Ballistics systems

[Steven]

I’ve been into reloading for a fair amount of time now, and have slowly improved parts of my shooting system to the point where i can reliably get 0.8ish MOA out of my tupperware savage. Now that i feel comfortable with that aspect of my shooting, I’ve started looking at shooting longer ranges and looking at range finders, wind meters and ballistic solvers. I’ve tried looking here, and in forums like rokslide to find recommendations for a ballistics system (i.e. a combination of ballistic solver, RF and wind meter) that will work together and is user friendly to get ballistic solutions. I’m aware of the existence of the kestrel link, the bushnell conx and the various AB products, but I’m not sure whether you have to buy e.g. both a kestrel with AB and a sig kilo with AB (i think the answer is no?) anyways…

I’m looking for what systems y’all use to get ballistic solutions and am interested in systems that reduce or eliminate user input.

[HollywoodSX]

My personal setup:

Kestrel 5700 AB Elite (Originally a Sportsman, upgraded the Software later)
Bushnell Nitro 1800 LRF (Has AB on board, plus links to Kestrel
Bushnell Forge 15x binos (for spotting)
Kestrel Heads Up Display (HUD) – mounted to rifle for data management.

Honestly, though, if you have a ‘tupperware Savage’ then some rifle/stock upgrades will probably give you more bang for your buck right now, and you can run something like Applied Ballistics Mobile on your phone to cover ballistics in the meantime. The app is $30 and works great.

[theway109]

I don’t have a RF, but using Strelock Pro and a Weatherflow meter my data was as good as the guys using Kestrels and AB app at a fraction of the cost.

[SageRatSafaris]

You need a ballistic calculator and weather/wind meter(s). A laser rangefinder is useful for hunting, but when shooting targets, you almost always know the range. Advantages of a LRF are the inclinometer and compass, and to reality check the given ranges. The inclinometer matters if shooting uphill or downhill, and the shot azimuth may make a one click difference for Coriolis.

The ballistic calculator can be a phone app, Kestrel, LRF or even a Garmin GPS wrist device or a sensor-equipped rifle scope like Steiner IFS. I can’t think of a good reason to have a ballistic solver on both the weather meter AND the LRF. The advantage of a Kestrel is having one less device when competing (and fully weather proof), but you pay a premium for that. The advantages of a phone app is an easier UI, lower cost, maybe some extra features. If you use a phone app, you can opt for a less expensive LiNK Kestrel (without a ballistic solver). When comparing weather meters, a humidity sensor is optional: 0 to 100% humidity has less than 1% effect on density altitude.

Don’t forget a chrono – it’s important to know your actual hot/cold weather MV.

Here’s a detailed article on [ballistic tools for long range.](https://sageratsafaris.com/ballistic-tools-estimating-elevation-and-windage/)

[CumDutchess]

I purchased most of my stuff before Linking things together was a thing. I’ve simplified it down to a pair of Leica Rangefinding Binos and a Kestrel 5700. Even though the Kestrel has a wind meter I find that learning to read conditions and estimating wind myself is more accurate. While the Kestrel can help get me close by reading the wind at my location, it doesn’t do a ton for telling me conditions down range.

It doesn’t take much effort to enter the range into my Kestrel, if I need to quicker I can use the app. I manually adjust the wind anyways. Prior to this setup I used a Sig 2000 with Strelok and a little windmeter on my phone. The main reason for the upgrade to a Kestrel was that a Kestrel is more weather resistant and rugged. It doesn’t shutdown if it gets too hot or too wet like my phone does. Otherwise the data either provided was just as good.