Long Range Shooting CalculationsBest Long Range BallisticsShooting Simulator Lets You Practice Ranging Targets With Your Scope. Long range shooting can be an incredibly rewarding pursuit, whether it be in a quest for accuracy at the range, competition, or on a hunt. But its often a daunting pursuit as well, with practice for larger caliber rifles reaching a high cost per round, so some of the finer skills beyond simply hitting a target can sometimes land on the back burner. If youre new to long range shooting, ask yourself Do I know how to use my mil dot reticle to range a target Gun Digest recently reviewed a new product that can help rifle shooters learn to use the ranging features of their scope, whether you use a mil dot reticle or one with milliradian subtensions MRAD or MOA subtensions. The Shooter Ready simulation program helps you get a basic understanding of how to use mil or MOA reticles to range targets, and how to make elevation adjustments and wind holds in either mils or MOA. Then it lets you assess yourself and improve your weaknesses with feedback like hit results, ranges, and wind info, which are displayed after you take the shot. The simulation the review makes sure to point out its not a game has pre programmed calibers including. Win. Mag. ,. 3. 38 Lapua Mag., and. The Kestrel applied ballistics meter combines sophisticated environmental sensing features with longrange shooting ballistics information in one handheld. BMG. The flight characteristics of individual cartridges programmed and handled by Sierra Infinity 6 Exterior Ballistic Software. Its not a ballistic calculator, so the loads arent customizablethats not the point of Shooter Ready. The focus of the simulation is an introductory training tool to exterior ballistics as related to long range rifle shooting, Developer Karin Christensen told Gun Digest. The stages were developed to show how different conditions affect the bullet in flight, and this includes how different calibers are affected, not to practice with individual systems. I always recommend to users that they obtain some exterior ballistics software once they have a good grasp of the basics, which they will learn if they practice with the simulation. A gunsmith I knew found that his clients did not know how to use mil dot reticles, which he was installing on rifles. I created version 1 to teach the use of the reticle partly for the fun of playing around with the animation software, he said in the story. In the process, being a scientific sort of person, I ended up becoming fascinated with exterior ballistics, so I included it in the early classroom sections. It also didnt seem possible to teach use of the reticle without understanding exterior ballistics. I hadnt shot long range myself until I started working on the simulation. To test everything I had learned, I went out to a range, calculated the distance on a target that was, if I remember, 9. I hit it on the second shot, and the first was not far off. The first version only used the. It was so popular I developed version 2 with more calibers and stages. The current version was developed to incorporate the mil turret system, and I added three more calibers as well as more challenging stages, he added. To see how exactly the simulator works and for more information, read the full review on gundigest. It takes you through each stage of the simulation calibers, warm up, temperature variation stage, angle shooting, wind challenge, taking cover. Shooter Ready is available as an instant download for 4. PC or MAC. You can also try a free demo here. American Rifleman Ballistic Software for Long Range Shooting. Two years ago, shooting alongside veteran Marine sniper Steve Reichert, I thought Id accomplished something Using handwritten ballistic data cards, I scored first round hits on steel targets across a wooded valley at 1,0. Despite his fancy handheld ballistic computer, Reichert missed both targets. Unperturbed, he punched two corrections into his Trimble Nomad computer and from then on, during several days of shooting, never missed that is to say he didnt miss another target at any distance. I knew, then, it was time to take a closer look at todays advanced ballistic software. Unlike a desktop computer ballistic program that generates drop, wind drift and time of flight tables, modern ballistic software incorporates all the shooters specifics rifle, barrel length, twist rate, scope details, ammunition details, etc. and then, based upon the target distance, angle up or down, moving or stationary and the atmospherics altitude, temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and speed it calculates the exact elevation and windage settings for a direct hit. Such precision is unattainable with handwritten cards or manual calculations. For example, most shooters equate one minute of angle m. Shooting less than 5. Field Firing Solutions. The first program I examined was Field Firing Solutions, Version Delta V, loaded in a field rugged Trimble Nomad handheld computer, the same as Steve Reichert used and with which he has fired his. Lapua Mag. rifle accurately to 2. Everything about the software demands and yields precision. Instead of lasing 1. I was instructed to tape measure it remember, a laser is accurate only to within one yard. And I was required to measure not from my muzzle but from my scopes elevation knob, the exact spot where a shooter applies elevation and windage changes. Elevation knobs are inherently inconsistent, I learned which is what inspired the software developer, Blaine Fields. Back in 2. 00. 2 he had problems matching his new scopes Bullet Drop Compensator to his rifles trajectory. Devising a simple computer program, he found that instead of the knob rotating 12 m. After solving that discrepancy he just kept going. The program just took on a life of its own, he explained. Following his procedures, I determined my scopes precise click value. The Field Firing Solutions software contains a bullet database of nearly 3,5. Many ballistic programs use only a bullets G1 Drag Model to produce a Ballistic Coefficient BC, but Fields knew a bullets drag increases as it slows, lowering its BC, while todays Very Low Drag bullets demand a low drag G7 Model. Thus, his software employs multiple stepped Drag Models, which vary with bullet shape, length, weight and velocity at various distances. Instead of entering the cartridge manufacturers muzzle velocity or measuring it with a chronograph Field has found both slightly inaccurate he had me test fire at several distances, a process called trueing to determine exactly how high or low my hit compared to the computer generated point of aim. The program will take this point of impact, compare it to the point of aim and then calculate a muzzle velocity which corresponds to that actual point of impact, he explained. In one more step, I determined the velocity error factor and the software calculated the bullets BC. With that input, the software traced an updated trajectory that was true, reflecting my bullets precise arc, calibrating it to my scopes click value. Along with the corrected muzzle velocity and BC, I entered barrel length, twist rate and direction of twist, and the exact height of the scopes optical axis above the bore axis. All these details became a profile for that particular rifle, scope and cartridge, ready to be called up whenever needed. What if I wanted to profile another load or another rifle According to Field, his program can store nearly 2 million such profiles. Its only when you reach a shooting location that you add more data, beginning with atmospherics. I obtained those from a Kestral 2. The program can interpose three winds simultaneously, as well as consider vertical wind deflection from mountain updrafts and downdrafts. The atmospherics dont usually change so long as a shooter stays at one location, but they can be updated at any time. Now, add your target its range, its angle uphill or downhill, whether its stationary or moving and to what degree. In a split second the software calculates all winds, the atmospherics, range, updown slant, target movement, spin drift the tendency for a bullet to drift in the direction of its rifling, even the slight Coriolis effect caused by the earths rotation. The elevation and windage solution is offered as eighths, quarters or halves of one m. To hasten engagement times, you can create a Target Range Card with a reference target for instantly shifting from one targets firing solution to another. Field Firing Solutions is like having a very knowledgeable coach looking over your shoulder to answer questions, says retired Phoenix SWAT officer Giles Stock, a 3. Arizonas Gunsite Academy and one of Americas most knowledgeable tactical rifle authorities. He has taken the system a step further, using his Trimble Nomads Bluetooth feature to automatically monitor and update atmospherics from a Kestral 4. Vector laser ranging binoculars. Its an incredible capability. Using the setup, hes had rifle students score first round hits to 2,2. Marine sniper Reichert regularly does the same to well over a mile. Field Firing Solutions software is used by some of the worlds most elite special operations units as well as American police SWAT teams. Instead of dialing computer driven solutions on target knobs, some shooters employ riflescopes with a Horus reticle, a uniform grid that takes mil dots to the next level. Arrayed as precise 15th mil aiming lines and dots, a Horus reticle appears confusingly busy until you understand it. After that, you simply aim with the dot indicated by the ballistic software, never lifting your head away from the scope or rotating knobs. The combination of software and reticle make shooting multiple targets remarkably fast and impressively accurate. Horus ATRAG Software. Horus also offers its own advanced ballistic software, ATRAG, the second program I explored. I was introduced to ATRAG this year while training with 1. Airborne Division snipers at Ft. Campbell, Ky., just before they deployed to Afghanistan. According to Brian Mellado of Horus Vision, the company won a U. S. Army contract for 2,7. Advanced Ballistic Calculator kits containing ATRAG software in a sturdy Trimble Recon handheld computer. Snipers of the 1. Airbornes 1st Battalion, 5. Infantry, have trained extensively with ATRAGs MX military version and are now using it daily in combat. Having already used Field Firing Solutions, I could appreciate the importance of ATRAGs similar trueing of the trajectory curve and concluded that ballistic software must include trueing to achieve accuracy. ATRAG operates a great deal like Field Firing Solutions but for a number of nuanced differences for instance, ATRAG does not consider a bullets length, which can affect spin drift calculations. Also, ATRAG employs the clock system for entering wind direction, while Field Firing Solutions uses exact degrees. The Screaming Eagle snipers use ATRAG calculations both as knob settings and as Horus reticle holds, depending on the situation. There is a time and place for both dialing and holding, explained the platoons senior sniper, but we greatly prefer using holds with the Horus reticle. In a kinetic shooting environment that requires rapid engagements, the Horus reticle provides a great platform for not only first round hits but for fast follow on shots and corrections. When they occupy a final firing position, the 1. Airborne snipers input local atmospherics and likely target locations, then jot down multiple firing solutions so theyre ready to engage when enemy forces appear. For quick reference, they post this data on a wristband display like NFL quarterbacks use. While emplaced on a COP Combat Outpost in Afghanistan, one sniper recently emailed me, we observed a target with an RPG rocket launcher pop up on a wall approximately 1,0. The enemy fired the RPG at our bunker and jumped back down. A few seconds later the target reappeared and began running down the wall.
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