In-Depth Ballistics Discussion with Bryan Litz and Applied Ballistics

My approach to learning a technical subject like long-range shooting is to first understand the “theory”, and then get hands-on with the “practice”. One of the resources I’ve found most helpful in understanding the theory of long range shooting are the Applied Ballistics publications that cover ballistics, long-range rifle shooting, and more. This reading combined with lots of “trigger time” has helped me become a better marksman.

While at the 2019 SHOT Show, the team at Berger bullets helped to arrange an interview with their Chief Ballistician, Bryan Litz who is also runs Applied Ballistics! We were joined by Chris Palka who runs the Applied Ballistics lab, and is also an accomplished long-range shooter!

I took advantage of the opportunity to talk with Bryan and Chris, and this interview turned out to be my longest Ultimate Reloader video to date: we covered a lot of my questions and talked some very interesting new cartridges and products. Check it out!

Here’s a summary of what we covered in the video:

0:00 Introduction
2:31 Applied Ballistics (origins)
3:24 Ballistics fundamentals discussion
7:58 Unnecessary obsessions
12:45 Applied Ballistics Doppler and lab testing overview
14:50 Brian Litz’s load development method
21:00 Discussion of rifle dynamics and affect on accuracy
25:03 Neck tension, critical or not?
25:27 Surprises from lab testing
27:13 Bryan apologizes for long interviews
27:20 Cartridge fill ratio and powder burn speed
28:57 Chamfering flash holes?
30:49 Why G1 BC data in this day and age?
32:36 ELR product development
33:18 375 ENABELR ELR cartridge development
34:39 2,680 yard shot wins match
35:51 Starting ELR: going mile shot and beyond
36:35 Ordering/building an ELR rile in 375 ENABELR
39:12 Periscopes on riflesscopes for ELR
40:42 Scope level as critical factor for ELR
41:43 Applied Ballistics Seminars overview

If you want to jump to any of these “chapters” you can watch the video on YouTube (see markers in video description).

More To Come

We covered so many topics in this interview that I literally don’t have space to cover it all in this blog post! Instead, I’ll be taking a look at some of these topics, and will publish in-depth related stories. If you have something you’d like to see, please let me know and I’ll put it on my list of topics!

Many thanks to Brian Litz and Chris Palka for taking the time to talk with me at the SHOT Show, I really got a LOT of questions answered, and it was fun to talk for sure.

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Thanks,
Gavin

4 thoughts on “In-Depth Ballistics Discussion with Bryan Litz and Applied Ballistics”

  1. I am really enjoying your channel. Hey there is a australian on utube that has been doing ELR with different rifles and calibers you might want to checkin on him.

    utube: MarkandSam afterwork

    He also has a store with some of his wears that he uses for ELR shooting.
    https://4aw-store.myshopify.com/collections/bases

    Brian’s comments on brass prep is going to start a lot heads on fire.. 🙂

  2. I’ve been reading Bryan Litz’s books this winter and just recently ordered ‘Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets 3rd Edition’ to add to my reloading and shooting library. I found his information to be very educational.

  3. Great interview with Bryan and Chris. Your SHOT show coverage has been outstanding! Thank you for bringing us all the latest & greatest information.

  4. Hi Gavin, just a word to say you do an excellent job on YT and your website is perfectly fed with quality contents. Gratefully, from France. Geoffroy

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