Thread: Have a look at these ballistics for me please

I'm bored and want to learn more about ballistics. I get my head around things a lot faster if I go through worked examples rather than just reading about it.

I've put a table together for my rifle and ammo choice. I know it would be better to have a 200 metre zero for practical reasons, but I've been working from 100 metres on targets, so have a better feel for it. Having played with the numbers at my relatively short ranges, environmental data inputs don't really make any difference, but I've included it for the sake of completeness.

I chose to use imperial units because MOA makes more sense and that's what the ballistic calculators use. The exception is wind speed because I find it hard to visualise it in mph for some reason.

Scope adjustment is 1 click = 1/4 MOA.

I know this is all theoretical and needs to be validated on the range. It is just part of a learning process for me.

Any comments or glaring mistakes? Thanks.

I used local conditions for my atmospherics as im in metric.



Ignore drift....I didnt set the wind value so will be at whatever I last used.

Looks about right to me. If your hunting though I'd leave the MOA and clicks column blank up till 150yrds as you are within the vitals anyway. Having said that just zero 3" high at 100 and dont bother about touching any dials!

Personally wouldn't worry about dialing till over 250yds.

Getting your head round wind drift in the field however is very handy!

@MB, I tend to use 50% for humidity for everything - it honestly has minimal effect.

in terms of wind, have a look at the THLR (Norway on here) videos, he has some excelent ones about estimating wind in meter/sec

m/s roughly translates to 2 mph

i'l try find my little cheat-sheet and post it

I'm struggling to understand why doesn't MOA x 4 = clicks

Thanks for all the comments so far, I chose mean annual environmental conditions for my area, as you say though, doesn't make any difference.

Thanks ebf, I'm used to judging sea conditions, but that's not much use in the bush!

Check your pressure values. 30"Hg is about one atmosphere but it's not easy to tell what you datum is. Set it to hPa if you can, and set your temperature to celcius.
What app are you using?

Hornady ballistics which is all or nothing in terms of units.

Originally Posted by MB

I'm struggling to understand why doesn't MOA x 4 = clicks

It does except for your 275y solution ? was there any correction to click value added in setup?
Forget the number of clicks anyway, you dial in moa or mill.

This is the format I use for field/gong comps

It happens to be my hunting loads (14 inch barrel), hence out to 500 max



The way to use it is to range the target, and then work from left to right.

For instance if I am shooting at a target 450yds, at 20 degree angle, I am on the tops, and it is below 10 degrees C, with 5m/s wind from left, full value :

450 @ 20 deg agle = 8.8 / 8.75 MOA

cold = up 1 click (1/4 moa) - 9.00 MOA

high altitude = down 4 clicks - 8.00 MOA

Wind 5 m/s = 6.6 Left / 6.50 L

Originally Posted by MB

I'm struggling to understand why doesn't MOA x 4 = clicks

Depends on the scope.

Some scopes have 1/2 MOA clicks, I have taget scopes that are 1/8 MOA per click

In most ballistic apps you can specify the click value

Greetings MB,
You can use a 200 yard or 200 m zero by running your table for 200 and zeroing the rifle high to match the table at 100. Often the clicks are not 1/4 minute but 1/4 inch which is less. Also your table will be calculated in minutes and then rounded to the closest number of clicks. Takes a bit to get your head around it for a start.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

It does except for your 275y solution ? was there any correction to click value added in setup?

You are right. I went back through it all and it came down to rounding.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Forget the number of clicks anyway, you dial in moa or mill.

Hmmm. Bear with me here, so say you need for example 3 MOA elevation, do you just do a quick sum in your head and come up 12 clicks (assuming 1 click = 1/4 MOA).