Hi guys!

Good news, I reached a point I think the new Online version of PointBlank is ready to let people play with. Before I create a general announcment here and on other forums about its availability, I'd like to have people give it some stress testing to see if there are any remaining bugs or problems I've missed.

It is accessable by registered members, from the Modules menu on the left if the page, or directly from this link: www.huntingnut.com/ind...lankOnline

How its SUPPOSED to work:

When you first visit it, you will see a title message followed by the data fields that must be filled out, they should all be blank except for Temperature and Elevation which I pre-loaded with default data.

Enter in your data and hit Compute, if you have any bad values, values outside of the specified ranges, it will redraw this menu with the incorrect values highlighed in light red. A red message is also displayed explaining there is a problem with the data.

If the data is correct, the server takes a moment to calculate the ballistics and output them as both a dynamic graphic as well as tabulated data. By default the tabulated data shows all 1000 yards of the trajectory, to show less rows from the Data entry menu you can change it to 1,5,10,25,50,100 yard increments.

Once a trajectory has been successfully computed, you can press Compute New Trajectory and it will return you to the Data entry screen BUT, it should have all your last variables used preloaded into the fields! I Found this to be very useful. In fact the last variables used by a specific person are stored and will automatically be preloaded the next time you visit PointBlankOnline.

Now for bug testing: You can email me or you can reply to this post if you notice any strange behavior or error messages. Errors will most probably be due to file opening errors. Copy the error and either post it here or in an email to me.

If you guys have time, try lots of ranges, variations etc etc. If you have a copy of the downloaded PointBlank double check some of the values against it.

If you see something really wierd, you can take a screen shot of it and email it to me (if you dont know how to do that dont worry about it). I think overall its pretty stable and there shouldnt be too many issues. After a few days of testing we can announce it.

Thanks guys!


-DallanC

Dallan,
It worked fine for me. No offense, but I like the download version better. I've been using it for well over a year and just a couple of days ago found this site. Absolutely the best ballistics program I've tried, no exceptions, I love it. I think it's great that I can compare several loads at once and see their respective trajectories. Super program. I joined this sight and am really enjoying it. Thanks for all your efforts.

Blaine

I understand completely. I too like the downloaded version better. Its alot more robust and its a ton faster. Lots of people wanted an online version though and it was good programming practice to port it to php.


-DallanC

Dallan,

Did a check of Point Blank Online vs. the Norma Ballistic calculator. Only did one comparison but, the calculations were very close. The time-of-flight only varied 0.6% at 600 yds.

A17Shooter

Dallan -

The online version is nice but I think online users would appreciate from the Point Blank Range calculator as well.

As you know, I've been a Point Blank user for several years and really like it. Dummy that I am, I never noticed the lead calculator until this evening! I've always taken the ETA and calculated the lead - had no idea all I had to do was scroll to the right. Sheesh!

One question, one you've answered before and one I don't recall the answer to:

What do the "Total Drop" and "Max Y" values represent and why/how are they useful?

Thanks!

CH

Total Drop is the path of the bullet launched out of a perfectly horizonal barrel. In real life we angle the barrel slightly upwards to give us a "zero" at some yardage downrange. I've had requests from people to include it in the output. I dont use it myself

Max Y is the flight of the bullet if there were no gravity to pull it back down to earth.I again had requests from people to include this in the output as well. If you were theoretically shooting vertically, the path of the bullet would more follow the MaxY trajectory than the normal one. I hope to someday merge these two behaviors together and be able to calculate the trajectory of angled shots.


-DallanC