No4Mk1*
Member
This is a fun discussion.
I have to agree with Blackrazor on this one. I think the confusing point here is that there are three ways to quantify how far off a shot is. The first is to describe the angle the bullet traveled compared to the intended travel vector. This is Measured in minutes or degrees if you are a lousy shot. Another way is to measure the arc length of a circle at a given distance. The third and most widely used is to measure the distance of deviation of the shot in the plane which the flat 2 dimensional target defines. We are defining the distance of a miss as the distance from the bullseye to where the bullet reaches a plane extending from the 2 dimensional target hanging at 100 yards. This is the common "group" measured in inches. For all practical purposes, arc lenght and group size are interchangable for small angles (few degrees) and group size and arc lenght may be converted into MOA by a simple multiplication factor. Error becomes significant when you are many degrees off target.
The reason I like blackrazor's point of view is because in the real world, we don't directly measure angle or arc length, we measure group size in the plane of the target. Therefore it is appropriate to use a fixed adjacent side of 100 yards and a measured opposite side (shot deviation from bullseye). These are the only values we know. from there we must calculate the angle. The arc lenght can also be calculated from this.
As far as the infinite miss, he is not saying that 90 degrees is an infinite quantity of course. He is saying that a bullet aimed at the center of a plane which is fired 90 degrees off target will never stike the plane. So in the 90 degree miss, the angle is 90 degrees, the arc length is 157.08 yards. Since the bullet will never strike the plane of the target, the measured deviation in that plane is infinite.
I have to agree with Blackrazor on this one. I think the confusing point here is that there are three ways to quantify how far off a shot is. The first is to describe the angle the bullet traveled compared to the intended travel vector. This is Measured in minutes or degrees if you are a lousy shot. Another way is to measure the arc length of a circle at a given distance. The third and most widely used is to measure the distance of deviation of the shot in the plane which the flat 2 dimensional target defines. We are defining the distance of a miss as the distance from the bullseye to where the bullet reaches a plane extending from the 2 dimensional target hanging at 100 yards. This is the common "group" measured in inches. For all practical purposes, arc lenght and group size are interchangable for small angles (few degrees) and group size and arc lenght may be converted into MOA by a simple multiplication factor. Error becomes significant when you are many degrees off target.
The reason I like blackrazor's point of view is because in the real world, we don't directly measure angle or arc length, we measure group size in the plane of the target. Therefore it is appropriate to use a fixed adjacent side of 100 yards and a measured opposite side (shot deviation from bullseye). These are the only values we know. from there we must calculate the angle. The arc lenght can also be calculated from this.
As far as the infinite miss, he is not saying that 90 degrees is an infinite quantity of course. He is saying that a bullet aimed at the center of a plane which is fired 90 degrees off target will never stike the plane. So in the 90 degree miss, the angle is 90 degrees, the arc length is 157.08 yards. Since the bullet will never strike the plane of the target, the measured deviation in that plane is infinite.
