Command line ballistics calculator
- Calculate:
- Projectile energy
- Projectile momentum
- Projectile velocity
- MPBR: Maximum Point Blank Range or Battle Zero is a military term refering the maximum distance a weapon can be fired to hit the torso of a human target (roughly 18×9 inches) every time (baring extreme weather or cover conditions) when aiming at the center of mass.
- Output
- Human formated for interactive usage
- JSON formated for easy scripting
$ ballistic -m 123gr -v 50000fps
Projectile Velocity: 50,000.001600 feet per second
Projectile Energy: 1,851,154.550587 joules
Projectile Momentum: 121.466834 meter kilogram per second
Max Point Blank Range: 15,147.150313 feet
$ ballistic -m 123gr -v 50000fps --locale IN
Projectile Velocity: 50,000.001600 feet per second
Projectile Energy: 18,51,154.550587 joules
Projectile Momentum: 121.466834 meter kilogram per second
Max Point Blank Range: 15,147.150313 feet
Note that the first run defaults to my locale of en_US.UTF-8. If a locale is not found or supported (yet) the default is en_US.
$ ballistic --mass 42g --draw-weight 80lb --draw-length 0.72m --json --pretty
{
"energy": {
"label": "joules",
"value": 128.10867801984
},
"momentum": {
"label": "meter kilogram per second",
"value": 2.319604379378794
},
"mpbr": {
"label": "meters",
"value": 16.731140499999988
},
"velocity": {
"label": "meters per second",
"value": 55.22867569949509
}
}
$ ballistic -a 45 -d 100m
Projectile Velocity: 790.133355 meters per second
Max Point Blank Range: 239.365366 meters
$ ballistic -a 45 -d 100m -m 300gr
Projectile Velocity: 790.133355 meters per second
Projectile Energy: 6,068.197170 joules
Projectile Momentum: 15.359932 meter kilogram per second
Max Point Blank Range: 239.365366 meters
$ ballistic
NAME:
Ballistic - Calculates what it can based on provided input.
USAGE:
ballistic [global options]
VERSION:
0.5.1
GLOBAL OPTIONS:
--debug, -D Output debug info
--draw-length LENGTH, --length LENGTH, -l LENGTH Bow or sling shot draw LENGTH. Used to calculate projectile velocity, energy, etc.
--draw-weight WEIGHT, --weight WEIGHT, -w WEIGHT Bow or sling shot draw WEIGHT. Used to calculate projectile velocity, energy, etc.
--json, -j Output JSON data
--locale LOCALE, --local LOCALE The LOCALE to format number output for. (default: "en_US") [$LC_CTYPE, $LANG]
--precision PRECISION, --float PRECISION, -f PRECISION The output floating point PRECISION (numbers after decimal mark). (default: "6")
--pretty-print, --pretty, -p Pretty printed JSON output
--projectile MASS, --mass MASS, -m MASS Projectile MASS (weight). Used to calculate projectile velocity, energy, etc.
--projectile-range value, --distance value, -d value The distance the projectile traveled
--projection-angle value, --angle value, -a value The projection angle or trajectory of projectile
--radius RADIUS, -r RADIUS The RADIUS of the target area. Used to calculate MPBR (Maximum Point Blank Range). (default: "225mm")
--velocity VELOCITY, -v VELOCITY The projectile VELOCITY (speed). Used to calculate projectile energy, momentum, etc.
--help, -h Output this help info
--version, -V Output the ballistic app version
VALUE SUFFIXES:
All input values may be suffixed to allow for broader input selection.
ANGEL
d, deg, degree, degrees
r, rad, radian, radians
LENGTH
c, cm, centi, centimeter, centimeters
f, ft, foot, feet
i, in, inch, inches
k, km, kilo, kilometer, kilometers
m, meters †
M, NM, Nm, nm, nmi (Nautical Miles)
mm, milli, millimeter, millimeters
y, yd, yrd, yard, yards
MASS
#, lb, lbs, pound, pounds
g, gram, grams
gr, grain, grains
kg, kilo, kilogram, kilograms †
lt, long-ton
mt, tonne, metric-tonne
st, stone
t, ton, short-ton
VELOCITY
fps, feet-per-second
kmph, kilometers-per-hour
kn, kt, knot, knots
mph, miles-per-hour
mps, meters-per-second †
† This is the default and will be used if no suffix is specified
If most or all of the input values are in imperial units then the output will use imperial units as well.
There are many online resources to help with calculating ballistics for guns and more archaic weapons such as bows, slings, etc. But there are few command line tools. I like command line tools. They don't require a working Internet connection. They can also be piped into a toolchain to help with automating processes. That's often difficult or next to impossible with most online tools.
This is my choice over using make to facilitates building the binaries and creating distrobutions. I use just which is such a great command runner in the style of make! But without the many issues associated with using one of the many, many different versions of make. I can barely express the love I have for such tools. I highly recommend it!
Ballistic can format the human output numbers per locale norms. It currently checks for locale settings via the environment variables LC_CTYPE and LANG. It also allows you to specify a locale such as en_CA or FR-CA for English or French Canada for instance or simply EN for general English speakers, DE the German language or country, etc. via the --locale option.
AUAustralia/Australian -- Country and language standardCNChina -- Country standard when using arabic numeralsDEGermany/German -- Country and language standardEN-SIUEnglish International System of Units standardEN_CAEnglish Canadian standardENEnglish -- The same for the USA, UK, and many others. Who would have thunk?FR-SIUFrench International System of Units standardFR_CAFrench Canadian standardHKHong Kong -- Country standard when using arabic numeralsIEIreland/Irish -- Country and language standardINIndia/Indian -- Country and language standardISIsrael/Israeli -- Country and language standard when using arabic numeralsJPJapan/Japanese -- Country and language standard when using arabic numerals
Note that locales with two sets of letters can be seperated by a hyphen or underscore. Both are valid and are interspersed above just for illustrative purposes.
- Calculate:
- Projectile drop at distance
- Projectile momentum at distance
- Projectile mass given distance and velocity
- Projectile penetration reference (WIP momentum + ballistic coefficient)
- Compound Bow (modern cambered bow): projectile energy and velocity
- Automagically:
- Set output units based on locale. At least switching intelligently between metric and imperial units.