Ballistic solution question

[scotton]

The Kestrel with Applied Ballistics is the go to tool for the rimfire shooters. AB uses G1 and G7 as far as I know. So for shooting slugs from an airgun out to 350 yards, is the Kestrel an appropriate tool for getting your ballistic solutions?
I've been using Strelok for a while and I'm pretty happy with the data, but if I saw a smoking deal on a Kestrel 5700 I don't know if I would be able to resist. When I plug in different slugs in Strelok, it appears to use G1 for the drag info so I assume the Kestrel would be ok for slugs if the data was input correctly.

So is anyone using a Kestrel for slug shooting, and is it working for you?

 

[dgeesaman]

In terms of physical shape, the G1 is close to most slugs. Certainly closer than GA or other models.

 

[zer0dev]

I'm still testing out the SLG0 and SLG1 profiles by @Ballisticboy that are in the Mero desktop app. So far they match very closely to G1 out to 150 (just comparing in Strelok). If you have at least version 7.2.0 of Strelok, you can import those profiles as custom drag curves.

However AB has a truing feature where you can adjust your curve to actual real world data. It's like creating your own drag model. IMO it probably doesn't get better than that. Big turn-off for me though is trying to visualize all that on a crappy tiny Kestrel screen. When you've used an app on a phone like Strelok, going back to one color on a 512x512 screen (that's a guess) is ugly.

On the other other hand.... you've got a lot more device compatibility with a Kestrel... you can send that data to rangefinders and binos and get fast real dope. Depends a lot on your situation how useful that is. Hunting or a hunter style NRL match and that is awesome. NRL22 or PRS, not so much.

 

[Ballisticboy]

The suitability of G1 for slugs will depend on how fast you are trying to shoot them. Anything over 900 ft/sec will start to introduce errors, as the G1 drag law is not the correct shape above that speed, leading to misleading high BC values. That was the point of developing the SLG0 drag law, as it hopefully follows the true drag curve shape to higher speeds. Some shooters have found RA4 to be a better match than G1 at higher speeds.

Kestrel really needs at least RA4 to work properly at long ranges, unless you keep your slug speeds relatively low.

 

[scotton]

Interesting. I think I'll keep using Strelok until I feel like it's holding me back.