It’s Not Black Magic: It’s Gravity Ballistics - Snipers Hide

I’ve spent my profession working behind the scenes throughout the firearm business making connectionsand constructing manufacturers. I do my greatest to keep away from the limelight, supporting the oldsters who’re drivingthe 2A group ahead.

Making the Vortakt Connection

This story started this previous SHOT Present, the place I used to be working on the U.S. Hid CarryAssociation sales space as a part of the USCCA Official Associate Advertising and marketing crew. I’d been a protracted timelistener of “The On a regular basis Sniper” and had managed a couple of advert accounts on the platform over theyears, so I had a reasonably strong baseline understanding of the Sniper’s Cover model and the historical past ofthe web site.

Whereas my 9-5 occupation at present finds me working extra with handgun and carbinecurriculum, my true ardour (and profession background) has been within the precision rifle house. I stillcontract with a handful of various producers in my off time to remain lively in that market.Dwelling in southeast Wisconsin, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a couple of completely different barrelmanufacturers over time. The variety of challenge work provided by these producers isnever-ending, as most of them assist quite a lot of completely different firearm platforms.

I’ve had the pleasure of performing some consulting work with Vortakt Barrel Works over the pastfew years, an interesting expertise that has opened my eyes to the way forward for OEM barrelmanufacturing. By leveraging automation expertise and a consistently evolving product line ofbutton and cut-rifled barrels, Vortakt is uniquely positioned to ship barrel manufacturingsolutions that may competitively assist nearly each pistol, rifle, and shotgunmanufacturer in existence.

Frank popped by the sales space to debate the advert marketing campaign Vortakt was working on the Cover, andthe dialog veered towards curriculum improvement and teacher certification applications.After a short chat, we agreed to satisfy up for a category later within the 12 months to check notes ontraining and training.

My Historical past with Gravity Ballistics

Months handed and the Midwest climate took a flip for the higher as summer season kicked intogear. Frank, the Vortakt gang, and I organized for a short two-day class in Ohio over Labor Dayweekend to discover the simplicity of Gravity Ballistics.

The Gravity Ballistics idea wasn’t solely new to me. Just a few years again I’d leveraged aSniper’s Cover worksheet as a part of a “Precision Rifle Putt-Putt” idea, which was a little bit of ahybrid discpline tying in components of each sporting clays and PRS-type competitors. PrecisionRifle Putt-Putt featured a half dozen phases fired at targets positioned from 100-600 yards thatwere rotated on a month-to-month foundation. We had initially set it up as a self-scored and untimedcourse of fireside with the intent to make it a wonderful selection for shooters occupied with practicingfor PRS type matches, or new shooters simply getting concerned with the game.

It wasn’t lengthy till we found that a lot of the shooters who confirmed as much as Precision RiflePutt-Putt didn’t come to the occasion with strong velocity numbers and viable DOPE, which made ita little bit of a battle to get everybody dialed in for the complete course of fireside. What was our reply tothat downside? Weaponized Math!

Weaponized Math has continued to evolve and has since been rebranded as “Gravity Ballistics”.Fascinated by the idea, the Vortakt crew and I made a decision to ship a couple of of us out to take aGravity Ballistics class subsequent time he was up in our neck of the woods.

Getting ready for the Gravity Ballistics Class

With that idea in thoughts, Garrett Fravert (Vortakt’s Manufacturing Engineer) and I attempted toapproach our class from a brand new shooter’s perspective. We spun up a pair of Vortakt’s 400 Seriespre-fit barrels (one chambered in 6mm GT, the opposite in 6XC) for the category, zeroing them at 100yards and bringing them together with no pre-existing DOPE playing cards or information constructed out in our ballisticcalculators.

Whereas we hadn’t carried out a lot in the best way of load improvement (I used to be working manufacturing unit 6mm GTammo and Garrett had spun his barrel on the day prior with a recognized handload recipe), I hadspent a little bit of time studying by the Precision Rifle Marksmanship: The Fundamentals beforeI had arrived. It breaks down the rules of Frank’s class in an simply digestible method,weaving in some storytelling all through to maintain it a fascinating (and generally entertaining)learn. If you happen to plan on signing up for considered one of these two- or three-day courses, I extremely recommendgiving this ebook a learn. It’ll undoubtedly serve to make the category an much more fulfilling expertise!

The Gravity Ballistics Classroom Expertise

Garrett and I loaded up the truck and took off to the countryside surrounding Ashtebulah, Ohio,the place Frank had a non-public vary lined up with metal got down to 1,100 yards. This location is oneof many ranges throughout the nation that Frank teaches at yearly. Regardless of the place you reside inthe decrease 48, there’s doubtless a Sniper’s Cover class in driving distance to your location no less than onceannually.

Adjoining to the vary was a small prefabricated cabin that served as our classroom for themorning. Frank arrange his projector and slide deck, strolling us by a security temporary and every of

The teachings included in his curriculum. The course format was extraordinarily effectively thought out anddigestible for learners and superior marksmen alike.

Each Garrett and I’ve spent quite a lot of years competing in varied disciplines, however thecontent of the presentation was nonetheless related, as Frank’s wealth of information drove theconversation out and in of varied completely different subjects delivered by a slide deck presentationbroken up by casual Q&A classes the place Frank and Laura helped fill within the gaps wherever wehad questions. Probably the most fascinating (and distinctive) ingredient to this era of instruction was anoverview and introduction to the Gravity Ballistics idea.

Gravity Ballistics is a straightforward answer to a sophisticated topic. Earlier than a shooter engages atarget at distance for the primary time, the query of “how far ought to I maintain over?” is often thefirst one which crosses their thoughts. Skilled shooters might expertise a sure stage offrustration calibrating ballistic apps, calculators, and chronographs in an ongoing effort to trueand validate their information.

Gravity Ballistics takes the guesswork out of the equation. By leveraging probably the most basicNewtonian rules, this straightforward mathematical formulation delivers predictable, repeatable,exact, and correct outcomes.

Lunch Break and Extracurricular Leisure

Earlier than we obtained an opportunity to place this principle into apply, we broke for lunch at an area diner.Whereas Sniper’s Cover courses present an excessive amount of classroom and vary coaching, a terrific deal ofthe worth additionally pertains to the conversations that happen exterior of the coaching environments.Lessons are a terrific place to construct relationships (with college students and instructors alike), and bothFrank and Laura leaned into this idea wholeheartedly, swapping loads of entertainingstories, sharing insights, and usually making the journey throughout the Midwest a really enjoyableexperience. This expertise and camaraderie extends effectively past noon lunch breaks, oftenextending late into the night at native watering holes. One factor is for certain, for those who’re signing upfor Frank’s courses, there is no such thing as a scarcity of excellent meals, drink, or entertaining dialogue!

The Gravity Ballistics Vary Expertise

Classroom studying is a good way to digest data, nevertheless it’s no direct substitute forseeing the outcomes manifest themselves downrange. After lunch we returned to the vary,Garrett and I broke out our rifles and gear for a bit sensible utility.

The Rifles

Each Garrett and I had constructed our rifles round Vortakt Barrel Works 400 Sequence 6mm barrelblanks with a 1-8 twist. These hand-lapped, match-grade barrels are distinctive, in that they’rethe greatest barrels you possibly can’t purchase.

Vortakt operates solely as an OEM provider to rifle, pistol, and shotgun producers,which signifies that whereas there’s a reasonably good likelihood you will have a Vortakt barrel or two inyour assortment, it’ll be bought underneath one other producer’s label. Their barrel blanks areclassified in a numerical system based mostly on ending operations and manufacturing strategies,starting from 100 Sequence (that are mass-produced by a extremely automated course of), to500 Sequence barrels (hand-lapped single-point reduce rifled barrels which might be run in smaller batchquantities).

The 400 Sequence barrel blanks that Garrett and I used throughout this class are button-rifled, butfeature a bore end and tolerances that immediately compete in opposition to a number of the high manufacturers inthe business.

Past that, Garrett and my rifle setups diversified pretty considerably. Garrett’s construct wasassembled round an American Rifle Firm Mousingfield, with a 22” 6X-chambered barrelthreaded for an Space 419 Brake and his suppressor (I didn’t occur to catch the make andmodel on that one). The remainder of the construct specs had been rounded out with a Tubb T7TTrigger, Basis Genesis inventory, Nightforce ATACR (5-25×56 with MOA changes), andHawkins DBM.

The Rifle is on level with Gravity Ballistics

My construct was chambered in 6mm GT with a pre-fit barrel mated to a Bighorn TL3, additionally threadedfor an Space 419 Hellfire muzzle brake. Pre-fits are a reasonably new product line for Vortakt, so I waslooking ahead to emulating the success that their 400 Sequence barrels have been delivering, asI’ve not too long ago run throughout a handful of Vortakt staff profitable quite a lot of native and regionalmatches within the Midwest PRS/ELR circuit.

This specific barreled motion encompasses a Bix’n Andy set off, an American Protection MFG PRC-700SA chassis (a design an engineer buddy and I had drafted up and put into manufacturing anumber of years prior), with a Nightforce ATACR 7-35×56 with MOA changes).H4: Wind, Trajectory, and the Fundamentals

Use 100 Yard Zero with Gravity Ballistics

Zeroing our firearms, Frank and Laura offered a diagnostic evaluation of our place andtechnique by the Lengthy Vary WTF worksheet. This method to establishing soundfundamentals was a singular expertise each Garrett and I had by no means encountered, nevertheless it servedto help in offering consciousness to every of our unconscious “dangerous habits” that we had developedover the years. My largest battle revolves round physique positioning straight and again fromthe rifle (I are likely to offset my backbone and core ~2 levels to the left), whereas Garrett’s biggesttendency was to hurry and slap the set off.

Upon finishing the diagnostic evaluation of our place, Frank walked us all the way down to our 100 yardtargets and recognized how these variables impacted shot placement. Throughout this evaluation it wasclear that I used to be shedding my pure level of intention halfway by the course of fireside, inflicting me tomuscle the rifle again on to the goal, primarily making a twin group sample on the goal.My 5 spherical group dimension was effectively underneath an inch throughout this zeroing session, and I otherwiselikely would have simply chalked up my incapability to ship sub-half MOA group sizes to the standard of the Hornady manufacturing unit ammunition I used to be working with out that positional deficiency gettingcalled out.

Growing DOPE With Gravity Ballistics

As soon as we had been dialed in on our inclined place and had confirmed our zero, we started to workour approach out from the 100-yard line to construct out our DOPE utilizing the Gravity Ballistics formulation.My intention was to return at this class with a zeroed rifle, relying solely on the course to getdialed in at distance (reasonably than my typical method of getting the rifle zeroed,chronographed, with a load developed, and Kestrel information trued to my BC previous to the category. Afterall, the intent of this class was to validate the Gravity Ballistics formulation, emulating theexperience a typical first-time long-range shooter who might not have these instruments accessible attheir disposal.

When this topic got here up earlier within the class, Frank highlighted this course of because the mostefficient option to construct out a trued information set. Whereas his courses had beforehand struggled to inputtheir DOPE, enter information into their calculators, after which spend a major period of time truingup these apps and gadgets, the period of time and spherical depend required to achieve “Attempt DOPE”and “True DOPE” is enormously diminished by leveraging this device.

With that in thoughts, I wished to validate the formulation Frank had set forth, to see if any averageJoe may DOPE out their rifle utilizing information gathered at your typical public 200 or 300 native riflerange.

Utilizing the worksheet provided, I entered the calculations for my holdover at 200 yards. Ratherthan participating the goal to develop our DOPE, Frank had us participating an orange waterlinespray painted throughout the midpoint of the metal. This train compelled us to position further focuson precision from a vertical dispersion viewpoint, participating every goal with 3+ rounds tovalidate these findings with a pattern dimension of some measure of significance.

As soon as we established our “X DOPE” at 200 yards, we crunched the (quite simple) numbersoutlined on the Gravity Ballistics worksheet, verifying that information by participating a goal at 300yards. All three impacts had been spot on on the waterline, proving out our “True DOPE”. We thenrepeated this course of at 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, and 1,000 yards, validating anddeveloping our “True DOPE”. We in a short time found that the mathematics offered by theGravity Ballistics formulation was spot on (inside .1 mil) all through the complete course of fireside!

Gravity Ballistics: Truing DOPE along with your Ballistic Calculator

We closed the day with truing up our DOPE with our Kestrel Climate Meters. Frank highlightedfour key distances that help in validating the “Goal” portion of the WTF method to lengthy rangemarksmanship.

We first established the info at 100 yards (our zeroing distance). We then used the valuedelivered at 300 yards as our base worth (producing our “Attempt DOPE”). By leveraging theholdover worth at 600 we had been capable of extrapolate our projectile velocity, with the 800 yardDOPE serving to establish our Ballistic Coefficient.

By aligning our True DOPE with these 4 information factors, we had been capable of efficiently take theguesswork out of dialing in on a ballistic coefficient or requiring the usage of a chronograph.The extent of simplicity on this method was astounding, and we closed with a short conversationon how related alternatives exist with diminished vary options (for rimfire rifles) and windmeasurement (Frank is engaged on one thing alongside these traces with Chris Manner).

At this level we headed again to our motels to drop off our gear and get cleaned up, beforemeeting up at an area tavern for dinner and cocktails, the place we mentioned the day’s occasions,shared some tales, and obtained a short obtain on the following day’s plans.

Day Two of the Gravity Ballistics Class – Sensible Fundamentals of Precision RifleMarksmanship

The second day of the category deviated a bit from Frank’s commonplace vary workouts. We quicklydiscovered that that is regular, in that the wants of the scholars are likely to range relying on theirgeography and self-discipline. Of us in Alaska could also be taking his class to coach up for an upcominghunt, college students out west could also be making ready for an NRL Hunter match, whereas the East Coaststudents could also be seeking to run extra barricade apply for PRS.

Garrett and I felt we may use a bit further instruction on tripod taking pictures, so Frank andLaura embarked upon an impromptu “hip pocket” type class highlighting a number of the recentadvances in tripod expertise and method. This was a terrific studying expertise for Garrettand I, because it had been fairly a while since we had invested in tripod gear.

Frank led with a short interval of instruction on rifle positioning and physique alignment (putting therifle at mid-chest stage, buttstock assist methods when participating targets off of a separatebarricade), in addition to an indication in ball head stress adjustment (shifting from 75% to50% as soon as our pure level of intention was established). As soon as Garrett and I obtained behind the tripod,we dialed in on 6” gongs at 418 yards, persistently getting hits with Frank’s setup.

Whereas Garrett and my tripod setups had been definitely serviceable in getting impacts on course,Frank’s tripod offered us with higher ergonomics, faster engagement, and the flexibility tobetter spot hits and misses.

We then shifted from tripod work to barricade apply, discussing bag positioning,developments in bag design (fill, dimension, and many others.), and spent a while participating targets at a range ofdistances.

The day closed with a short wind studying session, as we made our approach again to an elevatedplatform behind our earlier firing line, participating targets 1,100 yards distant. I used to be a bitsurprised by how effectively the 6mm GT reduce the wind in comparison with a number of the different cartridges I waspreviously accustomed to (6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win), offering me with a newfoundrespect and understanding of why most of the newer 6mm cartridges have taken the PRSworld by storm these previous few years.

After we wrapped up the Day 2 long-range course of fireside, Garrett and I wanted Frank and Lauraa farewell, embarking on the lengthy drive again to Menomonee Falls, WI. If you happen to’re a brand new orexperienced shooter, I’d extremely advocate taking considered one of these courses placed on by the Sniper’sHide cadre. For brand spanking new shooters, you possibly can go from bringing a precision rifle with no information toeffectively participating targets out to 1,000 yards in lower than a single day’s time.

Whereas there are some upfront prices with journey and sophistication enrollment, this sort of experienceserves to save lots of new shooters a full 12 months or extra in troubleshooting and getting began in theprecision rifle sport (together with 1000’s of {dollars} in rounds wasted refining your method).It additionally offers a terrific alternative for extra seasoned shooters and rivals to diagnoseissues which might be doubtless costing them priceless factors every match (or sport harvested, for thoseactively engaged within the long-range searching group).