In previous long range shooting articles, I've talked about the effect of light and the error derived from shooting uphill/downhill—both aiming and perspective related errors. In this article, however, I'll talk about another aiming-related error: shooting with the rifle not perpendicular to the ground. When shooting with a canted rifle, the round won't land where you are … [Read more...]
After months of theory and preparation, you are finally out with your rifle, ready to take your first long range shot. The first thing you need to do, is to compensate for bullet drop, and to do that you need to know the distance from your target. If you are in the comfort of a shooting range with clear range markings, you'll already know the distance from your target, so all … [Read more...]
So far in our discussion of external ballistics, we've covered bullet trajectory, elevation, the Coriolis effect, light effects, rifle cant, and bullet shape, but we still have one more important ballistics theme to explore: static stability. The concept of static stability is essential to precision rifle shooting; if bullets are not properly stabilized, you'll never get … [Read more...]
Before you hit the range for some serious long range precision shooting, and the time has come to finally create your first ballistic table. In this article I will show you how to use the free on-line software, JBM Ballistics, here is the link to the calculator page. JBM Ballistics is a powerful ballistics calculation tool, but it does have some limitations: first, it … [Read more...]
So you want the perfect long range rifle setup? Let's talk about the things you'll want to consider as you put together your weapons system. In the last article, we covered rifle accuracy, with a focus on inherent accuracy and barrel vibration. In this post I’ll show you how to effectively put that knowledge to good use to improve the accuracy and consistency of a standard bolt … [Read more...]
