There are a variety of options for ballistic calculators: phone apps, websites, and embedded in devices (laser rangefinders, Kestrel weather meters, Garmin GPS, rifle scopes, etc.).
For an in-depth discussion of ballistic calculators, see:
https://sageratsafaris.com/ballistic-tools-estimating-elevation-and-windage/
Here's an brief excerpt from that article:
There are a variety of ballistic calculators available, ranging from phone apps, websites, to embedded software on devices. They all have one purpose: to estimate bullet drop and windage adjustments at different target ranges. The calculations are estimates, and there is no replacement for actually shooting your ammunition from your rifle in your atmospheric conditions and observing the actual drop. The results of your real world tests are called "Data On Previous Experience", or "dope". Once you collect several data points of dope, you can use it to true up the estimates of the ballistic calculator to improve your confidence in estimates for ranges/conditions that you don't have dope for.
Web-based ballistic calculators
You can take a laptop into the field with you, or you can print drop charts/range cards at home and take the pieces of paper with you into the field. There are many different ballistic calculator web sites, but I recommend that you consider using one of the following (all free):
The Applied Ballistics (AB), JBM, and Hornady 4DOF ballistic solvers can be found in both phone app ballistic calculators (see next section) and embedded in device-based ballistic calculators (e.g., laser rangefinders, GPS devices, and weather meters). It's worth noting here that Applied Ballistics has three versions of their solver that will appear in a number of different tools in this article:
- AB Ultralight: found in some Bushnell and Sig Sauer laser rangefinders, the Ultralight solver is their most basic solver. It's a full-featured solver, but lacks calculations for secondardy effects that only really come into play past 1000 yards.
- AB Standard: adds calculations for spin drift, aerodynamic jump, and Coriolis effects. Applied Ballistics doesn't officially call this version the "Standard" version, they just don't say Ultralight or Elite, but I find that confusing, so I'll say Standard when I refer to this version of their solver.
- AB Elite: adds truing/calibration using live fire results, adds proprietary custom drag models that improve on the industry standard G1 and G7 ballistic coefficient approach to modeling the aerodynamic performance of projections. AB Elite is considered by many to be the gold standard against which all other solvers are compared.
Ballistic calculator phone apps
There are a variety of phone app ballistic calculators, but these are the most popular:
