One shot 1000 yards ballistic chart

[jrock]

I am getting geared up for shooting around 1000 yards.
I've been reading about and playing with ballistic programs past 600 yards and each variable (Coriolis effect, spin drift, 1 mph changes in wind, altitude, baro pressure) starts to have an effect. I've used printed out ballistics charts taped to my stock for hunting and they work great for short range. However, it seems the quick reference chart would have to be a mile long to include all the possible shooting situations one my encounter while hunting especially in the mountains.

What do you use for shooting charts in hunting/field situations?

 

[FAIRCHASE]

Tag.

 

[bigngreen]

Charts, ballistic turrets and reticles all fall into the same category for me as they are solutions that are an average of conditions that one might see and they are very handy, workable solutions but they are not a real time solution. A mobile device with a ballistic app is very close to real time and will work very well, you can link in a kestel and bring it even closer. The applied ballistics kestrel linked with the app for it is a live solution but it depends how deep a guy wants to wade into the pond!!

 

[cohunter14]

On my charts, I have them set for a basic temp and altitude that I would expect to incur. Then I add an area that shows what adjustments would need to be made for increases or decreases in temp and altitude. For example, if it cools off 10 degrees, I will need to add one click at 750 yards. I also put wind drift in there for 5mph. If you can do quick math, you can figure out what the drift should be based around that number for any amount of wind.

Spin drift is also included in my chart, as is the angle/cosine amounts for every five degrees of angle (10 degrees = .985, 15 = .966, etc).

I have gotten mine setup to where this all fits on one piece of paper.

 

[muddydogs]

For myself I chart no wind and say 10 mph wind then use my head to figure in between. You also have to look at real life situations, are you really going to take a 1000 yard shot at a bull elk in 15+ mph winds? One thing to do is get rid of the 0 to say 400 yard data and just carry the data for the yardage that your combo starts to drop off. For my 7mm its about 400 yard, anything closer and I can adjust without needing a chart and if I'm off a little it won't matter much but past 400 the drop and wind numbers start to get big. Putting your data in a spread sheet and making your own drop chart is the best way to customize what you carry.

 

[cohunter14]

For myself I chart no wind and say 10 mph wind then use my head to figure in between. You also have to look at real life situations, are you really going to take a 1000 yard shot at a bull elk in 15+ mph winds? One thing to do is get rid of the 0 to say 400 yard data and just carry the data for the yardage that your combo starts to drop off. For my 7mm its about 400 yard, anything closer and I can adjust without needing a chart and if I'm off a little it won't matter much but past 400 the drop and wind numbers start to get big. Putting your data in a spread sheet and making your own drop chart is the best way to customize what you carry.

x2 to everything said! Exactly what I do, except I use 5 mph wind instead of 10.

 

[jrock]

I'm definitely looking for the simplest of the most complex methods or the most complex of the simplest. Thanks for all the starting point suggesting's. How do you chart the Coriolis effect considering it has effect in both vertical and horizontal planes depending on direction?

What about wind judging? My 7mm has 1.5 MOA more drift from a 2 mph wind to a 5 mph wind @ 100 yards. I cannot judge mirage to that level of detail yet so would a wind meter be a good investment? Don't really want to have another gadget to whip out if I don't have too in a hunting situation but if that what it takes then so be it.

 

[cohunter14]

Yes, definitely get a wind meter. The wind is always going to be a guess, but a wind meter will help a lot more than thinking 'this feels like 8mph.'

As far as coriolis, I do not shoot at game far enough to where it is substantial enough to effect my shooting, therefore it isn't on my drop chart. For me, I can shoot out to over 1,100 yards in most areas I hunt before I would ever need to add a 1/4 MOA click, which is much farther than I plan on taking a shot at an animal.

 

[jrock]

Went back and looked and you are right, didn't doubt you, just myself. 0.1 MOA due to Coriolis isn't enough to worry about for hunting.

 

[bigngreen]

The small correction like Coriolis, spin drift, bullet rise or fall with wind and the like on their own mean little but you start stacking errors and your not a click of your a minute of and don't know why, pay attention to detail will pay of as you gain range!

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Density Altitude and Wind are your only 2 important inputs out to 600, maybe 700 yards or so. If you shoot and hunt in elevations that don't change much a chart or ballistic turret is a good way to go. Running a ballistic solution to say 800 yadrs with a 10 mph wind, with spin drift but no Coriolis would be a useful field tool. Coriolis is dependaent on cardinal direction of shot and doesn't amount to much inside 800 yds especially if you zero at longer ranges like 200-300 yds. Spin drift will always be the same. You will want a spin drift solution that is separate from your wind drift because wind drift can be left or right but spin will always be the same direction. You could also just easily memorize the spin. You can also easily memorize wind corrections to 600 yards or so per 1 mph increments. If your 10 mph correction for 600 yds is 6 MOA , then your 1 mph correction will be .6 MOA and your 6 mph corection would be 6 times that or 3.6 MOA.

I personally like the Custom Turret System and plan to use that for my rifle as soon as I get one I like for them.

Custom Turret Systems Review

They also have the MOA or Mil graduations to fall back on or for longer shots where real time environmental conditions are needed or fooling around with different loads, and they can be replaced. Don't get expensive etched ones. Even if you never change your load, you might see changes in hand loaded or factory loads between lots of powder etc., and throats tend to lengthen over time resulting in changes of velocity.

Definitely get a weather meter, Kestrel is the most popular. I would recommend one that gives you a DA readout and if you want to lay out the bucks for the ballistic one, that's the best way to go IMO.

I would not recommend a ballistic reticle because if anything about your load changes it is worthless. That said I do have Vortex with with a BDC reticle on my 223 and with a 200 yard zero it's pretty close out to 500 for quick shots on gophers and PD's.

 

[MMERSS]

I print range cards corresponding to every 1000 feet of DA with ¼ MOA precision potential increments from ½ MOA to 1MOA. The most important aspect of the card is an estimated Maximum Effective Range associated with the size of big game vitals. An associated range based off full MPH wind uncertainty is color coded. For ideal conditions MER range is circled. 1MPH uncertainty is colored in green, 2MPH yellow, and 3MPH red. If I can achieve 1/2MOA precision potential at my shooting location I will pull out the 1/2MOA card corresponding to the current DA. If I am only able to achieve 1MOA precision potential I will pull out a 1MOA card corresponding the current DA, and so on. Estimated wind uncertainty will predict MER. For example, if I'm only capable of estimating full value wind to within 2 MPH I will use the yellow marked range as my MER. If I'm only capable of estimating full value wind to within 1 MPH I will use the green marked range and so on. It is possible I may be carrying up to 12 cards for each size of game vitals. The cards are not hard to work with and require practice as with everything else associated with maximum effective range hunting.

 

[Greyfox]

The simplest method I have used successfully with my 6.5-284 out to 1000 yards is to have either a drop chart or calibrated turret that is calculated for the average altitude, temperature, and 55% humidity out to 1000 yards in the area I plan to hunt. After I confirm range, temperature, altitude, I will make click adjustments at the measured range if required. 1 click for each 20 degree change in temperature up to 700 yards, two clicks to 1000 yards. 1 click for each 1500 feet altitude out to 700 yards, 2 clicks for each 1500 feet at 700-1000 yards. Before I used my preferred yardage turret, I found that after a season, I had memorized the the drops and didn't need a chart. It may seem like a lot to memorize but if you think in terms of "come ups" for each 100 yards of range in MOA it much easier than it seems. Same for windage. I use a formula that I can work out faster in my head that going to a chart.

(wind speed x yardage/100) / 20

Example for an 8 mph wind at 400 yards: 8 (mph wind speed) x 5 (500 yard range) = 40/ 20(cartridge factor) = 2 MOA wind correction.


I use a cartridge factor of 20 for my 6.5x284 and 300 WM. This formula matches my ballistic calculator.out to 1000 yards. For my 308 out to 600 yards I used a factor of 15. If you prefer to not use this method, windaus directions are easily added to the drop chart or turret.

 

[MMERSS]

I had memorized the the drops and didn't need a chart.

Yep, this is the best range card of them all. Work with the drops long enough and the card can stay in the backpack.