How do I create my own DOPE index card?

[usmcveteran]

I was wondering what the benefits are and the process to follow in order to create a DOPE card for a rifle?

Also under what weather conditions do you do it under? Do you have to make more then one for the different seasons? I know that just a temperature change can throw off the values actually needed and the longer range shot you take the more the weather (wind, Temp, barometric pressure, ect) effects the trajectory of the round.

[24Pink14Stink]

Good question. I'm gonna have to use some google-fu, or wait for someone else to chime in.

[usmcveteran]

I am sure Mek can answer this when he sees it LOL! He is just a fountain of information.

[Meketrefe]

I think a ballistics card makes sense if you are going to shoot to a location and know the average conditions I don't see why not.
I think a general cheat list (quick card ) is very practical to have on the side with your quick correction and the rest easy to figure out
for fine adjustment. But obviously the fine adjustment becomes less critical with a fast and super-flat shooting cartridge vs. something slower with
a more pronounced parabola and that maybe doesn't buck the wind so well.
There are several methods that help the shooter although many shooters end up with a real time ballistics calculator based on the barometric pressure and weather
in front of them measured in real time with a kestrel and at the time of the shooting.
I guess deciding what would be most effective will depend on what kind of shooting one is intending to do.
wind reading is critical and no cheat cards or electronics will help if one cannot predict the wind with a certain degree of accuracy.

What round/caliber are you shooting?

[usmcveteran]

I am more of looking to learn how to do this so I can do it with any caliber for any rifle.

[Norm DeGuerre]

if you are correcting for barometric pressure, you have OCD

[usmcveteran]

LOL I was just using it as an example. At what distance do you have to factor in rotation of the earth?

[Meketrefe]

if you are correcting for barometric pressure, you have OCD

You need to take altitude very seriously or one will miss the target big time. Altenativelly by taking the barometric pressure in front of you there is no need for altitude (pressure drops with altitude) so I guess it depends on how one is calculating but w/o these and other key variables any attempt would be futile.

[Celt]

Ive made myself some cheat sheets. How to read wind from mirage is one. Then average trajectory for my chisen round, and wind effect.

Ideally, you need to find what bullet/powder,etc works best in your rifle. Then shoot the snot out of it from 100, 200, 300, etc... yards and record everything. Do this in hot, warm and cold weather, etc... this will tell you some basics of what your bullets do. Or, you can make xheat sheets from bullet manufacturer data (like me) to get you in the ball park, and tweak your own personal data from there.

Oh, two more cards i made were for calculating trajectory when shooting downward, or upward and some mil dot formulas for range estimating.

[usmcveteran]

thanks for sharing and I will take those other cheat sheets into consideration as well.