DOPE vs ballistic app

[Secret Squirrel]

I'm new to long distance precision. Shooting buddies have talked a lot about their DOPE books. I understand the purpose of DOPE, but it seems to me that I get the information I need in real time by using a ballistics app. Do DOPE books still have a purpose nowadays with the available technology? Doesn't a ballistics app give me similar (or better) information? All views appreciated.

 

[Egg]

Still need to field verify everything.

 

[BrandonK]

I think the apps get you close but in my experience are never spot on. Where once you have your dope, those results are repeatable under the same conditions etc, etc

 

[CharlieNC]

You need both. Dope is only good at similar ambient conditions as it was taken. On the initial uses of a ballistics app it should be within a few .1mils, but unlikely dead on. Use dope at multiple distances and ambient to calibrate the app (typically tweaking velocity) and then it should be universally applicable for any situation.

 

[MS50]

I shoot long range steel targets. I am not an advanced shooter. About half of the shooters I see around me use dope books. I've tried and it has not worked for me. I go with the ballistic app. My first shot tells me how far off my elevation adjustment is on that day and temperature. I shoot the rest of the match based on that adjustment.

 

[SheepDog]

So, rather than having the dope in a book you fire a sighting shot and use that dope for the rest of that shooting. If you kept a book you wouldn't need that first shot as long as the conditions were the same.

 

[ballisticdaddy]

The answer is yes to both, you need to know how to utilize a good BC app and have your own DOPE book. I have been shooting f-class for a few years now and use Applied Ballistics and JBM Ballistic as well as a DOPE card for each caliber. There are many times in the field where your smart phone, and or weather meter, either does not have signal or your battery is running low and need to fall back on the data you have collected. As good as all these apps are they are only as good as the data you input for any solution which is why the DOPE book is really the proof in the pudding.

 

[MS50]

I use Shooter App. I shoot in an area with no signal, so I input the elevation and the best temperature information I have when I work up a come up chart. If my first shot is high or low, I adjust the following shots accordingly. At that point, I don't know what variable caused the miss. It could be temperature, or muzzle velocity. If I return to that spot on another day, the adjusted DOPE may help me with a first shot hit on the first target of the day. I don't have enough data for that to be effective for me. That's why I go with the app. If I had large amounts of data for given environmental conditions, I may not need the app.

 

[SheepDog]

Without being able to put in the atmospheric conditions the App you have will never be accurate for long range shooting. Things like barometric pressure, humidity or dew point, wind direction and speed and shot direction are necessary components for calculating long range ballistics. Add to that your latitude, twist rate, and bullet information and you get a relatively close approximation. The software either needs that data or you don't get any accuracy from your software at all because it will default to standards which don't fit your environment.

 

[T-shooter]

I'm new to long distance precision. Shooting buddies have talked a lot about their DOPE books. I understand the purpose of DOPE, but it seems to me that I get the information I need in real time by using a ballistics app. Do DOPE books still have a purpose nowadays with the available technology? Doesn't a ballistics app give me similar (or better) information? All views appreciated.

I like ballistics programs but they are only as good as the information you put into them. If you don't have accurate G7 aerodynamics on the bullet and an accurate chronograph reading with that round in your rifle, you won't even be close. I figure the apps are better than nothing and will get you in the ballpark or hopefully on paper at longer distances. For instance, I once tested a .308 round (.208 AMax) at 2,430 fps and the rifle was zero'd in at 200 yards. Out to 500 yards on level ground, it shot nearly 6" higher than my scope adjustments (SWFA 16X) would indicate. It still shot about a 1/2 MOA 10 shot group. This is where the dope would help. It would be interesting to risk my chronograph and try to get some readings at the target at maybe 200-300 yards. Of course we all know what would happen!