Shooter program
- Thread starter nwolf
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
RMulhern
Well-Known Member
Well...let's see now....why don't you...this coming summer when it's bumping about 102F take some cartridges and lay them out on your shooting table in the sun and use a laser temp guage....shoot the cartridges and see what you get temp-wise!
And rather than having to depend upon a 'program'....shoot your rifle under varying conditions...keep a data book with recorded conditions and then.....you can forget these friggin programs!
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
Just starting to play with Shooter and have yet to use this function but have played with it in Loadbase but I don't shoot powder that varies that much in my LR rifles so don't use it much.
From the manual.
MV Variation - This is an optional input, but if you input this field, you also need to input the Powder Temp field for it to be of use. You can specify the amount of variation of Muzzle Velocity per degree of temperature change of your powder. This is something advanced shooters probably know after collecting this data shooting under several different temperatures. They may see that they chronographed avg 2850fps @ 55deg and 2855fps @ 57deg and 2860fps @ 59deg. So they could enter 2.5fps here. Temperature has varying effects on each kind of powder and it's not always perfectly linear so this option is just a "better than nothing" approach.
Powder Temp - This is an optional input and should only be entered if you also entered an MV Variation. This is the base powder temperature and should coincide with your Muzzle Velocity. So as in the example in the "MV Variation" field description above, you'd put 55deg here and 2850fps in your "Muzzle Velocity" field (or you could be 57deg here and 2855fps in Muzzle Velocity, doesn't matter). Now when you run a calculation using this ammo profile, there will be an option to enter current Powder Temp. If you were to specify say 65deg for powder temp, Shooter will automatially raise your MV to 2875fps.
From the manual.
MV Variation - This is an optional input, but if you input this field, you also need to input the Powder Temp field for it to be of use. You can specify the amount of variation of Muzzle Velocity per degree of temperature change of your powder. This is something advanced shooters probably know after collecting this data shooting under several different temperatures. They may see that they chronographed avg 2850fps @ 55deg and 2855fps @ 57deg and 2860fps @ 59deg. So they could enter 2.5fps here. Temperature has varying effects on each kind of powder and it's not always perfectly linear so this option is just a "better than nothing" approach.
Powder Temp - This is an optional input and should only be entered if you also entered an MV Variation. This is the base powder temperature and should coincide with your Muzzle Velocity. So as in the example in the "MV Variation" field description above, you'd put 55deg here and 2850fps in your "Muzzle Velocity" field (or you could be 57deg here and 2855fps in Muzzle Velocity, doesn't matter). Now when you run a calculation using this ammo profile, there will be an option to enter current Powder Temp. If you were to specify say 65deg for powder temp, Shooter will automatially raise your MV to 2875fps.
The main purpose for powder temp is this:
Let's say you zero your rifle at home (and we'll say for for an extreme example it's ) in Florida. You zero your tack driver and work out your dope all the way out to 1000yards. it's a nice 55 degrees at your range in Florida.
Your set. You fly out to the high elevation hunting grounds of the Rockies for your guided hunt. It's a frigid 4 degrees. You see the trophy of a life time some 800 yards out.
You dial your dope break the shot and your heart sinks as you see the impact is quite low and the animal runs away unscathed.
ALL powders are at least a little effected by temperature. It is enough to make for a clean miss at long distance...
Powder temp features of ballistic programs help compensate for this.
And similar to what has already been said... Snipers in desert regions can be shooting in a target rich environment rapidly and making solid hits. Then they run out of ammo and grab some from (the deep shade of their) pack and resume shooting. They begin hitting low because the ammo in the pack was 20 degrees cooler that had been sitting in the hot sun.
Let's say you zero your rifle at home (and we'll say for for an extreme example it's ) in Florida. You zero your tack driver and work out your dope all the way out to 1000yards. it's a nice 55 degrees at your range in Florida.
Your set. You fly out to the high elevation hunting grounds of the Rockies for your guided hunt. It's a frigid 4 degrees. You see the trophy of a life time some 800 yards out.
You dial your dope break the shot and your heart sinks as you see the impact is quite low and the animal runs away unscathed.
ALL powders are at least a little effected by temperature. It is enough to make for a clean miss at long distance...
Powder temp features of ballistic programs help compensate for this.
And similar to what has already been said... Snipers in desert regions can be shooting in a target rich environment rapidly and making solid hits. Then they run out of ammo and grab some from (the deep shade of their) pack and resume shooting. They begin hitting low because the ammo in the pack was 20 degrees cooler that had been sitting in the hot sun.
BH Hunter
Well-Known Member
I shoot Hodgen extreme powders and leave the Powder temp off. This has been accurate for me.
Broz
Well-Known Member
I use Hodgdens Powders too and they seem to hold pretty close as far as I can tell in the temps I work in. Last two elk were 1130 and 803 yards and elevations were spot on. The temp variable on the program, I am sure has a place, but I have not used it yet either. The wind is a much greater concern for me.
Jeff
Jeff
