The Target Graphic

Ballistic Explorer Version 6.1.0 introduced the Target graphic to help users visualize the bullet's position relative to the LOS (Line Of Sight) from the muzzle to the target and past. Firearms also have an inherent accuracy often expressed in MOA (Minute Of Angle), which the Target graphic helps visualize as well.

When looking at the Target graph assume you are looking through a scope with it’s crosshairs perfectly aligned to the target’s center, and this forms the line of sight. If there’s a cross wind and you fired a tracer bullet, you would see it start out below the line of sight and rise some distance and at the same time drift left or right depending on the direction and strength of the cross wind. If you captured the tracer bullet’s path as seen through the scope it would trace out a line that represents where the bullet is relative to the line of sight for each range as it travels to and past the target. That path is represented by the somewhat strange looking red, green, and blue lines.

Given a target at some range, the colored circle with crosshairs represent the bullet's strike point. The size of the circle represents the inherent accuracy of the rifle.

Let's take a look at all the controls and see what they do...