Help with RCBS Load ballistic program?

A

alinwa

oft dis'd member
I recently replaced my old RCBS Load software because my old setup which came on two floppy discs can't be loaded onto my current computers and my old comps all died........the only thing I use on RCBS Load is their external ballistics tool. I set it up on 'table' and am comfortable with it. I understand it, find it useful. There's a whole lot of other stuff on RCBS Load I'm sure, but none that's useful to me.....

New program is just like the old program BUT, it has some "improvements."

So here's my problem.... I can't get the windage plot to work for me, the new program plots the bullet path to 'zero' at the selected yardage instead of just showing wind drift as raw data. I need to know HOW MUCH drift, not some useless plot of how the bullet flew to hit the target at range. I can't USE this plot for anything.... I need to reset it to just show the drift. Just tell me how far the bullet is deflected!

I'm a klutz..... as Boyd Allen can confirm, I get lost quickly in "settings."

I can't figure out how to change it, or if it CAN be changed.

Anyone else use this tool?

help??

al
 
Al, there's a box called "Axial" View (top right corner), click on it and it will give you impact changes both Wind and Elev. @ whatever yardages you want on the PLOT GRAPH. Move the cursor anywhere along the "plot" (CLICK) and it shows where the bullet is at in relation to your zero. This can also be done with multiple bullets, velocities and other variables that you "plug into". Roger T. PS you can also go to Updates and download all current Helps , Bullet info, and RCBS Load Version updates for free.
 
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OK Roger..... in both my old one and new one the axial view screen pops up in the lower left corner and it seems to be just a "rear view" representation of wherever I want to look at the flight path.


This doesn't give me any meaningful data, just another view

al
 
I don't mind the fact that the gravity drop is plotted to a zero because it's a constant but the wind isn't and out in the field I don't have a 100yd sighter target to find my "side ups" ("comesides???)
 
Al, In the Axial view it will give you the "drift" in Inches ,Moa , or clicks whatever you have you tables set at before or after the "zero distance" in the white box next to the actual "view box". Example: Say your zero is 200yds. and your target is 300yds. make sure you set the "Climate settings" Wind, Baro Humid, etc. Your "Zero" will ALWAYS (in this case) be 200yds. If your wind setting is 10mph. click on the bullet plot line (anywhere) and it will give you a + or - in inches (what have you) from your zero. You can also set up the tables to give you this same info across the bottom of the page (in whatever yardage steps you prefer) you can also print this info out if that is easier. PS It may be easier to talk you through this I"ll send a PM with my Ph # or you can send you'res what ever works for you. Roger T
 
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OK, here's how I figure for wind. I spend a lot of time establishing what I call a "dead air zero" which is what I feel to be centerline or NO windcall. Now, from this centerline I need to know total "drift." It does me no good to know that If I "zero the drift" at 200 yds it'll be XX at 400yds. I CAN'T ZERO THE DRIFT, anywhere.....I need raw data, deviation from centerline.


No, I don't figure raw drop from the muzzle, because gravity's a constant, but that's how I work the wind. My old program was set to compute drift at yardage, if it said 45" drift at 600yds I held (or dialed on) 45" for drift. This new one says "If you have the drift dialed in to hit at XXyds then it will be such-and-such at XX yds." I cannot figure hold-over from this information.


useless


al
 
Just to give me something to think about, how close can you guess which way and how hard the wind is blowing?
 
I can't :) I use indicators, flags and wind meters. Then I SWAG it but after all that. If I can get within 20% that gets me on paper.

Of course on known target ranges I can get closer than that, normally call the wind to within a foot or so sidewise.

al
 
Al, not what you were asking (it isn't RCBS), but won't the JBM site give you the information you need with the trajectory calculator (it has a slot for wind speed)? The downside, kinda, is you have to enter the wind speed you're interested in and recompute, but not really -- assuming similar wind direction, it is a simple arithmetic function. Actually, it's not that bad an arithmetic calculation even if you assume a different angle. See the older Hornady reloading manuals, volume II.

Or maybe I've not understood, again...


http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

A list of all JBM calculators

http://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistics/calculators/calculators.sht

Edit: I imagine you're familiar with the site, but he does have some ballistic software for sale, too:


http://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistics/software/software.shtml
 
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Here's the thing...... I've owned the RCBS program for over twenty years, I've got hundreds of printed out comparison charts and they're all formatted similarly so that I can illustrate comparisons quickly and easily. At the present I'm working with some really off-the-wall (for me) projects and I need this comparison ability. One of the projects eats up nearly 200 FEET of drop but only has 50 inches of drift in 10mph crosswind.

But I can't illustrate that with this new program because it graphs to hit at yardage and shows a small amount of drift offset in the middle of the flightpath.

Sure, I can FIGGER it.... I can use another program or fake this one out with two printouts but that's not what I want :) I want it to print like all my dozens of others. And I can call RCBS, but I know where that will go from prior experience, three days and two hours of phone time later I'll finally find someone who understands the problem....
 
OK (this is pixxing me off just a liddle ;: ) just look at this situation. I want to shoot a coyote at 685yds with my (perfectly capable/worthy) 300WSM. I've measured the crosswind and swagged it such that I'll just chart for a 10mph crosswind.

Here's what RCBS tells me. To hit the coyote the bullet will loop over about 12.5 inches near the "middle" of it's flight and come back to zero to lay infinite waste to said canis latrans...so WHERE DO I HOLD?????

estupido

al
 
Al , Set the ZERO dist to 10 (minimum allowed). You now have your TOTAL drift @ whatever range you want. My bad earlier, the bottom tables for drift are only in Inches. Edit to ad, If you go to the "Traj. specifics as Tables" it will give a Finer view (mine is in 3 yd. increments).
 
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Roger T said:
Al , Set the ZERO dist to 10 (minimum allowed). You now have your TOTAL drift @ whatever range you want. My bad earlier, the bottom tables for drift are only in Inches. Edit to ad, If you go to the "Traj. specifics as Tables" it will give a Finer view (mine is in 3 yd. increments).
Click to expand...

THIS is what I referred to earlier when I said "I can print two charts" (("fake this one out with two printouts")) but I don't want it this way, it's USELESS this way :)

And I own the older version, it does do it my way, the useful way.

al
 
IF it's the marketplace..... it's just as likely someone's idea. I have got the designers name now, and contact info so I will be finding out right from the developer's mouth.
 
Well, this guy ain't like RCBS ........ I've got multiple emails and phone messages in and not even the hint of a reply. No acknowledgement of receipt.

Looks like I WON'T be finding out from the developers mouth.

In the meantime I have a hard time believing that the change is in response to the market :) I can't imagine anyone finding the newer method useful. Plus, it simply reeks of designer hubris. I know how engineers think and I know how shooters think.


I think I just wasted a hunnerd bucks..... time to go to a geek and ask how to load my old program from floppy's. Do they still sell floppy readers I wonder?


LOL

al
 
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