumping cans or swinging targets but it is just as fun.

To answer you question though. A 40 gr bullet leaving about 1100 fps will only have about a 3 inch change in trajectory from the barrel to 100 yds.

[micahsrad]

http://www.varmintal.com/17n22.png

This might help but it also depends at what distance the scopes were zeroed at. This is for a 100yd zero but notice that in between 100 and 125yds there is a 5" drop. Hope that this helps

[David in FL]

Impossible to answer without knowing the distance at which the rifle was zeroed with that particular ammunition and the muzzle velocity of the ammo.

Once that's known, it's a simple matter to apply the appropriate ballistics table to adjust for any given yardage.

Beyond that though, you need a rifle/scope/ammo combo capable of that kind of base accuracy (about 2 MOA) to be able to hit a target that size consistently. I'm guessing that there's a pretty good chance that the Turkey Shoot rifle didn't.......

[cvhoss]

Below is a chart from the external ballistics calculator I use (RCBS Load). Below the graph is a table showing the rise/drop throughout the 100 yard range. They don't really have bullet choices for rimfire cartridges so I selected a Sierra 40gr. HP at 1235 fps (listed velocity for a CCI Mini Mag 40 gr. bullet). As you can see, if your rifle is normally sighted in for 50 yards, the bullet would be 5.43" low at 100 yards so you'd have to hold over your egg by that amount. This also assumes you are using a scope with the centerline of the scope 1.5" above the centerline of the bore. If you are using iron sights, their centerline would be lower so your bullet drop would be greater.

Hoss

[archer51]

Your post didn't say, but were you using your own rifle, or everyone used the same rifle. If everyone was shooting with the same rifle it's pretty much who's luckiest. The shooting a rifle that is not sighted for you is going to be difficult to do.

[Superhouse 15]

Federal lists a good charts on their site. Look here:
Federal Premium - Rimfire Details

Gives some examples with different ammo and zero distances. In the above example, assuming a 50yd zero, aim about 5.6"" high. Depends on the velocity and zero, though. Too much to predict just from a table, especially if you're using someone else's gun and ammo in a turkey shoot.
But it might give you a good place to start to make an educated guess.

[Ram Rod]

Nice chart cvhoss! Notice the 25yd and 50yd POI are the same, such as my experience. I'm sighted in for 25yd and start from there.

[JonInNY]

Below is a chart from the external ballistics calculator I use (RCBS Load).

Great chart, thanks!

Your post didn't say, but were you using your own rifle, or everyone used the same rifle. If everyone was shooting with the same rifle it's pretty much who's luckiest. The shooting a rifle that is not sighted for you is going to be difficult to do.

It was a club rifle, so I have no idea how it was sighted. As I mentioned, this was more of a curiosity question, and not to be taken too seriously. (Which CVHOSS did with his great chart!)

[Superhouse 15]

Look here:
JBM - Calculations - Trajectory
You can input all kinds of variables and get some interesting results. I used it to make stock cards for a bunch of rifles.

[JonInNY]

Look here:
JBM - Calculations - Trajectory
You can input all kinds of variables and get some interesting results. I used it to make stock cards for a bunch of rifles.

Wow, that's much more info than I think I will ever need.