Ballistics Calculator

About this ballistics calculator

This is a modified point-mass (3-DOF) solver. It integrates your bullet's actual flight in half-millisecond steps rather than fitting a curve to a lookup table, so incline, wind and Coriolis all fall out of the same trajectory instead of being bolted on afterward. Drag comes from the standard G1, G7 or RA4 reference curves scaled by your ballistic coefficient, air density is computed from real humid-air physics, and your zero angle is solved numerically for the load and conditions you entered.

It runs entirely in your browser. Your loads and conditions are saved on your own device for the next visit and are never sent anywhere.

Verify every firing solution with live fire before you rely on it.

Common questions

Is it really free?

Yes. No account, email, app, or paid tier. Everything on this page is available to everyone.

Why not use a ballistics app on my phone?

Apps are great when you keep saved rifle profiles. This is for the times you want to check a load or compare two setups without building another profile on your phone. Open it, enter the numbers, and get a solution.

G1 or G7: which ballistic coefficient do I use?

Use the BC the bullet manufacturer published, with the same drag model. G7 is generally the better fit for modern boat-tail match bullets; G1 is common for flat-base bullets and older published data. RA4 is Eley's rimfire reference curve. Never run a G1 BC on the G7 curve. The same applies in reverse.

Can I compare a G1 bullet with a G7 bullet?

Yes. Each load can use its own published BC and drag model. That is correct as long as the BC stays with the model it was published for.

Do not expect a G1-versus-G7 comparison to track perfectly at every distance, even when the bullet is the same. The two reference curves model drag differently through the flight, especially approaching transonic. That is a limitation of comparing single-number BCs on different reference curves. It does not mean that one bullet's real-world drag suddenly changes.

For the cleanest apples-to-apples comparison, use G1 for both bullets or G7 for both. If a manufacturer publishes both, choose one model and use it for both loads. Do not convert one to the other.

What is a stepped (velocity-banded) BC?

Some manufacturers, especially Sierra, publish more than one BC for the same bullet. Each value applies down to a stated velocity. For example, .505 above 2600 fps, .496 down to 2100, and .485 below that.

Press the + next to Ballistic Coefficient. Enter a BC and the lowest velocity where it applies on each row. The calculator switches bands during flight as the published data intends. Blank rows are ignored.

How accurate is it?

The answer is only as good as the inputs. Bad muzzle velocity, BC, zero, scope height, or atmospheric data will give you a bad solution. Chronograph your load and confirm it at distance before relying on it.

Do I need spin drift and Coriolis?

Usually not inside about 800 yards; a small wind error matters more. Beyond that, they are worth turning on. Spin drift needs your twist rate and bullet length. Coriolis needs your latitude and shooting direction.

What is maximum point blank range?

It is the farthest you can shoot while holding dead center, with no holdover, dialing, or range estimate, and still hit a target of a given size. Enter that size in Max Point Blank Range under Output and the calculator solves for it. Use the height of the vital zone you are willing to hit anywhere inside: 6 inches is the usual figure for deer, 8 to 10 for elk, an inch or two for small game or steel.

The idea is to stop zeroing at a round number and instead pick the zero that keeps the bullet useful for as long as possible. Picture a window centered on your line of sight, half the target height above it and half below. Angle the barrel just enough that the bullet's arc peaks exactly at the top of that window and never breaks out of it. It climbs through your line of sight, tops out, and comes back down through the sight line. That crossing is the point blank zero. It eventually falls out the bottom of the window. Where it falls out is the maximum point blank range. Anywhere from the muzzle to there, the bullet is within half a target of your crosshair, so aiming center hits.

On the results table the blue row is that zero and the green rows are the point blank range itself. There are two ways to use them, and they put the bullet in the same place:

• Keep your normal zero and dial. Every row's drop column is still the come-up from the zero you entered, so dialing the figure printed on the blue row puts you on the point blank trajectory without redoing the zero on your scope. Dial it and you are good from the muzzle to the maximum point blank range; when you're done for the day, dial back to 0 on the turret and you are back to your normal zero distance, nothing changed.
• Or re-zero at that distance. Sighting in at the point blank zero is the permanent version of the same thing. It is worth doing if this is how you hunt, since it needs nothing at all in the field.

Two things worth knowing. The two marks are solved on their own optimal zero and in calm air, the same way any zero is; the rest of the table is still the zero you entered, so the drop printed on every row, including those two, is what your zero gives. And if your scope sits more than half a target height above the bore, the window does not open right at the muzzle: the bullet starts below it and has to climb in. The calculator says where that happens, and the green rows start there rather than at zero.

Can I print a range card?

Yes. Solve, then print the card, copy the table into a spreadsheet, or download the CSV. The printed version drops the input panels and keeps the numbers.

Can I send a solution to someone else?

Yes. Click Share Link after solving. The link includes the settings that produced the solution. It includes a stepped BC when applicable and opens already solved on another device.

The settings are stored after the # in the address, so they are not sent to our server. The link does not expire, and opening one will not replace your saved setup unless you edit the shared values.