Range Report Learning to walk...

[jayd4wg]

frankly I see alot of posts about ballistics programs and charts and APP's that people are using. I frankly applaud their use but for some, myself included, the program is just a shortcut. I like to understand what the program is telling me and how it got what it's giving me.

Does anyone have some suggested reading (i've searched...alot) where one can study the formulas and work out their own ballistics tables by hand? This is important to me because it allows one to solve for other unknowns based on experience. For instance, with known hit locations over a known distance, you can deduce velocity or if the velocity is known you can deduce the BC of a particular bullet. it would also help me to understand the relationship between SD and BC.

I liken this to when I ran a stereo shop. People would come in all the time and ask me what I thought about a speaker box they worked up using BassBox or similar, and yet they knew NOTHING about the dynamics of sound and how subtle nuances in the enclosure would affect the overall sound. Standing waves were one such phenomenon that were hard to plan for with a program...

I have some programs for my Palm that I like to use at the range...they are fairly accurate after i figured out what my BC for my 22mag loads is but i'm still having personal issues with using the program before i really understand the ballistics.

so there you have it. plug a book or site...i'm in full awn sponge mode.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: Learning to walk...

http://www.exteriorballistics.com/ebexplained/index.cfm

 

[Powder_Burns]

Re: Learning to walk...

External Ballistics (Friar Frog's)

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Learning to walk...

thanks gentlemen...i musta not searched hard enough...i checked the keywords on both those pages and you would have thought they would have come up with my google searches...

 

[BryanLitz]

Re: Learning to walk...

Here's a write up on how ballistics programs work:

http://www.appliedballisticsllc.com/index_files/BallisticsPrograms.htm

It doesn't have the actual formulas and code, but gives you an idea of the basic classes of solutions that are out there and where and why they're used.

My book covers the proper use of ballistics programs, but again, doesn't go much into the formulas.

If you want to use modern ballistic science to it's potential, it's important to understand how Ballistic Coefficients (BC's) are referenced. Here's an article that talks about that:
http://02b0516.netsolhost.com/blog1/?p=62

Good reading,
-Bryan

 

[jayd4wg]

Re: Learning to walk...

Thanks Bryan!

 

[ALMAORFE]

Re: Learning to walk...

Bryan's book is excellent I just got it in a couple days ago and am reading it again.