Tag Archives: ES vs. SD

Does ultra-consistent ammo really give you an edge in PRS matches? For the first time ever, SD data was captured from every shooter at a major match. The data told a story no one expected! One guy had an SD of 69.8 and still finished 13th. Another had a 3.1 and didn’t crack the top 50. This breakdown of real match data just might flip what you thought you knew about SDs and performance.

Over the past 3 articles, we covered a lot of ground! Before I jump to other topics, I wanted to simply provide a bullet-point recap of key points from the end of each of those articles and publish it here as an executive summary. This might be a good overview or reminder for those that read each article or hits the highlights in case you missed one.

Part 2 in my Statistics for Shooters 3-part series focuses on how to analyze muzzle velocity consistency, which is critical for us as long-range shooters. This article shows how to apply the concepts from Part 1 to get more insight and make better decisions related to muzzle velocity. It provides practical answers to some age-old questions: Should we look at ES or SD? How many shots do we need to fire in a string? How do we get the most value from the shots we fire at the range? I spent an absurd amount of time arduously crafting this article and creating visuals so it was approachable by shooters who aren’t math nerds because I firmly believe these concepts can help a TON of people in the long-range community.

Many shooters have an uncomfortable relationship with math and aren’t impressed with fancy formulas. However, statistics and probability are insanely applicable when it comes to rifles and long-range shooting in particular. I have literally spent months crafting this 3-part series of articles specifically with the math-averse shooter in mind. I invested all that time because I strongly believe that understanding just a few basics can help us gain actionable insight, make better decisions, and put more rounds on target.