Ballistic Program - run for one of mine.
What happens in the field is always correct - once I made the final BC adjustment.
POI will change from day to day, but is accurately predicted by the software.
Well that's true if you want to be that precise. (really not needed for a 100yard shot with a muzzleloader) Still it's easy to use scoped rifle as a makeshift transit. (unless you happen to have a real transit)
The place most ballistic computers go wrong or the users go wrong is factoring sight angle.
Computers often use a standard (muzzleloaders are not standard guns) or people don't actually measure and change the values from the standard.
Actually shooting gives you experience, and you learn what a target and sight picture looks like at different ranges.
I'll take actual shooting every time over a computer, A computer is only as good as it's operator, and if a person can't shoot then they probably can't compute or vise versa.
I agree with most of what you say. Especially about shooting at 100 yards,
However - the OP has eluded to precision shooting, and precision matches with BP do happen all over the country, where targets are measured in hundredths of an inch accuracy.
Check out Balisticarc - runs on a mobile phone, has a one time - lifetime - registration fee. Last I checked it was less that 25 bucks.
Using a google earth interface - displayed satellite image, based on GPS positioning, you can pin the shooter's location, and as many targets as desired.
The result chart for each target is based on:
All weather factors - read from Weatherlow dongle or closest weather station if you don't have a dongle.
Temp, air density, wind, pressure, humidity.
All physical factors
Direction of the shot, elevation, elevation difference between shooter and target, and a lot more.
Picts are of one of my favorite hunting spots showing clear shooting lanes and distances from my pop up last year.
The long target spot is where I found the buck laying. I decided to pin that spot - you obviously can't see it from the pop-up location.
It's nice when hunting to have a quick reference on distance, so when I set up I look down open lanes and spot the trees or other landmarks so I will have a good idea of the actual distance, especially on shots beyond 75 yards where PRB drop is rapid and an extra 25 or 30 yards can make a shot too low.
