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Shooter or applied ballistics app for android

Jdaniel343

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 28, 2011
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Casper,WY 82601
I have been using SHOOTER for about 3 months and think the program is great for $10.
I was looing for a better app and ran across APPLIED BALLISTICS but it was $30.
I read some of the reviews and it seemed to offer more capability.
It does offer a reticle view of your hold over and windage.
This is great but I don't think it justifies the $20 increase.
Also I would swear the apps are written by the same person, as the interface seems the same with slight changes.
Has anyone used both?
Am I missing something that the APPLIED BALLISTICS program offers that SHOOTER doesn't other than the reticel view?
 
I have both and for me Shooter is easier for what I do. Dope at the range and in a deer stand. AB has more feature but I don't find I use them. You may. Admittedly though I haven't spent much time with AB.

I find myself using this screen in Shooter most of the time once my inputs are set. It allows me to scroll through different yardages easily and I can be at this screen in 3 'clicks' once I start the app. It's easy for me to adjust for different yardages quickly if/when needed when I'm hunting. (edt: disclaimer. I won't take at 1500y shot on an animal. Except for hogs.)

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Applied Ballistics is a great app and is even better if you have an iPad, but it's simply called 'Ballistic' for the iPad.
 
Applied ballistics and ballistic are two different apps. Applied ballistics is only out on android right now and ballistic is out on the iOs.

They are both feature rich and I have not messed with the applied ballistics one but they are not the same thing.
 
I have both. I used shooter until Applied ballistics came out. And yes I believe Brian Litz helped develop shooter? and he was the writter for Applied Ballistics. Both great Apps. Ap bal is everything you wished shooter would of been. Yes ret is there. But what i like is the correction for drop. You shoot say 950 yrds see were you hit and you can enter how many MOA or MILLS more or less you need at that yardage and hit 1 button for correct and it will apply that correction to the load across all yardage. And it gets you very close. Closer that the old way of going in and guessing how much of a change to make to the fps to equal the correct drop.
 
Applied ballistics and ballistic are two different apps. Applied ballistics is only out on android right now and ballistic is out on the iOs.

They are both feature rich and I have not messed with the applied ballistics one but they are not the same thing.

Thanks for clarification. I thought they were one and the same.
 
I should of been more specific. applied has a ballistic calibration. You enter range and actual drop at that range and it calculates fps and applies drop to program for all ranges for that bullet. I havent seen this in shooter. If there is please let me know were to find it because it makes it easier to get the app zeroed to the rifle.


As for those that havent used the ballistic calibration yet. Once you have your shooting solution push the menu button and you will see Ballistic Calibration push that and from there enter data.
 
Not sure how it looks on android, but the top right button with the arrow will bring up the menu in the first shot, you then can put in 1 to 5 points to true your velocity.

Ballistic since its for ios only isn't relevant to this thread, but also does the same thing.

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I have both. I used shooter until Applied ballistics came out. And yes I believe Brian Litz helped develop shooter? and he was the writter for Applied Ballistics. Both great Apps. Ap bal is everything you wished shooter would of been. Yes ret is there. But what i like is the correction for drop. You shoot say 950 yrds see were you hit and you can enter how many MOA or MILLS more or less you need at that yardage and hit 1 button for correct and it will apply that correction to the load across all yardage. And it gets you very close. Closer that the old way of going in and guessing how much of a change to make to the fps to equal the correct drop.

AB and Shooter were both programmed by Sean Kennedy. Litz provided him with the technical information and algorithms.
 
Ok that explains that on android it isnt the same. When you bring up the table there are not options at the top. You have to use the menu key and then there isnt an option like what i see there. Just a muzzle velocity tool and that just allows you to change the fps easy. One would think these apps would be closer from one operating system to the next but not so. Shooter is a bettter app on apple than on android.
 
Thats a raw deal for android users. That can be a very handy tool

Steves1911 and reddirt78. Bryan Litz posted a thread when he announced the app a few weeks ago and said they would be doing a few things with the app including an ios version. It did sound like it would be a while so don't expect it in the next month or anything.

I can't find the thread now, but it answered a lot of the questions in this thread straight from the man himself.
 
Sorry all but I'm coming from the stone age as of Friday (old old flip phone and range cards were my deal) Clarification please- is applied ballistics on android the same as ballistic ae on iPhone? If not do users of both shooter and ballistic ae have a preference? Thanks much.
 
Sorry all but I'm coming from the stone age as of Friday (old old flip phone and range cards were my deal) Clarification please- is applied ballistics on android the same as ballistic ae on iPhone? If not do users of both shooter and ballistic ae have a preference? Thanks much.

They are different apps. I use iOS and prefer ballistic ae to shooter but both are nice apps.
 
Much of this was mentioned above, but I'll repeat for clarity:

Shooter and Applied Ballistics Mobile were both programmed by Sean Kennedy. They both use my solver and BC library.

Shooter is available on android and iOS; AB Mobile is currently only on android but plans are to get it on iOS eventually (no timeline yet).

Ballistic and AB Mobile are unrelated.

The biggest advantages of AB Mobile over Shooter are:
1) Ballistic calibration beyond MV calibration. In AB Mobile, you can put in up to 3 downrange observed range/drop pairs to calibrate the solver vs. one point to calibrate MV in Shooter.
2) Fully functional reticle output view which supports zoom in 2FP and also FFP optics as well as 'dialed on' elevation. Single shot or multi-shot reticle view which shows range at each hashmark, or range increments.
3) Access to custom drag models for specific bullets. This enables direct drag modeling as opposed to the BC approach. Most useful for ELR trajectory modeling where bullets slow to transonic speeds (this is where a bullets drag is most unique and diverges from G1 and G7 models).

You can read more about the unique features of AB Mobile here:
http://appliedballisticsllc.com/AB_app.htm

Take care,
-Bryan
 
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At least for me I've found shooter to be more accurate due to Litz BC7s.

Agreed. I've used Shooter side-by-side with Ballistic, KAC BulletFlight, and the desktop Nightforce software on a netbook, out to 1700 yards with three different cartridges, and I have found that Shooter is most often the closest to what is really happening. As a corollary, I have also found that if my result on target does not agree with Shooter, EVERY time it's been because of some kind of input error on my part.
 
Brian Litz responded to an e-mail I sent to Applied Ballistics concerning questions I had about the app. I did not feel it justified the additional cost over Shooter.
He pointed out additional features and how to access them.
I am more than happy with the Applied Ballistics app now that I know how to access these additional features.
 
How do these compare to the Military version of Bullet Flight?
 
Just to throw in my $.02

I have Shooter on my phone, new rifle, first trip out, made sure to input all the correct needed info, Shooter was dead on out to 1300 yards with my .260. I'm sure the others mentioned are great also but for right now I have plenty of faith in Shooter as far as calculators go. I will still continue to build true data to go with it though.
 
Shooter work great for me the Bluetooth from my Kestrel is ify sometimes though. I might try the new Litz one soon just to see if I am missing something.
 
I have shooting solutions that i think i paid $5 for and it has worked well for me. i just figured that if i was going to pay more $$$ for a ballistic calculator i should just buy a dedicated PDA as well.
 
For me, the one touch atmospheric input data feature on Applied Ballistics is worth any added price. I don't have to exit the app find each part of the atmospheric data and manually input them one after the other. Just hit the button and give it a minute to gather and input it automatically.
 
I know Bryan Litz who is the Applied Ballistics guy and yes he helped with the solver for Shooter. He then did the Applied Ballistics app. That is why they look so much alike.
 
The .mil version of bullet flight sucks... Absolutely not as useful as AP,AE, or shooter...

I used Bullet Flight (mil) and Ballistic FTE on iPhone, and Shooter on Android. Was happy with all of them, and found them all quite useful. Noticed that each had its advantages and disadvantages compared to others. For example, Bullet Flight was extremely quick and simple to set up and get the adjustment data - faster and easier than the others. But those other program had easier access to extra features...
 
Does AB has the option to store dope results and atmospheric results from different outings (kind of like a databook)? I have shooter but it doesn't have it. Something that looks cool about ballistic ae (the iPad app) is the target analysis. Would be nice if AB or shooter had that
 
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I just made the change from Iphone to android. Not my choice so much, but a work decision. I have been using Ballistic AE on the iphone. How does AB compare to Ballistic AE?
 
For me, the one touch atmospheric input data feature on Applied Ballistics is worth any added price. I don't have to exit the app find each part of the atmospheric data and manually input them one after the other. Just hit the button and give it a minute to gather and input it automatically.
Can someone comment on this with regard to Shooter? I have not used either but if Shooter does not have this feature then it's worth mentioning!
 
I believe Shooter has the feature to gather atmospheric data from local weather stations (but I usually do manual input, you know to have an excuse for having bought the anemometer).