Lapua Offers Free Advanced Ballistics Software

Lapua has used sophisticated Doppler radar to calculate the actual air drag of its bullets throughout the course of bullet flight. Drag coefficients derived from these continuous field measurements make it possible to calculate bullets’ trajectories with great precision. By using Doppler-radar derived drag coefficients, trajectories can be predicted much more accurately than when using the simplified one-number BCs provided by most other bullet-makers.

To enable shooters to calculate trajectories (with the Doppler bullet data) more effectively, Lapua now offers a FREE special edition of QuickTarget Unlimited (QTU) software tailored for Lapua bullets. QTU is a very sophisticated program that allows you to choose among 12 different drag models. QTU also allows you to compensate for rifle firing angle, rifle cant, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity.

Using this free software, you can calculate the trajectories of Lapua bullets to a great degree of certainty. With the QTU Program, as starting values, you need only bullet type and muzzle velocity (add windspeeds if known). The software will calculate bullet drop, velocity and energy as a function of distance and flight time. Complete QTU instructions are in the QTU Manual.

CLICK HERE to download QTU Software Manual. (Read the manual. QTU is complex with many variables and uses metric values by default. The manual explains how to set everything for yards and MOA, and how to input data for wind, temperature, rifle angle and other variables.)

How to Get the Software
To get the FREE QuickTarget Lapua Edition software, first go to the Lapua Ballistics Start Page. On that page, click the “Register” link. Fill in ALL the required info (user name, password, email etc.), and hit the “Create Account” button. Validation: Lapua will send a message to the email account you listed. Open that email and click the internal link to verify that you have an active, valid email account.

OK, now go back to the Ballistics Start Page. Fill in your user name and password, and click the “Login” button. A new page should open with the heading: “About QuickTarget Unlimited (QTU) Lapua Edition”. OK, now move your mouse pointer left and click on the words “Download Lapua Edition”. Now a new page will open.

Almost done. Scroll down and you’ll see a blue “Download Now” button at the bottom. Click that, then click “Agree” on the software license screen that comes next. After you click “Agree” a new page appears showing: “QuickTarget Unlimited Lapua Edition”.

Click the link for “qtulapua.zip” and a 6.1 megabyte .zip archive file will be downloaded to your computer. Open that .zip file and click the “SETUP.EXE” file to install the software.

TECH TIP: Diameters Vary Among Bullets of Same Caliber

Choosing the right-diameter bullet can have a big effect on accuracy in match rifles. “Wait a minute”, you might say, “doesn’t one simply choose a 6mm bullet for a 6mm barrel and a 7mm bullet for a 7mm barrel, what’s the big deal?” Well… it’s not that simple. Not all bullets of the same nominal caliber actually have the same true diameter. We’ve seen different-brand 6mm bullets vary by as much as a full thousandth (.001″) in diameter. Over the past couple of years, we have seen undeniable evidence that a poor “fit” of bullet diameter to bore dimensions can result in a poor-shooting gun, even one with a high-grade barrel.

Conversely, if you find the bullet diameter you barrel likes, that may instantly improve your accuracy. The accuracy gain may be more significant than making changes to the bullet seating depth or even powder charge. The importance of bullet diameter is compounded by the fact that 6mm match barrels are available with both .236″ and .237″ land diameters. Some barrels prefer “fat” bullets while other barrels prefer “skinny” bullets.

Jason Baney measured 12 different sets of 6mm Match Bullets, including a couple different lots of the same bullet design. Interestingly, Jason did measure the “old” Berger 105 VLD, the “new” Berger 105 VLD (first lot from the new die), and the “new, improved” Berger 105 VLD from the new die, after it was polished. Ten (10) Bullets were measured per type. Each bullet was measured three times (3X) around the largest circumference, normally where a pressure ring would be located (some bullets have a pronounced pressure ring, others do not).

Download this CHART as an MS Word Document.

Columns one and two of the chart show the smallest and largest bullet diameters measured for each 10-bullet sample. The third column shows the extreme spread over each 10-bullet set. Note, these numbers are NOT averages, but represent the “low” and “high” diameters for each set. (FYI: Jason noted that while the Lapua Scenars measured very consistently the earlier 2005 “JEVDAK” lot had noticeably smaller meplats than 2007 and 2008 lots.) A Mitutoyo Micrometer was used, zero-checked for each bullet.