Shooter App Qs

tubby1

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Minuteman
Feb 15, 2017
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So im using Shooter as my ballistics calculator. I was just wondering what type of accuracy is deemed good out of these apps. Is within a few 10ths of a mil as good as it gets, or is there more to be desired?
 
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It all depends on how solid your data is that you put into it. Using your exact location DA instead of station information is going to make a big difference too and the errors always compound the further you shoot. First round hits are very doable and +/-0.3mils is what I was experiencing until I starting using the BallisticArc app and weather meter. I finally picked up a Kestrel to see if I can shrink those margins even further.
 
Shooter has proven to be quite accurate for me out to about 1200yds or so give or take (+or- one to two tenths occasionally). The input is very importent however, correct MV, DA, Temp from your location, azimuth, look angle, etc. Sometimes a little tweaking of the bc is required depending on the bullet, assuming you are confident on your velocity. From there out to 2k, I've found Trasol to be generally more accurate for 1st round hits. None of the ballistic solvers in my observation are spot on all of the time however, all seem to require some tweaking depending on environmentals, bullet, distance, etc. The key is keeping good notes/records of your shoots & conditions, what corrections you had to make, etc. Eventually you become so familiar with the solver you can predictionary necessary corrections to certain solutions if that makes sense.
 
Some irregularities I've noticed occur past 500 yards. Like, from about 500 to 700 yards I see an over estimation in elevation. For example at 675 shooter tells me 4.2 mils when the shot only took me 3.8 to get there. That changes from about 700 and beyond. Elevation from shooter at 845 yards is 5.9 mils and the shot actually took 6.2 to get there. If its going to be off shouldn't it be consistently off one way or the other?

Also, the MV I initially used was the avg fps from my magneto. After seeing some inaccuracies in dope from the app I used the MV calculator with inputs at 420, 675, and 845 yards. It estimated my MV almost 80 fps faster. App seemed to be more accurate after that, but I thought the difference between the two velocities being so big was kind of weird.
 
Some irregularities I've noticed occur past 500 yards. Like, from about 500 to 700 yards I see an over estimation in elevation. For example at 675 shooter tells me 4.2 mils when the shot only took me 3.8 to get there. That changes from about 700 and beyond. Elevation from shooter at 845 yards is 5.9 mils and the shot actually took 6.2 to get there. If its going to be off shouldn't it be consistently off one way or the other?

Also, the MV I initially used was the avg fps from my magneto. After seeing some inaccuracies in dope from the app I used the MV calculator with inputs at 420, 675, and 845 yards. It estimated my MV almost 80 fps faster. App seemed to be more accurate after that, but I thought the difference between the two velocities being so big was kind of weird.

Are your environmentals solid, ie, are you using a kestral or station data?
 
One would think the corrections you make would be consistent yes, but that is not necessarily true. Couple of things here, first, not having weather data at your shooting position can definately have an impact on the solution, especially if the station data is some distance away. Elevation can be significanty different, at least in my part of the country. Same with temperature which shooter needs to calculate the speed of sound at your location which it then uses in its solution calculation. Humidity, etc, all make a difference. Atmospherics play enough of an importent role that I definately would suggest you consider a lower end kestral that will give you DA, these are not that expensive if you just get a basic model. Besides having wind data at your position is always nice (it's not the "end all be all" however but it helps). Secondly, before I got my magnitospeed, I found that using shooters MV "tweaker" caused more problems than it solved. The MS is so accurate in my experience that I found making slight adjustment to the projectile bc to give more consistent results and therefore to rely more on an accurate MV from the MS. Many bullet manufacturers are overly optimistic (and that's putting it mildly) in the labeling of their bullets bc and this can play some havoc with consistent solutions especilly the further out you go. Thirdly, consider shooter error obviously. One of the ways to get "through the weeds" on that is to let another shooter shoot your solution and observe the results, you might be surprised once in awhile. Lastly, you need to consider the SD of your ammo, if it is over single digits, your vertical spread can fluctuate quite a bit leading one to believe their solution is inaccurate as well. Not saying solvers are infallible because they are. If you load 3 solvers onto your device, input the exact same data, more often than not you'll get 3 different solutions, lol. That's where your DOPE plays the role and we haven't discussed all the other variables that can affect your downrange hits! I'm familiar enough with the two solvers I use to know how to extrapolate a solution between the two when they don't agree. Keeps it interesting! Hope a little bit of this helps anyway......
 
It definitely does. I appreciate it. So, maybe I should revert back to my old MV and true data outputs by tweaking the bc. From what I gather, efforts in that department would be kind of futile without having solid data in the environmental categories. I live in a relatively flat area so I don't think there would be that much of a difference in elevation based on my location versus where the station is. I can definitely see how differences in the other variables mentioned in relation to station location and my actual location can affect the accuracy of the app. I was playing with it today and just a minor change in look angle (which i never bothered to use before) can cause a drastic change in what the app spits out. Ive had my eye on the kestrel with AB. It would be nice to have all that information in a single platform, but like everything else in this sport its just so damn expensive. lol
 
I haven't. The only thing I got to go off of in that department is when I was sighting it in. If my first shot measured .6 mils to the right and 1 mil high from my point of aim, I was zeroed after making those adjustments. I can understand that not being enough to go off of, but I haven't done anything to check tracking over the entire amount of travel in elevation. If my scope clicks aren't a true mil though wouldn't I see a consistent difference, high or low, down range? Like say its actually .11 mils instead of .1. Wouldn't my hits be consistently higher than what im actually dialing? I just ask because between 500-700 yards the app has been over estimating elevation, and from 700 and beyond that changes to an under estimation of elevation.