ballistics program

hellbound

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Jul 13, 2011
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what are your favorite ballistics programs and why. are you using pda or what .need advice as where to start . lets hear what you got and how it works
 
I am using the iphone 3gs with the JBM ballistics field editor and it seems to be a pretty good app to me. Easily customizable and appears to be pretty accurate as well with the 3 guns I have compared it to. It has a great HUD feature on it as well as being able to pull up wind drift and drop charts to ranges well beyond what I am capable of shooting to.......................yet :)
 
Ditto on Ballistic FTE on iPhone. IMO it is worth the whole price of an IPhone and the App only costs 20 bucks.
 
do they have a droid app as well...not an iphone user

Ballistic FTE is only available for IPhone. I understand there is one called Shooter for Droid, but may not have the features that Ballistic FTE does. I think it is priced at only 10 bucks so it would be worth a try.
 
Really like Loadbase3.0, most comprehensive program out there. Also run Exbal for shorter range, Shooter on the Droid is very good as well if your rockn' a compatible phone.
 
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Here is a link to shooter. I like the feature of inputting an getting a solutuion. Then you just scroll the distance, wind, and wind angle up and down for an instant solution.

Shooter - Ballistics Calculator for Android™

My brother was one of the programmers for the NLOS guidance systems. He also writes apps. for smart phones. Had him check it out before I bought it. Told me it was definately worth $10.

Brent
 
I'm using Ballistic FTE on my IPOD, the HUD is really easy to use. I set up at 725yds yesterday with my 338RUM & my 6-284, both were on for elevation, wind was the real kicker!
 
For casual I use the one at "Big Game Info". It is easy, prints a good output and is quite accurate. When I want to get down to the "nitty gritty" I use the one I developed in the 80's. It is crude, not user friendly by todays standards, but it was noted by the military in Virginia to be the most accurate one they had access to. It sold internationally for a period of time.

I can do out to 1500 yards, extremely heavy and light loads, multiple sight ins (for the sight in of a squib load based on the sight in of a hunting round), all the environmental conditions, elevations, up/down angles, wind at all angles. I can back calculate muzzle velocity from a chrono velocity, and a few more obscure things nobody else would be interested in.

The one thing I didn't do, and wish I had, was to automatically calculate the clicks up for range compensation. Would have been very simple to do, but now the programming language is obsolete and I am not about to resurrect it.
 
Question about the "Ballistic FTE" iphone app: If I input accurate information for the altitude, temp, pressure, bullet, chrono'd muz vel, zero, and scope height above bore etc...that I typically shoot and practive in...
Once you plug in the new altitude and weather details etc, does the app accurately give you the new drop data?

Basically f all my shooting and calculations are done at 600' elev, in 90 degree temps,etc...when in higher country at say 9000', 40 degree temps with a different baro pressure, does the program accurately work this all out for you? Or do i need to run the load over a chrono at that elevation to input that vel to get adjusted data?

I don't have the Ballistic app yet, just trying to wrap my head around what is does for you in the field.

Thanks
Mike
 
Question about the "Ballistic FTE" iphone app: If I input accurate information for the altitude, temp, pressure, bullet, chrono'd muz vel, zero, and scope height above bore etc...that I typically shoot and practive in...
Once you plug in the new altitude and weather details etc, does the app accurately give you the new drop data?

Basically f all my shooting and calculations are done at 600' elev, in 90 degree temps,etc...when in higher country at say 9000', 40 degree temps with a different baro pressure, does the program accurately work this all out for you? Or do i need to run the load over a chrono at that elevation to input that vel to get adjusted data?

I don't have the Ballistic app yet, just trying to wrap my head around what is does for you in the field.

Thanks
Mike

Yes, I sight my gun in Oklahoma at 1200 ft and then hunt in Wyoming at 6000 ft and used it to make 804 yd shot.
 
Tx338

From your post I am not sure whether you already have an iPhone and just don't have the app yet. If that is the case spent the 20 bucks because you won't be disappointed. I would say the app is worth many times the cost.

It takes a little work to learn how to use it. When you sight a gun in you need to do a trajectory calculation and save it as a favorite which you can name. Then when you go hunting you can call up the favorite an change the weather and altitude either manually or automatically and use the heads up display.
 
One caveat however is some powders are more temp sensitive than others and the program has no way of predicting a change in MV do to temp change from the effect. It might be more accurate to chrono your load at the lower temp and input the MV before you use the heads up display for hunting.
 
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