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Ballistic-Pro Shooting Tip: All The Inputs Matter! #7214965 07/03/18 08:13 PM
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Pro Shooting Tip: All The Inputs Matter!




Tom Beckstrand served his country as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, including four combat deployments as a Team Leader to Afghanistan and Iraq. He also trained in numerous sniper and long-distance shooting courses, and on two of the above-mentioned deployments served as a Sniper Team Leader.



So Beckstrand knows something about shooting--up close and at great distances--and uses those hard-earned shooting skills today as a Field Editor for Guns & Ammo, considered by many the country's top firearms publication. He's also an avid long-range shooting competitor, and
Beckstrand knows the importance of using your ballistic calculator correctly if you want to take a trip to the winner's table.

"The most important inputs to make any ballistic calculator work correctly are muzzle velocity, ballistic coefficient, and sight height," said Beckstrand. "Cheap chronographs will not give an accurate muzzle velocity, so the serious shooter needs to spend the money on a quality chrono."

When you chronograph, make sure to measure the distance from the muzzle to the chrono unit. That input is also important to your Ballistic calculations.

Beckstrand added, "Ballistic Coefficients are available from ammunition and bullet manufacturers, and most of these coefficients the manufacturers provide are really quite accurate." Ballistic Coefficient or BC, is a number that reflects how well a bullet cuts through the air. The higher the BC, the less the bullet is affected by air drag.

Beckstrand has observed many shooters struggling to make precision shots at a distance, despite using ballistic calculators. In many cases, he's found they aren't inputting sight height or they are guessing at the correct height.

"Sight height is the input most often overlooked and is usually the source of greatest error. I think a lot of shooters, especially those new to long-range shooting, simply don't understand the importance of this input."

Sight height is the distance from the centerline of the scope to the centerline of the bore. Some shooters, Beckstrand believes, just do a quick measure with a ruler or "eye it up" and estimate the distance.

"Really, you should use a set of calipers to measure the distance from the centerline of the scope to the centerline of the bore," he noted. "Measure to .01 inch. I think doing it a few times and averaging the results is also a good idea."

Using a ballistic calculator like Ballistic shows just how important that sight height input is. Using various loads, Ballistic's calculations reveal that various sight heights for the same loads don't have a huge effect-up close. However, as the shooting distances increase, just a half-inch of sight height variation can mean several inches up or down. Enough to cost you a trip to the winner table? Yes, indeed!

Ballistic is the definitive ballistics trajectory calculator, intended for long-range and precision shooters who want a serious--and a seriously accurate--application. Ballistic will calculate your bullet's trajectory, windage, velocity, energy, lead, and flight time for any valid range. The app can also compensate for atmospheric conditions such as temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and altitude--it can even accept density of air or density altitude inputs! The world-renowned JBM Ballistics engine powers all Ballistic computations. Ballistic is used by competition shooters, long-range hunters, and the military to deliver the most precise calculations possible.

With Ballistic, you'll be able to make the most accurate calculations for every shot, everywhere, even in areas with no cellular coverage.
For more information, please visit
www.BALLISTICAPP.COM

Re: Ballistic-Pro Shooting Tip: All The Inputs Matter! [Re: THF Staff] #7215083 07/03/18 10:11 PM
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I agree with him on sight height. I will add, the center to center measurement needs to happen at the elevation turret location, along the length of the main tube.

He is referring to the older, optical style chronographs, as far as distance from the muzzle is concerned. They give decent numbers, but can fluctuate in lighting changes. Meaning it may give one set of speeds in sunlight versus shade versus overcast. There have been shooters that only chronograph at night. The two non-optical chronographs on the market that I believe give accurate data are the Magneto Speed (magnetic field) and the Lab Radar (doppler radar). And both of those are in extremely close proximity to the muzzle.


If one has access to a range with multiple targets, at multiple distances (like mine) the muzzle velocity can be found, via working the DOPE backward into the calculator. Adjust MV in the calculator until the calculated data matches with the newly obtained DOPE. If the corrections of the DOPE are less than the calculator, then the MV field needs an increase in velocity. If the corrections of the DOPE are greater than the calculator, then the MV field needs a decrease in velocity. And certain bullet makers have been known to inflate their BC (Nosler). Most other bullet makers publish good data.


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Re: Ballistic-Pro Shooting Tip: All The Inputs Matter! [Re: THF Staff] #7215728 07/04/18 05:07 PM
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Originally Posted By: FiremanJG
I agree with him on sight height. I will add, the center to center measurement needs to happen at the elevation turret location, along the length of the main tube.


At the turret? I presume you mean to the center of the scope tube where the turrets are located.

Re: Ballistic-Pro Shooting Tip: All The Inputs Matter! [Re: papa45] #7216296 07/05/18 12:50 PM
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Correct.

Since this is talking about long range, most will be using a canted base, often 20 MOA. Your scope centerline at the rear, is higher than at the front. Corrections made with the turrets are where the moving parts are, so measure scope height at the turret.


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