Put Shooting Tips In Your Pocket

Six iPhone apps that keep you up to speed on ballistics, supplies and competitions.

CMP

$4.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cmp/id379873392?mt=8

This year go paperless at your competitions with the CMP app — the perfect tool for logging all your match scores so you can compare data and figure out strategies for improvement. Now you can concentrate on the match, and leave the calculator and pencil at home.

Hand Load

$0.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hand-load/id376701292?mt=8

Hand-loaders finally have a quick-reference guide to help them figure out exactly how much it’s going to cost them to make their own ammo and, most importantly, how much cash they’ll save by doing it. The Hand Load app provides great tips for the DIY cartridge guy, but it could easily be improved by including an instructional component and/or a resource for getting supplies.

Shotgun Pattern

$0.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shotgunpattern/id409575910?mt=8

The Shotgun Pattern app eliminates some of the guesswork involved with selecting a gauge/choke/shot combo, and shows your pellet dispersion pattern over a 30-inch area at a variety of distances. The only thing I don’t like about this app is that now I have to come up with different excuses for missing all those mallards . . .

Gun Shop Finder

$0.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gun-shop-finder/id367657352?mt=8

Ever been to a shooting match in an unfamiliar town when you needed to make an emergency repair on your gun and didn’t no where to turn? Well neither have I, but if it happens to me I’ll be ready with the Gun Shop Finder app. Designed as a companion to the www.fflgundealers.com website, the app uses my phone’s GPS to quickly scan a database of 58,000 shops to find the closest options. I can also search by city name. This app is worth 99 cents, but that’s about it. Usually if an app does something I can already do pretty easily with a native app like Maps, it takes a few extra features to really win me over.

Range Spot

$4.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/range-spot/id401939931?mt=8

Range Spot is a “locator” app designed to assist shooters in finding shooting ranges, with a list over 7,000 to choose from. In contrast with the Gun Shop Finder, this app has additional useful features, but even with direct links to range websites, a favorites list, and the ability to email the information to friends, this app is overpriced at $4.99.

Spot-On Ballistics app, by Nikon

$4.99
Itunes Rating: 4/5 Stars
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nikon-spoton-ballistic-match/id399224811?mt=8

I’ll admit that I’m no range rat when it comes to my rifles, shotguns and pistols, nor am I super-technical when it comes to my deer, elk and varmint setups. And while most of my very longest rifle shots have not required me to factor in the Coriolis Effect (the earth spinning on its axis) I knew I could use something that will give me a little more confidence in how my bullet will behave after it leaves the barrel.

Nikon’s Spot-On ballistics app provides detailed information on projectile flight chosen from a library of thousands of bullets, while factoring in critical atmospheric conditions and shot angles. Created with the Nikon customer in mind, Spot-On allows the user to choose the reticle of any scope in the Nikon lineup and then adjust a magnification slider to figure out the scope’s exact field of view at a given yardage.

Another great feature of this app are the “field tables” which offer useful data such as velocity, energy, flight time, drop and drift of the bullet. Overall, one of the best ballistics apps out there, and a great deal at $4.99. Spot-On was created by Pinsoft, a company that also offers a deluxe ballistics program for your desktop machine, called Shoot!. It can be found at http://www.ballistics-software.com/

Outdoor App Guy

I'm a dedicated hunter and fisherman trying to find the best mobile app solutions for other hunters and fishermen. Which apps have come in handy for you? Leave me a comment and let our readers know!