Valuable Tips from Jerry Miculek - world record shooter,

How to shoot a Revolver with world record shooter, Jerry Miculek! (handgun grip & stance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEHNZFTfSD8

Jerry Miculek- What is your favorite caliber and why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=382BkpHcvNo

Jerry Miculek- What is the white powder you use on your grip? How should I grip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cVujoRccnk

Jerry Miculek- What do you mean when you say focus on the visual aspect of shooting?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Wh9wYgeUo

Jerry Miculek - Revolver Showdown - Clip from Hot Shots TV Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no-XRaSxnzg

Jerry Miculek Practical Rifle, Opening Segment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvkbZNcWQ3w

How to shoot IDPA concealed revolver with Jerry Miculek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrvVcv7EiI

Lessons from a Legend: Jerry Miculek - Hot Shots TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a_GrZGcf_I

Brownells - Jerry Miculek Practical Rifle DVD Segment, Gear for the Field & Match, D1S2-5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLSoE_PwIQ

Jerry Miculek- What advice helped you get where you are?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxbEag__0I

Jerry Miculek Practical Rifle, Sighting In Metallic Sights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEoM8woZXX8

Miculek Competition Revolver Grips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNKz5BFS3Tk

Jerry Miculek- Why did you choose Smith & Wesson firearms?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlX60aQjNzo

Jerry Miculek - exclusive interview - GUNMAGAZIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2yM0NH0fk

S&W 327 & 627 review & speed shooting with fastest shooter ever, Jerry Miculek (Shoot Fast!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiblYI_Xq5U&list=PLdTcHB0tfA3QlVLDSNv63SeM4TU_0Lytm

YouTube Search for Jerry Miculek
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jerry+Miculek&page=&utm_source=opensearch

A Few other videos of value

Quickstrips vs Speedloaders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D14UHmf0yN0

Improving your handgun shooting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxNd2qCr2l8
(The grip and stance should perhaps be ignored, but some good tips otherwise)

Forensic laboratory tests have clinically disproven the reliability of kinetic energy, knockdown and velocity

The NEW .825 G&S Online Express Magnum

It seems that all game are becoming immune to standard calibre firearms. What our grand-fathers used to shoot with .22 long rifles are now considered too tough for that calibre. What we used to shoot with a .270 Win can now no longer be brought down by it, because the animals have grown immune to it and we are now having to resort to at least .375 calibres to defend ourselves against the ferocious impala. 

So tough have game become that we find more-and-more hunters resorting to the .416 Rigby, because impala, let alone other much larger game like the Eland, are now being born with steel re-enforced rib cages. 

As far as handguns go things are even worse and in answer to this huge problem we introduce ..... 

The NEW .825 G&S Online Express Magnum

"The first magnum handgun cartridge, the .357 Magnum, was therefore introduced in 1935 to shift the balance of power back to the handgun hunter. For at time, it did. At the time of its introduction the .357, loaded to the previously unheard of (for a handgun) MAP of about 43,000 psi, was the most powerful handgun cartridge in the world. It was loaded with a 158 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 1550 fps and muzzle energy (ME) of 845 ft. lbs. The .357 was used to bag all North American big game, including elk, moose and the great bears, before the beginning of the Second World War. Big game was still relatively weak in that bygone era, so practically no one felt any need for a more powerful handgun hunting cartridge.

However, by the end of World War II wild game was becoming too tough for the .357 Magnum. Elk and moose were becoming impervious even to perfectly placed .357" bullets. (Today, of course, we all know that even the smallest deer have become completely immune to .357 Magnum bullets.)  Experiments to again redress the balance of killing power were underway in earnest by 1950 and in 1956 the result, the .44 Remington Magnum, was born.

This new cartridge, billed as the world's most powerful handgun cartridge, was standardized at a MAP of 36,000 psi. The original loads drove a 240 grain bullet at a MV of 1470 fps with ME of 1150 ft. lbs. The .44 Mag. was used to kill all manner of heavy game, such as elk, moose and the great bears; it did so with authority. All across North America hunters heaved sighs of relief. Protected by a .44 Magnum revolver, it was once again safe to venture into the woods.

Unfortunately, that happy state of affairs only lasted until the 1970s. By that time elk and moose had begun to shrug off solid hits by .429" (.44 Mag.) bullets. In desperation, some handgun hunters began carrying crystals for protection in the field and storing their .44 Magnum ammunition inside pyramids specially constructed for the purpose. (A secondary benefit of the latter practice came to light when it was discovered that these pyramid shapes also sharpened razor blades.) " - Chuck Hawks

To read the rest of this article click HERE

Muzzleloader Realtime Hunting Day 1 Scene 3 with a Black powder Revolver .44 Caliber

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXyEic36XyM

Terminal Bullet Performance in Muzzleloading

"I liked your article: it makes many good points. The KE (kinetic energy) fallacy is so pervasive that it needs to be corrected as often as possible. The arrow is a good example: I think it helps to drive the point home if you mention how much KE a hunting arrow has (a 500 grain arrow traveling at 200 ft/sec has a KE of 44 ft. lb.). Thus the largest game in the world (including elephant) is hunted and killed with a projectile having only about 2/3 the KE of a 22 Short bullet. That should give pause to even the most ardent KE advocates." - M. Fackler (Terminal Bullet Performance in Muzzleloading)

To read this article click HERE

Dr. Martin L. Fackler is a retired Colonel in the US Army's Medical Corps, he was a battlefield surgeon, and the head of the Wound Ballistics Laboratory for the US Army’s Medical Training Center, Letterman Institute.

He is credited with a number of contributions to the field of terminal ballistics including:

• Developing and testing improved media in which the effects of bullet wounds could be simulated. This led to the widespread acceptance of 10% ballistic gelatin for evaluating penetration and expansion of projectiles.
• Establishing effects of projectile design and shape on wounding.
• He hypothesized that wound depth was much more important than previously thought, and recommended ammunition that could send a bullet at least twelve inches into his ballistic gelatin.
• He was the first researcher to demonstrate that fragmentation was the most effective means of inflicting wounds in a modern military rifle round. He asserted that yawing and cavitation do not typically cause severe tissue trauma. Or, that the "permanent wound cavity" or actual damage caused by a projectile is the primary "stopping power" mechanism and that the "temporary wound cavity" or shock wave produced by the projectile is at best a secondary mechanism, if not irrelevant.
• He has over 250 articles in print concerning wound ballistics and most were published in medical journals.

Big Bore Airgun Hunting - Stalking one of Africa's larger species of Antelope, the Red Hartebeest, with the Benjamin Rogue .357 AIRGUN

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0XVa5oyMU

Also watch:

Extreme Muzzleloader Hunting in South Africa 175 Yards kill with a Inline Muzzleloader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdR8Q424JIM

Sources
http://www.chuckhawks.com/825_magnum.htm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/terminal_performance_muzzleloading.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Fackler

Reading the Wind When Hunting

Thomas Haugland, a Shooters’ Forum member from Norway, is a long-range target shooter and hunter. He has created an interesting video showing how to gauge wind velocities by watching trees, grass, and other natural vegetation. The video commentary is in English, but the units of wind speed (and distance) are metric. Haugland explains: “This is not a full tutorial, but rather a short heads-up to make you draw the lines between the dots yourself”. Here are some conversions that will help when watching the video (thanks Boyd):

.5 m/s = 1.1 mph | 1 m/s = 2.2 mph | 2 m/s = 4.5 mph
3 m/s = 6.7 mph | 4 m/s = 8.9 mph | 5 m/s =11.2 mph

To watch this interesting and worthwhile video, click HERE
(or copy and paste the URL: http://www.accurateshooter.com/shooting-skills/reading-the-wind-when-hunting/)

More Interesting Videos from Norway
There are many other interesting videos on Haugland’s YouTube Channel, including Game Stalking,Precision Reloading, and Tips on how to use a Mildot Reticle on a scope with MOA-based clicks.

Reading the Wind — USAMU Tips
(United States Army Marksmanship Unit)

The term, “Reading the Wind” is misleading. A more apt title might be “The tactical negotiation of varying wind conditions and the limitation of their negative effects on the flight of your bullet.” In this article we will discuss some tactics and techniques that will enhance your abilities to negotiate the wind and (hopefully) add a few points to your score. This article will be divided into two sections: Part One will cover the 200- and 300-yard stages. Part Two will be devoted to the 600-yard stage.

There are as many dimensions to “wind reading” as there are stages to High Power competition. Your tactical mindset, or philosophy, must be different for the 200- and 300-yard rapid-fire stages than it would be for the 600-yard slow-fire. In the slow-fire stages you have the ability to adjust windage from shot to shot, utilizing the location of the previous shot as an indicator. Additionally, a change to the existing conditions can be identified and adjusted for prior to shooting the next shot.

Part 1: Rapid Fire at 200 and 300 Yards
Part 2: 600-Yard Firing

To read the full article click HERE
(Or copy and paste the URL: http://www.accurateshooter.com/shooting-skills/readingwind/)

Horizontal Wind-Drift vs. Distance
OK, if the wind is blowing 10 mph from 9 o’clock and if my horizontal wind deflection is .7 inches at 100 yards, what is the drift at 1000 yards?

Well, roughly speaking, since the target is ten times more distant, the wind-drift must be around 7 inches, maybe a little more since the bullet will be slowing down. Seems reasonable right?
WRONG.

Lateral deflection by a 10mph crosswind is (roughly speaking) a function of the square of the distance. In this example, the TRUE deflection is .7″ times (10×10) — about 70 inches!!

I was going through some back issues of Precision Shooting Magazine and this was explained in detail. Now, I remained skeptical, so I checked my Pejsa Ballistics Calculator, which is just about the most accurate program I’ve found to describe the behavior of high BC bullets in flight.

For a 168 Sierra MK (.308), leaving the muzzle at 2700fps with a .464 BC, the numbers are as follows, with a 10mph, 9 o’clock crosswind:

• Drift at 100: .75 moa (3/4″)*
• Drift at 200: 1.57moa (3.14″)
• Drift at 500: 5.06moa (25.3″)

Quoting the article: “Note that the deflections at 100 yards are typically a quarter of those at 200; lateral deflections increase as the square of the range”. Precision Shooting, June 2000, p. 16.

For my 260 Rem load, 123 Scenar (.547BC), 2930fps, same 10mph conditions, Pejsa predicts:

• Drift at 100: .48 moa (1/2″)
• Drift at 500: 2.73 moa (13.65″)
• Drift at 1000: 6.48 moa (64.8″)

Again, even with a higher BC bullet, at 1000yds we end up with something pretty close to the 100-yard deflection (i.e. 1/2″) multiplied by (10×10). Our calculated drift at 1000 is 64.8″ — that’s over 100 times the 100-yard lateral drift in inches, even though the distance has only increased 10x.

* for simplicity, I’m calculating 1 moa = 1″ x distance / 100 .

To read the full article click HERE
(Or copy and paste the URL: http://www.accurateshooter.com/shooting-skills/horizontal-wind-drift-vs-distance/)

FREE Ballistics Software: Use the JBM online ballistics program or download Pejsa and PointBlank Software.

Wind Drift by Gerard Schultz. Excellent technical Article which dispells many misconceptions about bullet performance. Useful charts plotting effect of both BC and distance on wind drift.

How Canting Affects Accuracy

Canting Effect on Point of Impact

Avoid Inconsistent Canting for Better Accuracy and Higher Scores

Experienced marksmen know they should keep their rifles level when shooting. But they may not understand exactly what happens if they allow their rifle to be canted (tilted left or right), even a few degrees. While the physics are complicated to explain, here’s what you need to know: if you cant your rifle to the left, your shots will impact to the left, and lower, than your point of aim. Likewise, if you cant your rifle to the right, your bullets will impact low and right.

Effects of Rifle Canting
The effects of rifle canting are explained in great detail on the Long Shot Products Ltd. website. There, you’ll find a technical discussion of the Physics of Rifle Canting, plus a page with Sample Targets shot with canted rifles.


Referring to the above illustration, the Long Shot Products article explains: “Notice how the trajectory of the vertical hold stays within the vertical plane, so when the projectile drops, it drops into the line of sight and down to the center of the target. The trajectory of the cant hold does not achieve the same height as the trajectory of the vertical hold and the projectile diverges from the line of sight, thereby missing the target.”

The Long-Shot article makes two other important points. First, cant error increases with distance, and second, cant-induced windage errors are worsened by mounting your scope high above the bore axis.

“This component of cant error becomes more significant at more distant targets due to the increased original included angle between the line of sight axis and the bore axis (more elevation compensation) at the vertical hold. Use of large-diameter objective scopes, mounted high off the barrel, exacerbates the cant error problem. To keep the scope elevation knobs centered for maximum adjustment, precision shooters sometimes use elevation-compensated scope mounting rings or bases. Although this solves the adjustment problem, it greatly exaggerates cant error because the distance between the bore axis and the line of sight axis increases and the included angle between the sight axis and the bore is larger, producing more windage error when canting.”

Effects of Rifle Canting at Long Range — David Tubb Explains

Eleven-Time NRA National High Power Champion David Tubb knows a bit about long-range shooting. One of the key factors in long-range accuracy is making sure that the tilt/cant of your rifle does not change throughout your shot string. In the clip below, the first in McMillan’s Master Class Video series, David Tubb explains the importance of keeping your rifle level. He explains that, at 1000 yards, your Point of Impact can change dramatically by canting the rifle either right or left. David states that, when shooting at 1000 yards, if your rifle is level and your shot is centered-up on a 72″ (six-foot) square target, you can actually put your next shot OFF PAPER by canting your rifle. That means you can move Point of Impact (POI) three feet or more, just by canting your rifle!

Bryan Litz confirms Tubb’s observation. Bryan tells us that, as a general rule of thumb (for common cartridges), a 1° cant will produce five (5) inches of lateral displacement at 1000 yards. Thus, if you cant your rifle just 8°, the POI would move 40″ from the center of the target, putting the shot off the edge of a 72″-wide target.

David explains that, after one of his students has made two or three 1000-yard, X-Ring hits with a LEVEL rifle, “then I’ll have him take his rifle, and cant it to the right. I’ll have him shoot a shot. He will MISS the six-foot-square frame off to the right. Then I’ll have him cant his gun to the left and shoot another shot. He will miss the six-foot-square frame to the left.”

Rifle Hold and Canting — Consistency Counts
Remember that you must maintain the exact same amount of rifle cant from shot to shot. Yes, some iron sights shooters do tilt their rifle slightly to achieve a better hold or to index their sights better. However, these shooters do not changethe tilt from shot to shot — the amount of cant remains the same on every shot.

When shooting prone with a scoped rifle it’s probably best to keep the rifle dead level, with the scope’s vertical crosshair straight up and down. Use a rifle-mounted bubble level to maintain a level hold, and avoid canting the gun either to the left or to the right. Affordable bubble levels that mount to your scope or scope rail can be purchased from Brownells and other vendors, starting at about $15.00.

Test Targets Reveal Cant Errors
The Long Shot Products Ltd. website also displays actual Test Targets showing the effects of canting error. These targets were shot with air rifles and rimfire rifles, but the same effects can and will occur with centerfire rifles. Shown below is a target shot at 50 yards with a Feinwerkbau .22LR match rifle using RWS Match ammo (1012 fps MV). As you can see, canting the rifle 20 degrees to the left produced a huge movement of the point of impact. The shots from the canted rifle impacted 1.81″ Left, and 0.6″ below the point of aim.

Further reading

Cures for Vertical Stringing
Vertical in your shot strings can result from myriad gear issues and gun-handling mistakes. Speedy Gonzalez, noted shooter, gunsmith and recent inductee into the Benchrest Hall of Fame, offers these pearls of wisdom. Try to isolate one item at a time as you work to improve your groups.
Link: http://www.accurateshooter.com/shooting-skills/cures-for-vertical-stringing/

More Affordable Anti-Cant Alternatives
If you don’t need to make angled shots, you can get a simple rail-mounted B-Square bubble level. Mounting Solutions Plus offers a tube-mounted anti-cant device with bubble level on top. If you prefer the bubble level on the side (for easier viewing) U.S. Optics makes a sturdy, rail-mount bubble level.

Article source: http://www.accurateshooter.com/optics/canting-effect-on-point-of-impact/

Secondary Ammo Pressure Spikes

by Nick Leghorn

When a gun goes off, the expanding gasses created by the burning gunpowder pressurize the chamber and force the bullet down the barrel. There’s all sorts of interesting science behind what the maximum pressure of the ammunition can be before the chamber ruptures, and what the proper pressure is for the best and most consistent grouping. But that all assumes a “normal” pressure wave. What happens if your ammunition isn’t actually conforming to that normal curve? And is a secondary spike even possible? . . .

Let me start by talking about measuring those spikes in the first place.

The standard method for measuring the pressure in a firearm’s chamber is by direct observation. A hole is drilled into the chamber, and a small sensor is placed in the hole. Historically the sensor was made of either copper or lead, but more common today is a piezoelectric sensor that translates pressure into electrical current.

The problem with direct observation is that it’s expensive and you have to sacrifice a barrel to the process. However, Charlie Sisk at Sisk Rifles has a pretty smart way of doing pressure testing on the cheap. Instead of directly measuring the pressure in the barrel, he simply measures the expansion of the metal surrounding the chamber (since the metal deforms slightly as the gun is pressurized) using some very accurate sensors and computers. Through years of testing, he has perfected the formula for determining chamber pressure based on metal expansion.


This is a “normal” pressure curve. The pressure in the chamber increases as the powder burns, then decreases as the bullet moves down the barrel and increases the available volume. Eventually the bullet leaves the barrel and the pressure drops off.

However, Charlie started to notice that sometimes when he was working up a load he’d get a secondary spike. One that didn’t make any sense.


You expect the first spike from the initial gunpowder burn, but where the hell did that second pressure spike come from? It didn’t make sense.

Naturally, Charlie kept testing. As a result, he can create a secondary pressure spike whenever he wants just by varying the load parameters. The ability to repeat the results on demand indicate that this isn’t some kind of instrumentation fluke. There really is a secondary spike going on in some loads. And not just in handloads — Charlie has seen this same pattern in some commercial ammunition, too.

“So what?” I hear you say. “That’s interesting, but what does that have to do with me?” Well, turns out that secondary spikes might have some safety implications.

Charlie was playing around with a new, full-length barrel (26 inches, I believe) in his gunsmithing shop and creating some secondary spikes in order to figure out what was going on. After the seventh round, the shot sounded… different. When he looked, it turns out that the front five inches or so of his barrel had fallen off.

He repeated the same test with three more barrels, and all three were cleanly chopped off at 21.6 inches exactly. Secondary pressure spikes caused spontaneous barrel shortening. Or, put another way, they blasted off the front of his barrel.

The cause of these spikes is still unknown. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a theory. The best of those is that the water vapor in the atmosphere of the barrel forms a “vapor cone” around the bullet, much like it does around aircraft breaking the sound barrier. That vapor cone, as the theory postulates, creates increased drag and therefore a pressure spike. Again, it’s still just a theory.

Charlie is continuing to do his testing, and others have picked up on the issue, too. There’s a paper on the subject currently being written by a couple of other internal ballistics boffins, so we should have some more hard evidence of what’s going on shortly. Until then, its just another fascinating mystery.

About Nick Leghorn
Nick Leghorn is a gun nerd living and working in San Antonio, Texas. In his free time, he's a competition shooter (USPSA, 3-gun and NRA High Power), EMT-B and enjoys mixing statistics and science with firearms. Now on sale: Getting Started with Firearms by yours truly!

Source: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/03/foghorn/secondary-pressure-spikes-in-ammunition/

The Girandoni Air Rifle that changed the world

The Girandoni Air Rifle was an airgun designed by Tyrolian inventor Bartholomäus Girandoni circa 1779. The weapon was also known as the Windbüchse ("wind rifle" in German).

This is one of the most interesting videos I have watched in a very long while and a must-watch for any firearm enthusiast.

Half of the US land mass was conquered by merely demonstrating this amazing rifle.

Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun

http://nramuseum.com/ Lewis and Clark's secret weapon - a late 18th Century .46 cal. 20 shot repeating air rifle by Girandoni , as used bin the Napoleonic Wars. A Treasure Gun from the NRA National Firearms Museum. See more at http://nramuseum.com/. Narrated by Phil Schreier.

The modern .45 calibre airgun

Air Rifle that Shoots through Cement Blocks!

History and use
The Girandoni air rifle was in service with the Austrian army from 1780 to around 1815. The advantages of a high rate of fire, no smoke from propellants, and low muzzle report granted it initial acceptance, but it was eventually removed from service for several reasons.

While the detachable air reservoir was capable of around 30 shots it took nearly 1500 strokes of a hand pump to fill those reservoirs to around 800 psi.

Later, a wagon-mounted pump was provided. The reservoirs themselves, made from hammered sheet iron held together with rivets and sealed by brazing, proved very difficult to manufacture using the techniques of the period and were always in short supply.

In addition, the weapon was very delicate and a small break could make it inoperable. Finally, it was very different from any other weapon of the time and any soldier using it needed to be highly trained.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition used the rifle in the demonstrations that they performed for nearly every Native American tribe they encountered on the expedition.

Design and capabilities

The rifle was 4 ft (1.2 m) long and weighed 10 lbs (4.5 kg), about the same basic size and weight as other muskets of the time. It fired a .46 caliber ball at a velocity similar to that of a modern .45 ACP and it had a tubular, gravity-fed magazine with a capacity of 20 balls. This gravity operated design was such that the rifle had to be pointed upwards in order to drop each ball into the breech block. Unlike its contemporary, muzzle-loading muskets, which required the rifleman to stand up to reload with powder and ball, the shooter could reload a ball from the magazine by holding the rifle vertically while lying on his back and operating the ball delivery mechanism. The rifleman then could roll back into position to fire, allowing the rifleman to keep a "low profile".

Contemporary regulations of 1788 required that each rifleman, in addition to the rifle itself, be equipped with three compressed air reservoirs (two spare and one attached to the rifle), cleaning stick, hand pump, lead ladle, and 100 lead balls, 1 in the chamber, 21 in the magazine built into the rifle and the remaining 80 in four tin tubes. Equipment not carried attached to the rifle was held in a special leather knapsack. It was also necessary to keep the leather gaskets of the reservoir moist in order to maintain a good seal and prevent leakage.

The air reservoir was in the club-shaped butt. With a full air reservoir, the Girandoni air rifle had the capacity to shoot 30 shots at useful pressure. These balls were effective to approximately 150 yards on a full load. The power declined as the air reservoir was emptied.

Importance
The Girandoni air rifle was an important first. It was the first repeating rifle of any kind to see military service. It was one of the first uses of a tubular magazine. And, although it saw service for only 35 years, it predated and was more advanced in design and mechanical technology than the Henry rifle which arrived fifty years later.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_Air_Rifle

Applied Ballistics - Android Apps

State of the art ballistics solver by Bryan Litz, Applied Ballistics. Calculate accurate fire control solutions for long range rifle shooting. Accounts for all major and minor trajectory variables including the use of measured G7 BC's and even the option to use custom drag curves for specific bullets. Output is available in several formats including single shot 'HUD' view, table output, graph output, and the highly effective reticle output view, in which you can see a single shot or trajectory trace in the context of a specific scope reticle which responds to magnification adjustments and 'dialing on' elevation.

Ballistic calibration feature allows user to 'train' the software to match a specific rifle based on observed impacts at long range.

The Applied Ballistics Mobile app is a professional tool intended for the serious long range shooter.

Feature List

• Firearm/ammo/target organized into savable profiles
• Bullet library with over 1,300 bullets to save you from having to look up BC information
• Custom drag curves (i.e. rather than using G1 or G7, Applied Ballistics has measured and developed specific drags for specific bullets, no other calculator does this)
• Support for multiple BCs at specified velocities (aka "stepped bcs")
• Sync your profiles to the cloud so you never have to worry about losing all of your data
• Load atmospherics based on GPS location and nearest weather station
• Load atmospherics via your Bluetooth-enabled Kestrel
• Support for Spin Drift and Coriolis Effect
• Reticle views that support scope magnification levels and accounting for what you've dialed-up on your turret
• HUD solution view for fast re-calculations for changing target distances, wind and lead
• Doesn't need cell/internet service to run calculations
• Advanced ballistic calibration unlike any other software available to date (aka "truing" or "trajectory validation")
• Distance, look angle, and target azimuth calculator built-in
• Zero-atmosphere support
• Support for auto-adjusting muzzle velocity based on powder temperature
• Graph your bullet's flight with drop/wind graphs. Also compare with other ammo in one graph
• Send trajectory output via email
• "Night" color theme if you prefer the dark-look

Best Android based ballistic app available
I've used five of the available ballistics apps for Android, this is by far the best; a close second would be Shooter. The FFP support and the Horus reticles were a great addition in the last update. I was waiting for the H-59 for a few months now. I would like to see the ability to edit profiles that have been sync'd to the web using a computer, then sync back to the Android device. If you chrono your ammo and put all the information in correctly, you will have first round hits pretty much wherever you go. I test ammo at 4670ft; when I hit the 1000 yard range at 5800ft I'm pretty much right on all the way out to the 1000 yard steel.

Learn more about this app and watch the video at:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appliedballisticsllc.appliedballistics&hl=en

Brass vs. Steel Cased Ammo – An Epic Torture Test

There are two major types of centerfire rifle cartridges available on the market today:

• Those which are loaded with steel, and
• Those which are loaded with brass

This seemingly simple variation has caused a never ending stream of argument, discussion, speculation, and questioning from new and seasoned shooters alike.  Complicating the conversation are other variables that typically get lumped into the argument without proper segmentation, such as:

Handgun Cartridge Power Chart

By Chuck Hawks
Source: http://www.chuckhawks.com/handgun_power_chart.htm

.357 Magnum Hornady Critical Defense Ammo Gel Test

Penetration and expansion test of the .357 Magnum Hornady Critical Defense, 125 grain JHP using a diluted form of SIM-TEST Ballistic Testing Media. This format is comparable to ballistic gel, and includes four layers of denim. The inclusion of denim is an IWBA protocol.

Video includes brief overview of the cartridge, recoil shots, and one shot test. Post-shot evaluation shows bullet path through the block, average diameter, and retained weight. Test gun was a Ruger GP100 with 3" barrel. Chronograph velocites are noted in the video.

 VERY IMPORTANT INFO REGARDING AMMO TESTS ON THIS CHANNEL: 

Please understand that these techniques are merely representations to indicate possible ballistics; they are not intended to replicate real-world street results. There are just too many factors involved in a self-defense scenario to offer a 100% degree of accuracy when compared to street results. It is essential to perform exhaustive research on your carry choice, which could yield actual use data. The law-abiding citizen bears ultimate responsibility for their ammunition choice and insuring reliability in their handgun. 

The Rifle Cartridge Killing Power Formula

By Chuck Hawks

I don't have much faith in killing power formulas in general. Most such formulas are obviously designed to reinforce someone's pre-conceived notions. As a result, these "killing power," "stopping power," "knock out" (or whatever they may be called) formulas typically disregard factors that are detrimental to their case.

I was curious to see what the results would look like if I included the most obvious, easily quantifiable, factors in a simple killing power formula. These factors are velocity, energy, bullet weight, sectional density (SD), and bullet cross-sectional area (frontal area). Upon reflection I realized that since velocity is already the most important factor in calculating kinetic energy, it would not be necessary to incorporate it separately.

That left the factors of energy, bullet weight, SD, and cross-sectional area. Then I received an e-mail from Ole Swang, who is a mathematician, and he pointed out that sectional density and frontal area equal bullet weight. Thus by including bullet weight separately I was, essentially, squaring its value. So I eliminated bullet weight. (But remember that, like velocity, it is actually present in the remaining factors.) That left the numbers for energy, SD, and frontal area to work with.

The Definitive Military Service Calibre and Rifle For the 21st Century

By Mike Staples

Introduction

Hi, my name is Mike Staples and I am an ex Australian Army Fitter Armament or to put it more simply, an Armourer. My experience takes in all Australian Military Weapons including pistols, rifles, SMGs, LMGs, HMGs, Mortars, recoilless rifle, and artillery pieces, as well as mounted guns in our Armoured vehicles that were current at the time of my service. On top of that experience is my love of shooting, which started when I was around 6 years of age and has continued to this day, some 51 years later. I have been asked by Mr. Hawks to write an article on a suitable calibre for a General Purpose Military Rifle (GPMR), and whilst the calibre is important the delivery system, a.k.a. the rifle, is equally so. That being the case, this first article will establish what I feel is a suitable calibre to replace the 5.56mm NATO round, whilst the second part will put forward suggestions on a suitable rifle.

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There has been a multitude of cartridges that have been used by the worlds Military Forces, and to compare all of them in the pursuit of the "perfect calibre" for the 21st Century would take many pages and many hours of research. Therefore, I will concentrate on those which have been used by the US, Australia, Great Britain, and NATO Forces in recent history.

Since the Vietnam War there has been a move to make one calibre "the NATO calibre," and at this point in time that calibre is the 5.56mm NATO. The main reason for this, from my perspective, is to make all aligned forces users of this calibre. NATO is a collage of many countries. When NATO forces either take up arms against an aggressor or have become an occupation force on behalf of the United Nations inside a country that has experienced a war or uprising, many soldiers from different countries make up that force. If all used a different calibre in their GPMR, ammunition re-supply would be a nightmare.

Sectional Density for Beginners

By Bob Beers
Bullets have several quantifiable characteristics. One of the most important is Sectional Density (SD). It took me a long time to finally grasp its true significance, but once I did, much of my confusion about bullets just disappeared.

Sectional density, according to the SpeerReloading Manual No. 13, is defined as: "A bullet's weight in pounds divided by the square of its diameter in inches." Note that SD is independent of a bullet's shape. All bullets of the same caliber and weight will have the same SD, regardless of their shape or composition.

For the lay person, SD can be considered to be a calculated value that represents how much mass of a given cross-sectional area is necessary to push a bullet through a given medium (such as a game animal).

It's calculated as follows: Sectional Density =

(bullet weight in grains)
7000 x (bullet diameter in inches) x (bullet diameter in inches)
As the frontal area (think caliber) of a bullet increases, the weight behind it must increase accordingly to achieve the same penetration.

Terminal Ballistics

I've been interested in terminal ballistics for a long time. There are lots of opinions out there but finding hard scientific fact is not easy, though there is a lot of stuff that pretends to be.

Luckily I've been able to talk to a few people doing weapons R&D for the military, and have been able to combine some of the things they've told me with known mechanisms of physiology and anatomy to produce the model explained below.

Small Arms Round Effectiveness (the Pigboard page)

Some of what you see will fly in the face of current fashions in Gun Magazines, but my reasons for these should hopeful be clear.