Saturday Movies: 8 Great Applied Ballistics & Bryan Litz Videos

Garmin Acquires Applied Ballistics LLC
There was big news this week in the shooting industry. Garmin Ltd. has acquired Applied Ballistics LLC, the company founded and run by Bryan Litz, a top software engineer, ballistics guru, and world-class rifle shooter. Applied Ballistics has developed some of the most sophisticated and accurate ballistics software. It can run on your computers and tablets, and Applied Ballistics software has also been integrated into mobile devices, rangefinders, and Kestrel Weather Meter wind reading units.

To mark this important development for Applied Ballistics, today we feature eight notable videos. These include NSSF “Elements of Long Range Shooting” videos hosted by Bryan Litz of Applied Ballistics. In that multi-part series, Bryan covers a variety of topics of interest to precision shooters. Watch other informative Long Range Shooting and Ballistics videos with Bryan Litz on the NSSF YouTube Channel.

Understanding Muzzle Velocity

In this 55-minute video Bryan Litz explains how to measure muzzle velocity with various chronograph types and then explains some methods for optimizing your ES/SD. Bryan explains: “Muzzle velocity is an important variable for long range shooters. This video covers some key concepts for beginners and also goes into some advanced topics that are not normally encountered to keep it interesting for experienced shooters as well.”

How to Employ AB Quantum Software

This video is a very useful guide on getting started with AB Quantum™. Bryan Litz demonstrates the essential setup process: 1) quickly building an accurate profile; 2) establishing your zero, and 3) verifying the data at 100 yards. The proof is on the target. After creating a new ballistics profile, Bryan uses the verified profile to shoot a successful group at 1000 yards.

Powder Storage — Temperature and Humidity

In this video, Bryan Litz offers very helpful advice on how to store powder properly to ensure that you do not experience unpredictable velocities and higher-than-normal ES/SD. You want to keep your powder in a location which avoid high spikes in temperature and humidity. In addition powder bottles should not be stored in a thick-walled gun safe.

Bullet Ballistic Coefficients

A bullet’s ballistic coefficient (BC) basically expresses how well the bullet flies through the air. Higher BC bullets have less aerodynamic drag than lower BC projectiles. You will see BCs listed as either G1 and G7 numbers. These correspond to different bullet shape models. Generally speaking, the G7 model works better for the long, boat-tail bullets used for long-range shooting. Notably, a bullet’s drag is NOT constant in flight. The true BC can vary over the course of the trajectory as the bullet velocity degrades. In other words, “BC is dynamic”. That said, you can make very accurate drop charts using the BCs provided by major bullet-makers, as plugged into solvers. However, long-range competitors may want to record “real world” drop numbers at various distances. For example, we’ve seen trajectories be higher than predicted at 500 yards, yet lower than predicted at 1000.

Big Boomers — Large-Caliber Rifles for Long Range

Bryan Litz defines “Large Caliber” as .338 caliber and bigger. These rifles can shoot heavy bullets with high BCs. That’s great for ELR shooting. However there are trade-offs. It can be hard to maintain good fundamentals of marksmanship (trigger control, sight alignment) when you’re fighting heavy recoil and burning 100+ grains of powder. Accordingly, Bryan recommend a muzzle brake with any cartridge .338 or above. Also, when considering lathe-turned solid bullets, remember that these typically have less sectional density compared to lead-cored bullets with similar profiles. This affects ballistics as well as recoil energy.

BONUS: Bryan Litz Interview with Erik Cortina

Bryan Litz is arguably the leading ballistics expert on planet earth. A talented shooter who has won major F-Class, ELR, and Palma matches, Bryan is a high-IQ scientist who has developed the ballistics software many of us now use in Kestrels and other devices to calculate scope clicks with extreme precision. In this interview, Bryan explains basic ballistics principles and also corrects some popular misconceptions. This is a great interview that has received much praise from viewers, one of whom has noted: “Bryan is a walking science lab. He puts out amazing data-based info[.]” With 107,000 views, this is Erik Cortina’s second-most popular video ever.