Discussion Forums

Paul Leverman

From another forum:

"In a perfect world (no wind) you’d think that doubling the distance would double the group. It seldom works that way. When the bullet leaves the muzzle it rarely flys exactly true, the bullet is likely not perfectly stable, there is a certain amount of wobble. The longer the bullet travels the more error in the intended path. The only exception to this is the behavoir of Very Low Drag (VLD) centerfire bullets. Due to their length they may need a few micro seconds after leaving the muzzle to fully stabilize. In this case the 200 yard MOA may be better than that at 100 yards. That does not mean the 200 yard group is smaller, it means the 200 yard group will be less than double the 100 yard measurement. Wind is also a huge factor. The longer the range the bigger the wind factor."

So, what he is saying is that after the long VLD stabilizes, it veers from its established trajectory and corrects itself by changing the angle of flight, back to where it was originally pointed before it started to wobble.

I'm trying to picture this and I see two identical bullets, fired at the same time, leaving the muzzle and flying perfectly parrallel to each other. Both are "wobbling" in the exact same manner, both are veering from intended flight path the exact same amount (MOA), and yet one of them is able to overcome inertia and acceleration and re-orient itself to the aim point at the 100 yard mark. How is this possible? Unless, he is referring to the wind factor, where the bullet travelling to the 200 yard mark has decelerated, giving the wind more time to push it back onto its intended flight path, seemingly "correcting" its errant flight path.

I don't buy it.