22 lr Sight In Question

[Buck Assassin]

Before squirrel season started i shot my 22 at 35 yards and it was dead on. Then I moved to 20 yards and it was 1-2 inches low. Move on up to 10 yards and it hits 3-4 inches low.
I am puzzled at why it is hitting low when I move closer to the target. I would have thought if anything it would have shot high.
Anyway, it has cost me a few squirrels this season because I have shot under their head on closer shots.
What can I do to fix it?
The only solution I can come up with is I need to sight it in at a longer distance because I will have to move my scope up therefore bring my impact point up at 10 and 20 yards. Am I right???
Any ideas???
Rifle is a Marlin Model 60 shooting Remington Thunderbolts.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

It shot lower because your scope is well above the barrel. A bullet does not rise when it leaves the barrel like many think it will. I sight mine in at 35 yards and have no problems. If you have a large objective lens and/or tall scope mount it will make your problem worse. Get your scope as close to the barrel as you can.

 

[gruvmann]

Hillbilly is right; the scope-barrel height relationship is a big factor.

FWIW, my .22 has a bull barrel and 40mm objective so my scope rides a bit high also. I sight in for a 50yd zero, which gives me another zero at 25. I know my holds for 75 and 100.

Good luck!

 

[Nhill]

I drew a very crude and not to scale picture for you.
You can get the idea that the line of sight is completely straight and angled down slightly. The path of the bullet will start falling as soon as it leaves the barrel, but is more noticeable at longer ranges.
You can tell with my expanded view that a bullet will always hit the line of sight at two points. It will hit low, dead on, high, dead on, and then low again.
Most high power rifles sighted in at 100 yards will also hit the target at around 25 yards. They will be low less than 25 yards, and high in between and even after up to about 200 yards depending on the round.

Like the others said, try to get a small scope close to the barrel. Iron sights will give you the flattest trajectory of all.

I hope this helps

P.S. it may appear that I angled the bullet path up a little, but this was unintentional.

 

[redblood]

yep. for a rimfire especially you need low or extra low rings

 

[Nhill]

P.S. it may appear that I angled the bullet path up a little, but this was unintentional.

Thats because if the bullet ever passes thru the line of sight then the barrel of the gun has to be pointed upwards in relation to the line of sight. No, bullets don't rise when shot, but if the barrel is pointed in an upward position enough to cause the bullet to travel thru the true line of sight, then the bullet will continue to travel in that direction until gravity pulls back thru the line of sight again. That seems to be a hard concept for some to grasp.

Nhill, why would you say that the line of sight would be angled downward? unless your shooting at something below your eye level?

I meant that the line of sight would be angled downward in relation to the barrel of the gun.

 

[huntinman]

That's Cool. Didn't know you could draw on here.

 

[Nhill]

That's Cool. Didn't know you could draw on here.

It actually took a little work, aside from the mad artistic skills.
I drew it on a piece of paper, faxed it to myself, did a screen shot, pasted it into MS paint, cut out the image, pasted it into a new paint file, saved it to my desktop, uploaded it to Flickr, linked to my post, and VIOLA!

 

[mike243]

i set mine at 50y.i have found on my semi auto's that my simmons 22mag scopes thicker reticul is dead on at 100y. rite where the thick vertical line changes to the thin acts as a range dot thats close enf for golf balls.not that i shoot many of those at all but crows & such better look out

 

[Buck Assassin]

Thanks fellers! I have a Simmons 3x9x40 on it but it sits pretty low I thought. If I move it any lower it will probably hit the iron sights on the rear of the barrel. I might just have to spend some time shooting it at closer yardage and remember how low it is hitting when I go hunting!
Thanks for the help!
Oh, and thanks for taking the time to draw up that pic Nhill! That helped explain everything!