kestrel sportsman link and kestrel link ballistics

FOG HORN April, 2016

Twobirds Flying Publication

Copyright 2016, Towbirds Flying Publication. All Rights Reserved.

Kestrel Sportsman and Kestrel Link Ballistics

Your entry to accurate long range shooting

Kestrel Sportsman and Kestrel Link Ballistics 2016

Copyright 2016, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

Kestrel Sportsman and Kestrel Link Ballistics – Your entry

to accurate long range shooting

By: Sal Palma

Military and Police snipers are no strangers to

the challenges of accurate long range shooting.

The more notable of these are the often

unpredictable and continuously changing

environmental conditions. Forgetting for a

moment the variability inherent in ammunition

loads, ammunition temperatures, bullet seating

depth and how the shooter was holding his

tongue at the time the trigger was pulled, the

reality of long range shooting is that once the

bullet leaves the muzzle, everything is out of

your control. So as proficient marksmen we

collect data and make an estimate of the proper

elevation and windage needed to have a

projectile strike an 18 inch target at 800 to 1000

meters (the generally accepted outside range

for the 7.62 x 51mm round.)

Long range shooters confront four challenges:

the shooter himself, the weapon system,

ammunition and the environment. With

exception of shooter related factors, the degree

to which the shooter has control over the

successful shot is limited. Of the four obstacles

to precision shooting, environmental variables

are by far the more difficult. For that reason,

industry developed tools that allow the shooter

to collect real-time accurate environmental

data upon which to calculate a reasonable firing

solution. Enter the weather meter.

When first introduced to the tactical precision

shooting community, the weather meter only

performed the limited functions of an

anemometer, barometer and thermometer. The

shooter was then required use the data points

to approximate proper windage and elevation.

It certainly was no trifle benefit, and before

snipers started carrying weather meters they

either had to close the target or make a best

guess estimate of what atmospheric conditions

were. They also had to pour through a “dope

book” to determine the firing solution. Later

renditions of the weather meter would include

a digital compass which provided the shooter

with an accurate wind direction; however, all

this required the shooter to keep relying on his

dope book and experience to arrive at a firing

solution. Industry responded by incorporating

ballistics software in the weather meter’s

architecture; resulting in a system that provides



the shooter with elevation and windage

adjustments calculated using real time

environmental data. For sentimental reason or

in the interest of redundancy, it may never

replace the venerable dope book but it certainly

has accelerated its demise.

The next step in the development process was

to introduce an r.f. communications link back to

a smart device so that the meter calculated

ballistics solution and environmental data could

be displayed remotely on the shooter’s smart

device. Enter the Kestrel Sportsman LINK and

Kestrel Link Ballistics app.

In this review, I’ll be taking you through the

system starting with the Sportsman LINK, a brief

background on Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) and

concluding with the Kestrel Link Ballistics app.,

but first I’ll quickly run through the financials.

To gain access to the latest technology, you’ll

need to invest just north of $1,000 on a meter,

smart device and tripod. You may already have

some of these components and if that’s the

case you are in Fat City. If you own or are

considering an Android device, which I strongly

recommend for a variety of reasons unrelated

to this review, you’ll want to make sure that

you’re at Android OS 4.3 or higher. Getting back

to the financial decision, is the investment

worth it?

I guess the answer to that depends on your

shooting skills, and I am not opposed to

someone learning or sharpening Kentucky

windage skills, but even professional precision

shooters achieve more consistent hits when

using a weather meter and ballistic calculator. If

you are limiting your horizons to hitting a target

out to 300 meters you may want to rethink

plunking down a grand; however if you can see

yourself exploiting the limits of your rifle and

caliber to the their full operational range then a

ballistic computer and weather meter are

indispensable.

Let’s take a look at one example. Your target is

600 meters out and you have a 12 o’ clock 13

mph wind, do you use your dope book data of

3.7 mills, do you decrease elevation or do you

add elevation? While you’re at it, what effect

does temperature and barometric pressure

have on your firing solution? The answer to my

question is add elevation in a headwind, but by

how much? I think you can see that making an

accurate long range shot is a little more

involved than looking through the sights and

squeezing the trigger, and looking through a

dope book trying to find a firing solution that

approximates current conditions is not practical

and very time consuming. Your $1,000

investment now begins to make more sense.

The Kestrel Sportsman LINK is a member of the

5000 series line of Kestrel wind meters

designated the 5700. The meter integrates

ballistics calculation with environmental

functions that include all of the meteorological

data like station pressure, temperature, wind

speed and wind direction, pressure altitude,

density altitude, etc., etc. The ballistics function

is handled internal to the meter using Applied

Ballistics’ software optimized specifically for the

Kestrel weather meter1.

Weather or Ballistic modes are selectable via

the options/exit button on the front of the

meter, and selecting one mode, or the other,

does not disable the unselected mode’s

functionality. Everything is still there, including

1 The Kestrel Sportsman can also be used with external

ballistics apps like Strelok Pro version 3.1.3 and higher.



your ballistic solution; you simply won’t see it

on the meter’s display.

On the ballistics side, Kestrel added spin drift

correction in the 5700 Sportsman. Spindrift is a

gyroscopic effect imparted to the bullet as it

travels through the air. It’s a directional point of

impact shift caused by the bullet spin applied as

it moves through the bore’s rifling. Right hand

rifling imparts right spin drift and left hand

rifling imparts left spin drift; however, spin drift

is the least of your concerns unless you’re

shooting 800 meters and beyond. However, it is

there and becomes increasingly more

significant as range to the target increases.

The Applied Ballistics software in the Sportsman

makes accounting for Spin Drift very easy.

Simply scroll to the Environment submenu and

set Spin Drift to Yes. The software will then

correct for spin drift when calculating your

firing solution. Very nice to have, just set it to

yes and never think about spin drift again.

Unless you just enjoy worrying!

Continuing on with the ballistics package, the,

with Applied Ballistics software, supports both

G1 and G7 drag functions. I prefer using the G7

drag function because it is the military standard

for all the traditional military calibers but

beyond that it produces a consistently better

drag curve with correspondently better results.

When using G7, you’ll notice a lower ballistic

coefficient for your bullet, which in my opinion

is probably closer to what the true aerodynamic

performance of the bullet in flight is.

One very nice feature included in the

Sportsman is the flexibility to independently

display wind and elevation corrections in mils,

TMOA, SMOA or clicks. As much as I like this

feature, one area where I would like to see a

small change is in how the firing solution is

displayed. Taking a look at the picture below,

the ballistic solution displayed as 9.43U 0.97L

(Wind 1) and 0.89R (Wind 2) I happen to know

that my elevation value is expressed in mils and

my wind in clicks, but what if you forget what

you defined it as. A nice addition to the next

firmware revision could be something like

subscripting the units being displayed; for

example, 9.43Um and 0.97Lc to indicate 9.43 mils

up and 0.97 clicks left.

At the current software revision, v 1.05, if you

select to display the firing solution in clicks, the

software displays the value in two significant

digits, for example 0.97L as you can see above.



I would like to see Kestrel implement rounding

so rather than showing 0.97L, the software

displays 1L. I’ve never encountered a magnified

optic capable of a fractional click value.

In its latest Sportsman, Kestrel made a couple of

physical changes that merit naming. The meter

is now powered by a single AA battery instead

of the familiar 2 AAAs. They also moved the

battery compartment to the rear of the meter

isolating it from the mother board. The change

protects the motherboard from a leaking

battery. The display screen was also improved

to provide a higher resolution and improved

visibility in bright light.

The Sportsman features Bluetooth LE (Low

Energy) which Kestrel markets as Bluetooth

Smart, you may also here it called Version 4.0+.

This version of the Bluetooth specification

offers two relevant features for the precision

shooter. First, the extremely low peak, average

and idle mode power consumption significantly

extends battery life. Second, it allows for some

of the tightest security in the industry with 128-

bit AES data encryption. Bluetooth LE offers

other benefits that software developers should

consider but are beyond the scope of this

writing. The Sportsman’s LINK opens the door

to interfacing with external devices and sensors

like Bushnell’s ELITE CONX laser range finder.

To take full advantage

of the Kestrel LINK

technology, the

company developed an

Android app that I had

the opportunity to beta

test last year. The

Kestrel Link Ballistics

application puts the full

power of the Kestrel Sportsman LINK at the

shooter’s finger tips via a remote smart device.

The app has a number of very useful features;

for example, using the application a user has

the ability to create several bullet/gun profiles.

Using the screen above, the shooter can supply

the app bullet data, gun data, scope data and

muzzle velocity / temperature table data. The

shooter enters parameters like bullet weight,

ballistic coefficient, muzzle velocity, scope

elevation and wind units. I like to use mils for

elevation and clicks for wind, but the app will

support TMOA and SMOA also. Additionally,

the shooter can collect muzzle velocity and

temperature data that will be used in the

ballistic calculations.

Once a shooter has created the profile, he can

save it to the smart device and upload it to the

Sportsman meter. The end result is a database

containing all of the bullet / gun profiles you

intend to use.



The Sportsman meter will store 3 bullet/gun

profiles and the Sportsman Elite will hold 16

bullet gun profiles. Although you can build

profiles in the app and store them on the smart

device, the user must select the active profile

on the meter itself. I’d like to see that changed

in future releases of the Kestrel Link Ballistics

app so that the operator has full control of

directly from the smart device without having

to interact directly with the meter.

Nielsen Kellerman markets the Sportsman

meter in three configurations

Coyote Brown: $419 (No Bluetooth LE)

Coyote Brown with LiNK only: $519

Coyote Brown with LiNK and Vane

Mount: $559

I strongly suggest that you purchase the

Sportsman with LINK (Bluetooth LE) and the

Vane. It’ll set you back an extra $140 but it is

well worth its cost. Using this arrangement, you

can mount the meter on a tripod and

continuously capture wind data (speed and

direction.)

The firing solution is presented with the screen

shown above. Here you’ll find elevation and

wind corrections for real-time environmental

data. In this scenario I have some light wind

from the 3:30 direction. The wind corrections

displayed also includes the spin drift correction.

Here the user can also adjust range by swiping

the screen or using the designated + or -

controls.

Range adjustments can be fine or coarse. The

range steps are selected through the settings

screen, under range swipe, and the shooter can

select a variety of adjustment steps. I used 1 to

achieve the finest possible control. Lastly, if you

purchased the LINK version of the Sportsman

the App if free!



Nielsen Kellerman (NK) has come a long way

since introducing the wind meter into the

tactical and military space. With the integration

of ballistic software with traditional

environmental functions, NK has ratcheted the

benefits available to a precision marksman.

With the introduction of LINK technology

they’ve added still another layer of

performance. On the aggregate, NK’s

developers have effectively shortened the kill

chain and measurably improved shooter

accuracy. With its Sportsman line, NK makes

professional grade technology available to long

range enthusiasts and hunters.

If your target resides beyond 300 meters or if

you want the ultimate in precision, you’ll want

to give serious consideration to the Kestrel

Sportsman LINK. Check it out!

-SP

Manufacturer Specifications

What's new with the Kestrel Sportsman Weather Meter with Applied Ballistics over the previous Kestrel 4500 Sportsman series:

Bluetooth LINK to Smartphones / Mobiel / Android / IOS

Spin Drift - this was not on the 4500 Sportsman

Takes 1 AA battery (instead of 2 AAA)

Battery door is in the back, sealed away from the motherboard,

should your battery leak as was common with all the 4000 series

Improved high resolution screen for any lighting (even sunlight) and

easy on your eyes.

Intuitive user-interface screen navigation

Multiple Languages: English, French, German, Spanish

Scratch and breakage-resistant window

All meters include both options of Red (NV - Night Vision)

& White backlights.

Slightly bigger, not really noticeable difference. Fits same cases.

Roughly 10,000 data points.

Kestrel Sportsman Weather Meter with Applied Ballistics Features

Employs the enhanced Applied Ballistics G1/G7 solver, including

Aerodynamic Jump, Spin Drift and Coriolis corrections to achieve

accurate long-range shots.

Muzzle Velocity Truing allows for accurate measurement of bullet

speed without a chronograph.

Optional LiNK connectivity powered by Bluetooth Smart® provides

wireless communication to mobile devices and computers. and

integration with LiNK compatible laser range finders for improved

speed and accuracy.

Choice of solution units (Mils, MOA, or clicks)- works with any gun or

targeting scope.

Weather mode offers the full environmental measurements, storage

and charting capabilities of the Kestrel 5500 Weather Meter, including

wind speed, direction, crosswind, temperature, humidity, pressure

and altitude.

Large, hi-res, hi-contrast, graphic display is perfectly readable in the

brightest sunlight. Includes both bright white and night-vision-

preserving red backlight.

Kestrel LiNK for Ballistics app on iOS and Android provides

convenient gun management and backup.

Rugged (drop tested to MIL-STD-810G standards), waterproof

(sealed to IP67 standards) and floats.

Protective pouch, neck lanyard and Lithium AA battery included.

5-year warranty

kestrel sportsman link and kestrel link ballistics

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