How to manage ballistics info?

[Monkeyleg]

I'm finally living somewhere where I can shoot beyond 100 yards. There's a state-run range an hour or so from here that's 200, and another privately-owned range a couple hours away that goes out past 1500 yards.

I'm taking all sorts of information and compiling it from my shoots: average velocity; bullet weight; ballistic coefficient; humidity; altitude; angle of shot; barometric pressure; temperature; etc.

When I have all of this data, is there a way to use it to extrapolate for distances I haven't shot? I've tried some ballistics calculators, but they just seem to give a rough idea.

Thanks for any replies.

 

[R.W.Dale]

If you have a smartphone there are several ballistic apps available that are surprisingly complex in what variables you can input and store.

I use "ballistic" myself.

 

[huntinggamo]

yes, there is a way to organize it, use a log book (similar to snipers data book), pm me if you need some help figuring this out.

 

[Geno]

Excel is a great way to control data, and you can enter it on-the-run via a Palm Pilot or notebook computer. Best of all, Excel has the statistical formulae already created for you. In Excel, select "Insert", then "Function", then "Statistical" and finally select you desired stat. The program will walk you through. Grab a stat text, and interpret your data.

Geno

 

[WNTFW]

Monkeyleg,
You may want to check out "Density Altitude" as a way to compare a set of atmospheric conditions to another set of condtions and have it come down to a simpler comparison.

 

[taliv]

data books are a good start, but most of the ones you buy kinda suck, even the expensive ones people rave about. there are a lot more options out there today than there were 10 years ago when i started making my own data books, but i would still elect to make my own today.

more specifically, most books are either oriented towards military/leo snipers that shoot factory ammo and draw pictures of the area they're shooting in, or oriented towards high power shooters where every dang page has a giant NRA bullseye on it.

Neither of those meet my needs of tracking load development and performance, etc. on random ranges with steel, paper, tannerite, etc targets.

if you know how to use excel (or word or visio, etc) you can make your own, print it out, take it to a local print shop and have it copied and bound. a local university has a print shop that charged me $50 for 50 books.

these are the pages i used. (feel free to use them as an example or print them and make your own book). I also have a couple more pages, such as for sketches, and several more pages of load data, and then the last page is copied about 40-50 times.

I'll change this last page quite a bit next time i make some books.

i recommend you print them on a "write in the rain" type of paper, though that costs more than $1/book, and I highly recommend you use a paper that is a light brown or green or something. Regular white paper will kill your eyes when you're laying out in bright sunlight.

I also only print on one side of the paper so i can scribble on the back
and another nice thing about doing your own is that i'm left handed, and so i had them put the spiral binder on the RIGHT side of the book

all that said, yes, keeping track of ballistic data in PDAs and software is a good idea too. it can be a lot faster. I use Knight's Bulletflight for iphone

my experience with the ballistic calculators is that the published BCs are mostly worthless, as are published velocities for factory ammo. Litz' g7 BCs work for me very well, but you need a chronograph too.

 

[taliv]

specifically, what i will do different when i redo that last page is to move my LOAD up to the top table, since i don't really change loads in a group or string. and move my elevation and wind down to the bottom table since i do make changes in some groups from shot to shot. and the "bright, cloudy, dark, dusk" needs to include "rain" since i seem to shoot in that a lot. and i've switched from MOA to MILs

and on the load data page, there was a time when i used the pressure trace strain gage, that i wished i had a column for max pressure. and i use a harrell culver powder measure which has a numeric setting (e.g. 77 dumps about 45g of R17) and i'd like a column to keep track of that setting. and finally, i use several micrometer seating dies, and i want a column to keep track of the setting for seating depth instead of just OAL.

and i keep one book per barrel on my rifles, and on the first page in the book, i list things like my first measurement of where the lands are using the sinclair or stoney point tool.

edit: and i print labels for my plastic ammo boxes that just list the load# and the date i loaded it so i don't have to write everything about the load on the box. just reference it out of the book.

 

[briansmithwins]

Another 'Ballistic' for the iPhone fan here.

BSW

 

[animator]

I just recently started using Point Blank. Haven't messed with it enough yet to give an accurate review, but so far it seems to have a lot of functions, considering it's a free software. Don't know if there's anything better out there, but I'd be willing to try it if it's free...


http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2008/02/free-point-blank-ballistics-software/


Just take a laptop to the range, or write everything into a log book and transfer to the software after shooting...

 

[Monkeyleg]

The log book (or an Excel chart with the data entered) isn't exactly high-tech, but it's the easiest way I can think of to get accurate numbers for shots already taken under the same conditions and at the same distances.

The appeal of a ballistics calculator is getting adjustments for conditions and distances at which I haven't shot, using data from shots already taken.

I suppose I could take some 500 yard or longer shots, plug those numbers into a ballistics calculator along with numbers from 100 and 200 yard shots, and then adjust something like BC until the 100, 200 and 500 (or longer) shots all match. Then I could assume that numbers in between or out a bit further would be accurate. Yes or no?

 

[jmr40]

Lots of them out there, but I like this one http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/ballistics-calculator

 

[nastynatesfish]

I've used a few and my favorite hands down is
www.biggameinfo.com. It works for me out to 1000 with my 7mm and it goes out to 1500 for the program. I loaded it to my blackberry for all my different rounds. Give it a try