Slant Range

Slant range is the direct, line-of-sight distance from the muzzle to a target, measured straight along the line of sight regardless of any uphill or downhill angle. A laser range finder reports this slant figure, because it simply measures the time for light to travel out and back along the beam. When the shot is angled, the slant range is always longer than the flat horizontal distance between the shooter and the target’s ground position.

This distinction matters for the trajectory because gravity only pulls the bullet down over the horizontal component of the path, not the full slant length. Dialing or holding for the raw slant range therefore overestimates the drop and sends the shot high, which is the central problem of incline shooting. The fix is to convert slant range to its horizontal equivalent before applying a firing solution.