This is the final article in my Statistics for Shooters series, and it focuses on the application of statistics when it comes to quantifying precision and group size. It provides practical answers to some age-old questions: How many shots per group do I need? Should I exclude fliers? Is extreme spread the best way to measure my groups? What is the most effective and accurate way to compare groups between two loads? I spent more time writing this article than any other single post I’ve ever written! It challenges some common beliefs held by some in the shooting community, so I tried to carefully present the reasoning behind that in a way that was approachable to shooters who aren’t math nerds. It also contains a lot of practical tips. I firmly believe these concepts will help a TON of people in the long-range community.
Read More »Applied Ballistics Mobile Lab – The Future Is Here!
Well, when I started writing that last article on personalized drag models being the final frontier of predictive ballistics, I honestly believed I was going out on a limb and trying to predict something that might be years away. It turns out it was only months away! Welcome to the future! 😉 One of the biggest benefits I get as the author of PRB is getting to meet industry experts and have interesting conversations with the leading minds in various fields related to long range shooting. I absolutely love those conversations, and value them more than any payment I could ...
Read More »Personalized Drag Models: The Final Frontier in Ballistics?
I am super-excited about this article! I’ve actually been working on it for a couple of months, and I believe it represents some of the most interesting research I’ve come across in a while. Over the past several years, companies have started using Doppler radars to gain a much deeper understanding into the flight of a bullet. One ballistician told me recently that we’ve learned more in the last 5 years than the previous 75 years combined! In the last article, we looked G1 BC vs. G7 BC vs. Bullet-Specific Drag Models, including which of those the top-ranked precision rifle ...
Read More »Extreme Long Range Tips 4: The Less Technical Challenges
This is the last post in a series highlighting the major challenges related to extreme long range (ELR) shooting. Along the way I’ve shared a few tips and products to help you overcome those challenges. I grouped topics into a few categories, and here is what we’ve covered so far: Optics & Mounts – Accounting for an extreme amount of bullet drop Spotting Shots & Ranging – Seeing your bullet impact and getting an accurate range Ballistics & Time of Flight – Advanced/unique things that happen when a bullet stays in the air for a long time In this post, ...
Read More »Extreme Long Range Tips 3: Ballistics & Time of Flight
When you extend shots into extreme ranges (like 2000+ yards), you’ll face some new obstacles. A few factors that could be safely ignored inside of 1000 yards become critical to getting rounds on target. You’ll face new equipment challenges that may not be obvious. As your bullet’s time of flight extends up 3 seconds, and possibly even up to 6+ seconds, priorities shift. In this series of posts I’m trying to highlight a few things that make extreme long range (ELR) challenging, and pointing out a few products worth checking out that might help. In the first post in this ...
Read More »Extreme Long Range Tips 2: Spotting Shots & Ranging
When shooting targets at extreme distances (like 2000+ yards), you’ll quickly uncover some new obstacles. A few factors that could be safely ignored inside of 1000 yards become critical to getting rounds on target. You’ll also be faced with new equipment challenges that may not be obvious. As your bullet’s time of flight extends up 3 seconds, and possibly even up to 6+ seconds, priorities shift. You could say everything is important, but to differing degrees. In the last post, I focused on two big issues related to optics, and highlighted several new products designed to help you overcome those ...
Read More »Extreme Long Range Tips 1: Optics & Mounts
When shooting targets at extreme distances (like 2000+ yards), you’ll quickly uncover some new obstacles. A few factors that could be safely ignored inside of 1000 yards become critical to getting rounds on target. You’ll face new equipment challenges that may not be obvious at first glance. As your bullet’s time of flight extends up 3 seconds, and possibly even up to 6+ seconds, priorities shift. Everything is important, but to differing degrees. In this post, I’ll start by focusing issues you’ll face surrounding optics. That certainly isn’t the biggest challenge when it comes to ELR, but there are some ...
Read More »What The Pros Use – King of 2 Miles Edition
Earlier this week I traveled to watch the King of 2 Miles rifle competition (Ko2M) at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. It’s one of the few matches where great shooters from across the country gather to push the limits of what is possible with small arms as they engage targets out to 2 miles (3,520 yards). It was interesting to see what the top shooters were using in terms of equipment and gear, and I’ll share a summary of that in this post. In subsequent posts, I’ll go into more detail on some of the issues these ...
Read More »300 Norma Mag Custom ELR Rifle
I’m sharing a series of posts on ELR shooting, but I didn’t want to jump from the long-range rifles in mid-size 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges that I normally talk about straight into the extreme, super-high-performance 375+ caliber rifles used to engage targets at 2+ miles. Instead of just presenting the extremes, I thought it’d be helpful to first share a rifle setup that is somewhere in between. Then in later posts I’ll get into the more specialized setups used to push the boundaries of what is possible with shoulder-fired rifles. In this post, I’ll share the details of a rifle ...
Read More »ELR Goes Mainstream
There have always been a niche group of shooters pushing the limits when it comes to distance. But over the past few years, advancements in manufacturing combined with better understanding and tools around predictive ballistics have ushered Extreme Long Range (ELR) shooting into the mainstream. A decade ago, the few shooters who could hit targets at a mile or more were considered super-human. Today, distances once considered impossible with shoulder-fired rifles can now be hit on-demand by just about any shooter with the right equipment and desire to learn. I’ve been a long-range addict for several years now, but that ...
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