Ballistic Solver
Build solutions from rifle and load profiles, environmental
conditions, range, angle and direction of fire. The workflow is
designed for repeatable field use rather than isolated
calculations: a large Distance box comes first, wind starts at
0 from 12 o'clock, and after a distance the red prompt walks
you through wind, direction and Environmentals. Distance, MV
and temperature are entered in your own Preferences units
(yards, m/s, °F) and converted before solving. Under 50 m
a centerfire solution also shows the close-range hold in cm or
inches, since the scope sits above the bore. A green wind
arrow beside Distance shows your Wind Direction with degrees
and clock time, and with no weather yet Environmentals offers
Phone Weather, Manual (Apply Manual Weather)
or Weather Meter. In the Advanced feature level,
Live Wind streams a Kestrel's wind into the
Windage block in real time (3-second average), with the live
direction taken from the Kestrel on its vane relative to your
DOF, while your own wind inputs and the elevation stay as
entered. A DOF is never saved as true north without a
declination. A rifle without a handload can instead be
marked Use Factory ammo in Rifles, then loaded from the
built-in catalog (1,392 centerfire + 70 rimfire entries) or
box label, velocity and bullet weight entered by hand — the
Solver always reads whichever load is active there, the same
way it does for any handload. In the Advanced feature level
every solve can be opened in Analyze
Ballistics for the full
detail breakdown plus a Velocity / Flight
Profile: the same trajectory solver re-sampled at
100 m (centerfire) or 25 m (rimfire) spacing out
past your target, with distance/velocity/Mach/flight-state
rows and the estimated distance where the bullet crosses
Mach 1.30, 1.20 and 1.00.
ELR Trajectory Diagnostic
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
A read-only calculator for why a rifle's actual long-range
impacts diverge from its predicted trajectory while staying
accurate closer in. Enter the elevation actually needed to
centre the group at 2–6 real distances — each with its own
DOF and wind, since observations aren't necessarily all taken
facing the same direction — and it fits four
competing explanations — Zero/elevation offset, Muzzle
velocity, Global BC/drag, and Velocity-banded BC/ELR drag —
ranked by RMSE across every observation entered, not just the
divergent one. If none of the four explain it well, a
dedicated advisory points to a tall-target test for scope
tracking instead of forcing a falsely-confident best fit.
Suggests a Recommended Validation Distance — the range where
the two best-fitting models diverge most — and can
Apply to Session the winning model straight
to the current Shooting Solution session, never to the stored
rifle/load. Save a run to History → ELR
Diagnostics for later reference, and export it as a
one-page PDF report — best fit, misses at
each distance, models ranked and where to confirm next. Open it from
Utilities, or via DIAGNOSE TRAJECTORY inside
Analyze Ballistics, pre-filled with the current rifle,
distance and environment.
Velocity Loss BC Calculator
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
A chronograph-based inverse drag solver under Utilities.
Selecting a rifle is required — its platform sets the drag
model automatically and read-only (RA4 for
rimfire, G1 for PCP, G7 for
centerfire), and its stored muzzle velocity and platform
tailor the suggested reading distances (for a PCP, from the
load's BC or pellet/slug, weight and diameter). Add up to five downrange
velocity readings (two chronographs, or one moved between
shot strings — minimum 10 m apart for PCP/rimfire, 50 m
otherwise), and GS bisection-searches for the drag parameter
that reproduces the measured velocity loss, using the same
drag tables, density model and integrator as Shooting
Solution. Readings can be typed or
imported from your chronograph app's export
(CSV or Excel — Garmin Xero, LabRadar, MagnetoSpeed and
others), keeping each string's SD and ES; Calculate asks you
to confirm the muzzle velocity was measured at the test.
Rimfire solves a real RA4 drag-scale factor from
the rifle's actual bullet weight/diameter instead of a flat
BC. One reading gives a single effective result; with two or
more, GS fits one BC to all readings together
— so no single noisy reading decides it — and shows how far
that fit misses each reading. Each velocity band also gets its
own BC for Multi-BC (drag-scale factors for
RA4). A recommendation compares those
misses with chronograph accuracy (about ±3 fps): a single
BC when one BC fits every reading within that, Multi-BC when
the near and far readings miss in opposite directions (the BC
really changes with speed), or a prompt to check one reading
or re-measure. Save the result to the rifle's active load as a
trued BC, save the bands as Multi-BC (which also sets the
trued BC to match), or keep it in History
only — saving to the rifle asks you to confirm first, and
rimfire drag-scale results go to History only. Every save is
kept under History → Velocity Loss / BC with
its findings and recommendation — one record per calculation,
so saving it again updates that record — and exports a
one-page PDF report with velocity and
BC-by-band charts, SD/ES per reading, what the new BC
changes to your holds (and remaining energy, when the load has
a bullet weight) at distance, and where the bullet goes
transonic and subsonic.
Weather & Environment
Apply phone-derived weather or compatible Bluetooth weather meter
data. Snapshot handling keeps the active source visible and
prevents unintended condition changes. A new reading that
meaningfully differs from the active snapshot (1 °C or
1 hPa or more) doesn't overwrite it silently — a
"Conditions Changed" card shows the delta and lets you choose
Apply New Environment or
Keep Current Conditions. One snapshot is
shared by every screen and ranked Weather Meter, then Phone
Weather, then Manual: an active reading of the same or higher
rank is kept rather than replaced, and every snapshot is valid
for 30 minutes. While one is valid, typed weather boxes are
read-only on every screen, so a reading can't be overwritten
by hand. Manual Weather is the same everywhere — SP, Temp,
Humidity and Latitude in your Preferences units, Latitude from
the phone's GPS and density altitude worked out for you. Your
own Kestrel is remembered and looked for first, connecting
only when needed. A Kestrel reading's wind direction is taken
relative to your DOF.
Target Card
Create target-specific solutions with distance, direction, wind
and rifle context. State is retained while navigating within the
app, and opening a saved card applies the active weather
snapshot and calculates straight away.
Range Card
Generate solutions across predefined distance bands for quick
reference during practice or competition. Defaults follow the
rifle — centerfire 100–1000 every 100, PCP 30, 50 and every 25
to 250, rimfire 50–300 every 25 — and the card follows the
rifle chosen in Solver or Target Card.
Match / Stage Mode
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
Build a whole match ahead of time: a Match holds one or more
Stages, each Stage holds one or more Targets — hand-key each
target or import an existing Target Card as a ready-made stage.
A saved Match opens with the rifle in use and never switches
the app's rifle.
Recalculate Match with Active Weather solves
every target in every stage in one pass against the shared
weather snapshot, redirecting to Weather Meter and returning
automatically if none is active yet. Run Stage
drops into a full-screen, one-hand live mode: one target per
screen with large Elevation/Windage figures and a
Previous/Next/Finish bar for stepping through with a single
thumb. In-progress matches, including your position in a live
run, persist for the session so a trip to Weather Meter doesn't
lose your place.
Load Development
Support OCW and Ladder workflows, shot planning, chronograph
data, impact recording, notes and result review. Bullet and
powder catalog pickers prefill weight, BC and length; searchable
Primer and Case/Brass catalog pickers fill in the component
name so load records stay consistent without typing it by
hand. Each load can carry its velocity SD
(Ave SD), which Hit Probability uses, and
Add to load data on an OCW load carries its
average velocity and SD into a new load. A per-load, opt-in powder-temperature sensitivity tick
(up to three chronographed points, piecewise-linear) corrects
muzzle velocity for the day's conditions — ticking it without
a baseline reading blocks saving with a reminder. Rotate the phone during OCW
recording for a side-by-side layout — charge/velocity entry
alongside a tap-to-mark impact target on a round, square or
diamond outline, with Redo alongside Undo and an in-page
numeric keypad for velocity so the target stays visible.
Tapped impacts auto-estimate that charge's group size live
on-screen and can be manually overridden; a real photo
measurement takes over for PDF export once one exists.
The method follows the GS Ladder and OCW guides, impact
position first. Mark each Ladder charge's point of aim and
hole on the target photo and the node comes from level
impacts (within 0.5 MOA); on an OCW, mark the aiming point and
every hole to get group size, vertical / horizontal spread,
shape and centre, and the node is ranked first (within
0.3 MOA). Seating tests rank the most forgiving jump, and an
optional suggested next step plans the OCW from the Ladder
node, then the seating test from the best OCW charge.
Load Development for Others (Advanced) adds
customer names, Developed for / by and your business logo on
exports, plus a chart-led Technical Report
that analyses every Ladder and OCW stage and flags points
worth double-checking.
Sessions & History
Record shooting context, environment, equipment, observations and
outcomes for later analysis.
Bluetooth Integration
Connect to supported environmental devices and use Range Viewer
sharing where supported by the installed app version.
Backup & Restore
Create user-controlled exports containing selected application
data and media, or export/import individual JSON data files.
Backups should be stored securely.
Import from Other Ballistic Apps
Switching from another app? Settings → Export/Import reads a
Strelok (.srl) export, an Applied Ballistics/Kestrel (.pro)
profile readable as text/XML, or a GS backup JSON, and
identifies the source automatically — you never pick it
yourself. Strelok is load data only — its
rifle setup fields (caliber, twist, scope, zero) have
repeatedly proven unreliable, so no rifle is ever created
from it; each Strelok load instead gets an
Attach to dropdown that routes it onto one
of your existing rifles (your closest bullet-diameter
match by default, or Skip when nothing
matches with confidence). Applied Ballistics/Kestrel and GS
backup files still create a new rifle, with individual
rifles and individual loads both tickable before
committing — GS establishes each rifle's real caliber from
its declared caliber/name and from named bullets it
recognizes in its own catalogs, then hides any load that
disagrees behind a "load(s) hidden — Show" toggle. Every
newly created rifle lands as a brand-new record; GS never
overwrites an existing one, and imported loads don't assume
Factory ammo. Only rifle and load inputs are mapped —
trajectories, DOPE, wind, environment and solution data are
deliberately left behind and recalculated by GS itself. Any
rifle with an incomplete field (name, caliber, twist, sight
height, zero range, or a load's weight/MV/BC) shows a live
Needs Review badge — imported or not — that
clears itself as soon as the field is filled in.
AB Quantum is not supported — it only
shares profiles as a QR code wrapping a proprietary format
Applied Ballistics doesn't publish, so GS can't read it
under any circumstances; enter that rifle and load manually
instead.
Wind Effect Tool
A fast field wind-call dial for the active rifle. Drag the
clock face to set wind direction, read live speed from a
connected weather meter, and get an instant hold suggestion
without opening the full solver. Drift shows first in your own
units — the rifle's scope unit and your cm or inch Target
measurements — with the other units on a second card.
Range Viewer — Live Sharing
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
Share a live firing solution from one phone to another over
Bluetooth, so a spotter or coach sees the same numbers as the
shooter in real time. Choose from Spotter, Competition,
Turret, Mirror and Custom display layouts, and mark points of
impact directly on a shared target overlay.
Venues & Route Planning
Save shooting venues with a GPS pin, notes and altitude, break
a venue into named subranges with their own preset distances,
and get routed directly back to a saved venue from the field.
Printable Targets & Reference Library
A built-in library of PDF targets for zeroing, grouping and
load-development work, grouped into MOA, MIL and Standard.
The MOA and MIL sets are true-scale vector sheets — 100 m
ladder/OCW and zeroing, 200 m four-point, 300 m MOA and MIL
ladder/OCW (the MIL sheet on two A4 pages), and MIL
block/diamond — each with a built-in ruler check; print at 100% for accurate
scale. Plus a searchable reference document library. Open,
share or print any file directly from the app.
Unit Converter
A categorised conversion tool covering the units used across
shooting, reloading and weather work, for quick lookups
without leaving the app.
Rimfire Support
An opt-in Support Rimfire preference (Settings
→ Preferences) reveals a Rimfire caliber toggle on the Add/Edit
Rifle form, filtering Caliber to rimfire cartridges (.22 LR,
.22 WMR, .17 HMR, .17 HM2, .17 WSM and others) and adjusting
the rest of the app around factory-loaded ammo: a quick-pick
catalog of common Eley, Lapua, SK, CCI, Federal, Winchester,
Remington, Hornady, RWS, Aguila and Norma loads prefills
bullet weight, velocity and a rough starting BC when adding a
load, Load Development is not offered for rimfire rifles,
and Shooting Solution defaults distance and wind to
rimfire-typical values with an earlier DOPE verification
warning, and a .22 LR rifle can select the free, built-in
RA4 drag model in Advanced Drag instead of a
flat BC — no data entry required. Any rimfire rifle already
saved stays visible whether or not the preference is on.
PCP / Air Rifle Support
Entirely free — no trial, no purchase, ever;
it's not part of any paid module. An opt-in
Support PCP / Air Rifle preference
adds PCP as a third rifle platform alongside centerfire and
rimfire, with its own bore-size picker (.177 through .50) and
working-load fields — projectile type (pellet or slug), tune
name, power setting, regulator pressure, and projectile
diameter. An optional 310-entry rifle-model picker fills the
Name field for a known PCP rifle; free typing still works for
anything not listed. A 306-entry projectile catalog across 21
manufacturers (Air Arms, FX, H&N, JSB, Daystate and
others) fills in weight, diameter and BC when the source
states a G1/G7 model. PCP never uses the rimfire RA4 drag
model — it solves from your actual chronographed MV and
BC / Multi-BC / a measured CDM curve instead, with low pellet
BCs preserved rather than clamped to centerfire minimums. An
unlabeled BC defaults to G1 — it fits virtually all
pellet/slug shapes — with an on-screen note; state G7
explicitly if that's how the projectile is actually modeled.
Spin Drift and Aerodynamic Jump are deliberately omitted for
PCP, since the
Miller/Litz stability model isn't validated for pellets or
slugs; Velocity / Flight Profile samples every 25 m and
treats subsonic flight as normal rather than a warning. Load
Development isn't offered for PCP, since it's a
powder/reloading workflow that doesn't apply. Any PCP rifle
already saved stays visible whether or not the preference is
on.
Hit Probability
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
How likely is your first shot to hit your
target? Hit Probability uses the same exact solver as the rest
of the app to measure how far the impact moves for each kind
of error, then simulates 10,000 first-round
shots — each carrying realistic errors — and counts
how many land on the target. Choose a 1 or 1.5 MOA
circle, a 10 / 20 / 30 cm plate, an IPSC 46 × 76 cm
target (true inch sizes when Target measurements is set to inch) or a custom
size — until you pick one, it follows the distance: a
30 cm plate up to 799, IPSC from 800, a 1.5 MOA
circle from 2000.
Input Your Error Calls sets how far off your wind
speed, wind direction and range calls might be (shared by every
rifle) and each rifle's own field group. BC certainty comes
from the load itself (±0.5% for a trued BC or CDM curve, ±1%
for a published BC), and velocity SD is the load's own
Ave SD — 10 fps is assumed, with a
reminder, when none is entered. Your calls start at 0 on every visit, since they
depend on the day (Reset to typical fills in
typical values), while each rifle's field group is
remembered. The result shows the hit %, an impact plot with
the 1-SD spread, What's costing you hits — the
hits you'd gain if each error were perfect, so you know what to
work on first — how far you keep 80% and 50% first-round hits,
and an optional range chart.
CALCULATE works out the chosen rifle;
CALCULATE ALL RIFLES answers a second question: for
this exact shot, which of my rifles gives the best first-round
chance? Every saved rifle gets the same distance, wind, weather
and target plus its own group, ranked by hit %, with the target
size each needs for 50% hits; a rifle that needs more than
90 mil elevation can't reach the distance and is listed
at the bottom. A guided "Get the Job
Done" wizard steps through the shot one field at a time
and hands back your three best rifles. Velocity and
Elevation/Windage follow your unit preferences and each
rifle's own scope unit, and it reads the live weather snapshot
before every solve.
Equipment Reach Planner
Advanced feature level — see Standard and Advanced.
A single-rifle mechanical check: given the desired distance and
that scope's mechanical setup — available Up/Down travel from
zero and the current Picatinny rail/base cant — it runs the
rifle's exact active load and active weather through the
normal Ballistic Solver at a fixed level-shot test condition
(0° angle, 0 mph wind, DOF 0°) to isolate the elevation
travel actually required. If the current setup can dial it,
GS shows the remaining mechanical reserve. If not, tap
GET ME THERE for a ranked plan instead of just
a shortfall — a Recommended Solution (a standard rail/base
size, or a combined rail-plus-reduced-scope-travel fix), then
Alternatives: an adjustable canted mount, the minimum usable
scope travel to shop for, a Prism/TARAC-style external
elevation device, dialing to the mechanical limit and holding
the rest in the reticle, or a CHECK RIFLES
pointer to Hit Probability if another saved rifle needs less
elevation here. Ballistic flight state (supersonic /
transition / subsonic) is shown as informational context only
— it never hides the mechanical answer, since many legitimate
ELR shots arrive transonic or subsonic. The only genuine
NO-GO is an objective equipment limitation: rail/mount cant
alone can't close the gap even after practical configuration.
Nothing entered here is saved to the Rifle profile — it's a
rarely-needed check, re-entered fresh each time.
Universal Loader — Powder Dispenser Control
Connect a compatible BLE powder dispenser from Tools with a
single Tap-to-Scan — one unified scan finds AutoTrickler and
RCBS ChargeMaster Link devices nearby without picking a brand
first — and control it directly from the app, with dispense
control, Load Recipes, Powder profile management and guided
Powder Calibration. AutoTrickler V4 and RCBS ChargeMaster Link
are the confirmed, tested protocols; AutoTrickler V3 (BT05) is
implemented but not yet verified against real hardware. RCBS
ChargeMaster Supreme and MatchMaster are implemented but
untested — they appear in a scan marked Untested, with Connect
disabled until verified on real hardware. After an unexpected
disconnect the last AutoTrickler is reconnected automatically
before scanning, and connecting stays on the scan list with a
Connecting bar until the loader screen opens. Profiles and
recipes fold into the app's existing Full Backup/Restore.
Looking for the dedicated, standalone dispenser-control app
instead of this in-app tool?
See the Universal Loader app →
SG Pulse — Rifle Cant Indicator
Connect a Shooters Global Pulse unit over Bluetooth from Tools
/ Utilities for a live rifle-cant readout — LEFT, LEVEL or
RIGHT, straight from the unit — with a configurable
allowed-cant tolerance that stays green while you're inside
it, saved on the unit itself where the unit supports it, and a
Calibrate unit action that stores level in
the unit (Set Level only zeroes the reading in the app). Also runs a shot timer: a Pulse Pro unit
takes a single Timer up to 16:39, run on the unit itself; a
standard Pulse runs the same Timer on the phone instead, with
three start tones before the countdown begins. Up to 5 Alerts
(time + beep count, with a choice of beep sound) send
automatically. Confirmed working against real hardware.
Settings & Calibration
Manage measurement units and display preferences, user
details, and compass/sensor calibration that keeps
direction-of-fire and wind-effect readings accurate. Pick a
feature level:
Standard for the core tools or
Advanced for the specialist ones — it changes
what is shown, never the solver. Choose
Daylight — a light, high-contrast look for
bright sun, with charcoal structure and one orange accent for
key actions, and the default on a new install — or the
original Dark theme.
License Vault
Securely store photos of a firearm licence, searchable by name
and calibre, with front/back capture and PDF export for range
or compliance checks. Free and unlimited for everyone. Add an
optional expiry date to get Android reminders 6, 3 and 1 month
before it lapses, then weekly — even with the app closed — and
edit a licence after renewal.
