#BallisticCalculator

FN Herstal have announced that snipers of the French Army will be using the FN Elity ballistic calculator operationally. The Elity is FN’s all-in-one system incorporating a laser range finder, laser designator, illuminator and a calculator to “increase hit probability and situational awareness”. The Elity will be used in conjunction with the SCAR-H PR which the French Army selected as their new Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle in 2020 and their PGM .50 caliber anti-materiel rifle. FN say that the French Army’s Ground Forces Battle Lab found during testing that the Elity improves shooting accuracy by 25% and also lightens the equipment carried by snipers by 6kg/13.2 lbs by replacing other gear.

As a consumer of commercially available ammunition, I’ve found that some manufacturers don’t care to list their test barrel length, which has at times, been a hindrance to my shooting experience. I would like to express my hope that all ammunition manufacturers will someday readily provide the information about what length of test barrel was used to help create the muzzle velocities boasted on the cardboard box of any given load.  Let’s look at some examples of where knowing the test barrel length could help a shooter.

How about a Laser Range Finder with a ballistic “solver” that presents the data to you via an OLED screen?

TFB first reported about the new Steiner M7Xi IFS 4-28×56 – Intelligent Firing Solution – about a year ago.

While ballistic calculators have largely removed much of the math skills that were required to shoot long range, they have become quite the handy tool making long-range shooting accessible (and enjoyable) for those not steeped in ballistic mysticisms. Stepping up to take more mystery out of long-range shooting is Hornady, with the latest update to their ballistic calculator program dubbed “4DOF” for “Four Degrees of Freedom.”

Steiner released a video about their new ICS optic. ICS stands for Intelligent Combat Sight. It combines a laser range finder with a ballistics calculator in a compact optic. It is a fixed power 6x40mm optic. As expected of Steiner it is water proof, fog prof, and shock proof up to 750G.