The Information Age has brought some great new tools to the shooting world. Digital wind meters, rangefinders, scales and optics have revolutionized the range, and putting bullets right where they need to be has never been easier.
Shooters can improve their lives both on and off the range with a number of new apps available for iPhone and Android users. Take a look at the following great apps for shooters to see how your life can benefit:
1. AmmoSeek
It’s the perennial problem of every gun owner: finding cheap ammo. The Internet is a big place, and shooters only have so much time on their hands to scour the corners of the web for the best prices on ammunition. The solution? Have AmmoSeek find it.
AmmoSeek, available for Apple and Android devices, is a search engine for ammo. Simply input the ammo type and caliber, and the app will find the lowest price online. Pickier shooters can even sort by grain weight, bullet type and brand to find their preferred round at the lowest possible price. Plus, users can also find magazines and reloading components using the same search engine.
The best part? The app is totally free.
2. Gun Disassembly 2
Usually, gun people are tinkerers. They like to know how their tools work. Fortunately for them, Gun Disassembly 2 gives shooters all of the information they could ever want to know about the construction of their firearms.
This app, available on iPhones and Androids, features 3D models of 133 different kinds of firearms, from concealed-carry guns and hunting rifles to belt-fed machine guns and grenade launchers. Users can learn how to do a complete field-strip and detail-strip of every firearm in the app, down to rivets and pins. The app also gives users the option to use an X-ray view to see the inner workings of a firearm, and an operation mode shows the basics of firing and reloading in real time and slow motion.
The app is free to download and includes 10 free starter guns, like the Glock 19, but additional guns must be bought.
3. iSnipe
For the serious shooter, iSnipe offers one of the most sophisticated mobile ballistics calculators available today. The app uses an exclusive ballistics library to develop military-grade 3-DOF shooting solutions for more than 150 different pistol and rifle calibers, including corrections for pitch, yaw, wind, Coriolis Effect, spin drift and atmospheric conditions.
The app comes preloaded with almost 1,500 bullet and air rifle pellet designs and more than 2,400 factory ammunition profiles. The app also uses the phone itself to calculate angle measurements. Simply set the phone on a cool barrel, and the app will record the phone’s angle as a starting value. The app also taps into GPS positioning to determine local weather conditions. In addition to the calculator, the app also offers trajectory tables and graphs.
Unfortunately, the app is currently only available to users of Apple devices. The app is $14.99.
4. Nikon Spot On
For owners of Nikon optics, the company has an app that correlates the points on any given Nikon BDC reticle with different ranges, depending on a shooter’s given ammunition choice.
Once the app is downloaded, simply select whichever Nikon scope is being used. Then select the particular ammunition being shot with that scope. Finally, input the rifle’s zero distance and the distance to target. The app will calculate the aiming point for the given target, and will also tell the shooter which BDC aiming point to use for different ranges with that given load and zero.
The app itself is free to download for both Apple and Android devices, but users must have a Nikon scope in order to effectively use the tool.
5. NRA-ILA
Of course, every responsible gun owner should always keep tabs on the ever-changing world of gun laws and legislation. NRA members already get updates through their monthly magazine subscriptions, but a lot can happen in a month.
So, to keep shooters and Second Amendment supporters informed, The National Rifle Association and its legislative arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, developed an app that allows users to keep tabs on the news in the world of firearms. The app offers information on gun laws, state and federal legislation updates and Armed Citizen reports.
The app is free to download and simply requires an activation code, which can be submitted through email.
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