Aerodynamic Drag Modeling for Ballistics

By Bryan Litz

Part 1: Aerodynamic Drag 101

Aerodynamic drag is an important consideration for accurate long range trajectory
prediction. The data and methods used to account for aerodynamic drag can make or break a
long range shot. This article will describe how aerodynamic drag affects modern small arms
trajectory predictions, and how drag modeling has evolved from its meager beginnings to its
current level of refinement.

The Physics of Aerodynamic Drag

Please don’t let the title scare you! This is the shooter-speak version of the physics;
distilled down to the practical elements.
Some of you may have read about G1 and G7 standard projectiles and standard drag
models. Figure 1 below shows these two standard projectile shapes and the associated drag
curves that go with them. Now, a lot has been made of these so called drag curves, and how
well they represent the drag curves of modern bullets. But what IS a drag curve? What
physical significance does it have? Why does it appear the drag goes down as velocity (Mach
number) goes up? Shouldn’t drag increase with speed? Certainly feels like it when I put my
head out the car window and hit the gas…

Figure 1. G1 and G7 standard projectile models and their associated drag curves.

ABDOC130 Copyright © 2016 by Applied Ballistics, LLC. All rights reserved. 1

 Here’s what’s going on in Figure 1. The Coefficient of Drag (CD) is plotted against the
Mach number. The Mach number is how fast you’re going in relation to the speed of sound.
For example, Mach 2 is 2 times the speed of sound, Mach 3 is 3 times the speed of sound, etc.

It’s clear to see that the drag coefficient peaks at or near the speed of sound (Mach 1),
then tapers down as Mach number (speed) increases.

Before we talk anymore about the drag curves, we have to address the elephant in the
room: Why does the drag coefficient (CD) go down as speed increases!?!?

It’s a good question, and one that needs a clear answer if this article is to make any
sense at all.

The key is understanding that CD is a coefficient. It doesn’t represent the force of

aerodynamic drag in pounds or any other units. The coefficient of drag is just a number that
says how much drag a certain shape will have at any given speed. More streamlined shapes
have lower drag coefficients, and blunter shapes have higher drag coefficients. But how does
the drag coefficient relate to actual drag in pounds? It’s probably best if we start from the top
on this.

All of external ballistics is based on how much velocity the bullet loses as it flies thru the
air. The amount of: drop, wind drift, time of flight, and every other aspect of a bullets trajectory
are all determined by the bullets velocity, and the rate it’s slowing down. In physics, there’s a
name for the rate in change of velocity: it’s called acceleration. When something is slowing
down, it’s tempting to say it’s decelerating, but the correct terminology is negative
acceleration. Remembering that this is the shooter speak explanation, I’ll shamelessly refer to
bullets as decelerating throughout this article.

In order to know the exact amount of deceleration the bullet at all points in its flight, we
need to know the force that’s acting on it. Newtons second law of motion tells us clearly that an
objects acceleration is equal to the force applied to it, divided by its mass. Since the mass of a
bullet is easy to know, it all comes down to the force that’s applied; the aerodynamic drag
force.

In words, the aerodynamic drag force is equal to the dynamic pressure, times the
bullets frontal area, times its drag coefficient. These 3 terms bear some discussion.

Dynamic Pressure
Dynamic pressure is basically the pressure of the oncoming air flow. One of the
important factors in determining the dynamic pressure is the air density. Every shooter knows
that ballistics programs need to know the air temperature, pressure and humidity in order to
calculate a long range trajectory. Well, this is exactly where those things come into play. The air
temperature, pressure and humidity determine what the air density will be, and this directly
affects the dynamic pressure on the bullet, which affects the aerodynamic drag, and hence the
bullets deceleration. To imagine the difference that air density has on drag, imagine moving
your hand as fast as you can thru air, then under water in a swimming pool.
The resistance you feel is greater in water thing applies with air that’s more or less dense;
because the density of the fluid is greater. The same
higher density air creates more drag, which results in
greater drag, which decelerates the bullet faster…
One interesting property of dynamic pressure
is that it increases with the square of velocity. In
shooter speak, that means that if you double velocity,
the dynamic pressure is 4 times greater. If you triple
velocity, dynamic pressure is 8 times greater, etc. It’s
not linear. The units of dynamic pressure are pounds
per square foot. If you’re really interested in knowing
the equation for dynamic pressure, you can skip to
Figure 2. Dynamic Pressure increases
more at higher speeds.
the technical appendix. Just for an example, a projectile moving along at Mach 3 which is 3348
fps in standard conditions would experience 13,310 pounds per square foot of dynamic
pressure. At Mach 2 (2232 fps) the bullet feels 5,916 pounds per square foot of pressure and
by Mach 1 (1116 fps) the bullet feels a mere 1,479 pounds per square foot of pressure. Of
course if the air density is higher or lower than standard, the dynamic pressure would be more
or less accordingly.

Frontal Area
Dynamic pressure gives us the pounds per square foot, so in order to know the actual
force of aerodynamic drag in pounds; we need to know the area on which the dynamic pressure
is applied. This is simply the frontal area of the bullet in square feet.

Frontal area is the most straightforward

and least exciting aspect of calculating
aerodynamic drag. The equation for frontal
area is given in the technical appendix so you
can calculate it for any bullet. As an example, a
.308 caliber bullet has a frontal area of 0.000517
square feet. To calculate a drag force for Mach 1,
2, and 3, we simply multiply the dynamic
pressure at each of these speeds by the
projectiles frontal area giving: 6.9 pounds at
Mach 3, 3.1 pounds at Mach 2, and 0.8 pounds
at Mach 1 for a .308 caliber projectile in Figure 3. Multiplying the dynamic pressure
standard conditions. times frontal area gives force of drag in
pounds.
Now that we know the pressure and the
area it acts on, we can show the actual

aerodynamic drag force over a range of velocities. Figure 3 is basically the same as Figure 2
with the exception it shows velocity units in feet per second and the force of drag in pounds.
 At this point we can say that dynamic pressure acting on the bullets frontal area is what
makes aerodynamic drag. But what about the shape of the bullet; surely the shape has an
effect on drag?

Drag Coefficient
And now we’re finally getting to the point. As we stated in the beginning, the coefficient
of drag (CD) is a number that scales the basic drag calculation for the shape of the projectile. A
bullet like a wadcutter which is purely blunt in front and back will have a drag coefficient close
to 1 because the frontal area is taking the full brunt of the dynamic pressure. It’s experiencing
all the drag possible. But if you give the projectile an ogival nose and maybe a boat-tail, it will
experience less drag at the same speed. The drag coefficient is the number that describes how
much. Going back to Figure 1, you can see that at Mach 3 (3348 fps), the G1 projectile has a
drag coefficient of 0.51, while the G7 projectile has a drag coefficient of only 0.24. In the
previous section we learned that at Mach 3, a .308 caliber bullet has 6.9 pounds of drag applied
to it at this speed (dynamic pressure times bullet frontal area). However, this is the maximum
potential drag that could be experienced by something; the wadcutter shape. In reality, a
modern projectile shaped similar to the G7 standard will only experience about 24% of that 6.9
pounds due to its shape (CD is 0.24).

Figure 4. Actual drag experienced by various projectile shapes from zero to Mach 3.
 There is some minor simplification going on here for the sake of clarity and remaining at
the shooter speak level, but the main ideas are all here. Figure 4 above shows the culmination
of aerodynamic drag including: dynamic pressure, bullet frontal area, and drag curve to account
for projectile shape. If you look closely, you can see where the drag curve plot affects the force
of drag around Mach 1. The steep ramp at this speed is what is referred to as the sound
barrier; the sharp rise in drag as you approach the speed of sound. Most flight vehicles such as
aircraft and rockets approach the sound barrier from the left side of Figure 4, as they accelerate
to higher speeds. Bullets are an exception here, as they are high supersonic as soon as they exit
the muzzle (right side of Figure 4) and spend all their time slowing down to the sound barrier at
Mach 1.

Hopefully this background has shown you how the drag coefficient plots like those in
Figure 1 actually relate to something physical. The following summary will highlight the
important insights you should move forward with:

Summary

 The force of aerodynamic drag is made up of the dynamic air pressure applied to the
bullets frontal area, times a drag coefficient.
 The drag coefficient (CD) scales the drag at each speed based on the shape of the
bullet.
 The drag curve is just the drag coefficient for all speeds.
 The drag curve of a bullet is determined by measuring its drag at multiple flight
speeds; measure enough points at different speeds and connect the dots to make a
drag curve.

It’s important to know what the drag curve is not:

 A drag curve is not a trajectory path for a bullet.

 A drag curve is not a mathematical equation (more on this in the next section).
 A drag curve is not a predictive algorithm

Part 2: Custom Drag Models and Ballistic Coefficients

You may recall from other sources that all projectile shapes have a unique drag curve
based on their shape. Furthermore, bullets within a given class can all be represented with a
Ballistic Coefficient (BC) referenced to a standard curve such as G1 or G7. For more background
on this, refer to Chapter 2 of Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting. The basic idea is that
it’s much easier to represent the drag of a class of bullets by referencing all bullets to a
common standard. This is where you get G1 BC’s, G7 BC’s, etc.

The simplicity of the standard curve approach is offset by the compromise that the
actual unique projectile drag is not accurately being modeled for each and every bullet shape.
In most cases, the drag shapes are similar enough that simply scaling the drag curve with a form
factor results in trajectory predictions that are accurate enough. However for the ultimate in
accurate drag modeling, nothing beats the use of Custom Drag Models (CDM’s). CDM’s dispense
with the compromise of matching ‘G’ standards and basically makes every bullet its own
standard by modeling its unique drag. The benefit of CDM’s over BC’s is maximized at extended
range near transonic speeds (near Mach 1). This is where the bullets drag curve is most unique;
each one being like a fingerprint describing how a particular bullet shape makes its way from
supersonic to subsonic speed.

This is the perfect place for a historical footnote.

The use of standard projectiles and Ballistic Coefficients was established prior to the
advent of the modern computer. At that time, firing tables for small arms were computed by
hand. It was very tedious work that sometimes took months to calculate a single trajectory.
During that time, the military (let alone the sporting arms industry) couldn’t make use of
custom drag models due to computational constraints. This is why the standard ‘G’ projectiles
and drag curves were created. By creating tables for only a small number of standard
projectiles, then referencing each bullet to its closest matching standard, reasonably accurate
tables could be produced efficiently. This practice remained common until about the 1950’s
when modern computers enabled the use of custom trajectory calculations in the field. The use
of BC referenced to G standards has continued in the sporting arms industry and much of the
military’s small arms ballistics calculators. Only recently has the modern standard migrated
from the G1 standard to the G7 which is a much better match for modern small arms ballistics.

Why, you might ask, did it take so long for the modern standard to move from G1 to G7?
Furthermore, you might ask, why haven’t we done away with BC’s in favor of CDM’s now that
computational power is no longer a constraint? The answer is two-fold. First, you have the
natural reluctance of people to change and adopt a new paradigm even though it’s better. But
even if people were all gung-ho about changing to the G7 standard, what good would it do if
there weren’t an accurate and extensive library of G7 BC DATA?

Without accurate data, G7 BC’s would just be a good idea with no way to implement.

Recognizing this impediment to progress, Applied Ballistics has gone to great lengths to
test and publish G7 BC’s on hundreds of modern bullets used in long range shooting. The
creation of that accurate and extensive data library, combined with capable computers and
software have enabled the shooting world to take advantage of this better matching G7 BC.

Even as the world embraced the better matching BC, one couldn’t help but wonder why
not go straight to the CDM’s for each bullet rather than accepting another approximation albeit
an improved approximation. The hold up with widespread use of CDM’s was again, availability
of DATA. It’s one thing to generate a G7 BC based on some limited measurements of downrange
velocity or time of flight. But to map out the entire drag curve for each bullet takes a lot more
work! Applied Ballistics has worked tirelessly to complete a library of custom drag models for
hundreds of bullets in its library. These CDM’s are all based on carefully conducted
live fire and represent the most accurate and complete means to model drag for modern
bullets. Below are a few examples of the test firing showing the AB Custom Drag Model
compared to G1 and G7 approximations of drag.

0.40 .243 caliber 95 grain Berger VLD

0.38
Measured
0.36 G1 Drag Model G7 Drag Model
AB Custom Drag Model
0.34

0.32
CD

0.30

0.28

0.26

0.24

0.22

0.20
0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Mach

The first plot is for the .243 caliber 95 grain Berger VLD. Each of the blue data points is
an average of multiple shots fired at that velocity. The CDM is determined by measuring
discrete points of drag at various speeds, then sort of connecting the dots to produce a
continuous curve. The error bounds are shown on the measured data points which represent
+/- 2 standard errors. In the case of this bullet, the actual drag is somewhere between the G1
and G7 curves.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll recall that in Figure 1 the G1 drag curve was much
higher than the G7, and here they’re shown as nearly equal in supersonic speeds. This is
because the drag curves are scaled to the projectile drag measurements via a form factor. This is
explained in great detail in Chapter 2 of Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting.

Below is another example of carefully collected live fire test data, this time on the
Berger .308 caliber 155.5 grain FULLBORE bullet. Note how the drag curve is very similar to the
G7 standard but not quite the same. These subtle differences in drag modeling between the G
standards and the actual drag are the last frontier in eliminating error from modern drag
modeling. With CDM’s you don’t have to settle for the best fitting representation of your bullet,
you can actually model the drag of your specific bullet.
 Berger .308 Caliber 155.5 grain FULLBORE
0.400

0.350

0.300
CD

0.250 Measured
G1 Drag Model
0.200 G7 Drag Model
AB Custom Drag Model
0.150

0.100
0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Mach

To get an idea of the experimental nature of these live fire tests, consider the following
plot which shows each single data point from the test; each data point representing a single
shot. In the plot below you can see that the data points measured in the live fire test are quite
repeatable and rarely stray far from the average. This plot shows the dense collection of data
points around transonic and down thru Mach 1. High confidence data like this is the best way
to support the most accurate long range trajectory predictions.

Berger .308 Caliber 155.5 grain FULLBORE

0.400

0.350

0.300
CD

0.250
Measured
G1 Drag Model
0.200 G7 Drag Model
AB Custom Drag Model
0.150

0.100
0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Mach

Long range shooters who are familiar with ballistics programs are very familiar with the
following phrase: Garbage in, Garbage out. The phrase is referring to the users ability to supply
accurate inputs such as muzzle velocity, range, BC, wind, etc. Although internal to the ballistic
 solver, the drag model is sort of like an input. If you input a G1 or G7 BC, the properly written
ballistic solver is scaling and applying the G1 or G7 standard drag curve inside the solver
according to your BC input. Any mismatch between your bullets drag curve and the G1 and G7
curves will manifest as subtle error in trajectory prediction at extended range. However if
you’re using a carefully measured custom drag model to represent the drag curve for your
bullet, then that’s the best you can do.

The combination of: modern computers, ballistics software, and an extensive library of
custom drag models based on live fire have enabled an unprecedented level of accuracy in long
range trajectory prediction.

Part 3: Application of Custom Drag Models

A concept that many long range shooters are familiar with is truing or calibrating the
ballistic solver. This is basically the process of firing shots at long range, telling the ballistic
computer where you hit, so it can self-correct itself. This process is necessary in some
applications where shooters may not have good information on their bullets muzzle velocity or
BC. Muzzle Velocity (MV) uncertainty will always be an issue in such applications and so robust
calibration process are important. However the time of shooting to tweak a BC thru various
velocity bands is over. With Custom Drag Modeling, you don’t have to question the BC or drag
model that your ballistic solver is using because it’s already been done with live fire. The
shooter is free to concentrate on the other unknowns in the environment like MV, range and
wind.

As a user of ballistic software, it’s important to understand the distinction in the various
types of ballistic solvers. Just like G7 BC’s and CDM’s are only useful if the data exists, those
things also require compatible software to properly use that data in a bullet fly-out simulation.
The Point Mass (PM) class of ballistic solvers has been the modern standard for trajectory
computation since the 1950’s when computers became powerful enough to crunch the
numbers. Only point mass solvers are capable of modeling the CDM’s that have been
measured for various bullets. There are different classes of ballistic solvers which solve the
math in ways that prevent them from working with the live fire derived CDM library. For
example, all solvers based on the Pejsa method and similar approaches use mathematical
functions to approximate the shape of drag curves. Using these mathematical functions, it’s not
possible to model the true drag of the bullet as it was measured and represented in the CDM. A
few modern solvers use these methods because they’re easier to program, but there is no live
fire database of BC’s or CDM’s that is technically compatible with non-Point Mass solvers.
Beware of solvers that allow you to bend the drag curve of your bullet; those are
solvers that are not providing solid data for you to begin with and rely on the shooter to
conduct laboratory grade testing to make it accurate.

So how accurately can a ballistic solver using CDM’s predict trajectories at extended
ranges? The following tables summarize some carefully collected data that was fired at
extended range, deep into transonic where trajectory predictions typically fall apart. A short
barreled 308 Winchester firing 175 grain bullets was used to engage targets out to 1323 yards,
which is deep into the transonic range for that bullet. Table 1 shows the observed drop
compared to the drop predicted by the Applied Ballistics PM Solver using a CDM. Note that all
of the predicted data in Table 1 is un-calibrated/un-trued meaning the MV was taken from a
chronograph prior to the test, and not adjusted afterwords to match up with observed points.

Sierra .30 caliber 175 MatchKing

Actual Custom Curve - No Truing
Range Vel/Mach Drop MILS Prediction Error MILS Error Inches
300 2074/1.88 -1.1 -1.09 -0.01 -0.1
600 1627/1.47 -4.3 -4.36 0.06 1.3
1000 1135/1.03 -11.2 -11.36 0.16 5.8
1101 1058/0.96 -13.7 -13.80 0.10 4.0
1166 1025/0.92 -15.5 -15.38 -0.12 -5.0
1200 1010/0.92 -16.6 -16.55 -0.05 -2.2
1323 967/0.87 -19.9 -20.08 0.18 8.6
Table 1. Actual vs. Predicted drop for the 175 grain Sierra MatchKing thru
transonic speed.

Table 1 shows the actual vs. predicted drop for the .30 caliber 175 grain Sierra
MatchKing, fired at an average muzzle velocity of 2570 fps. The observed drop is based on
what was required to center the group on a steel target, so there is some minor uncertainty in
the observed data, maybe +/- 1 click (0.1 MIL). Note that the velocities and Mach numbers
shown in red are indicating transonic range, where the bullet has slowed below Mach 1.2, or
about 1340 fps. This is the range that’s most difficult to predict drop due to the mismatch in
drag curves between the standard G1/G7 and the projectiles actual CDM. Using the CDM to
model the bullets actual flight path results in predictions that are within +/- 9” all the way to
1323 yards which is Mach 0.87 for this bullet.
 Berger .30 caliber 175 OTM Tactical
Actual Custom Curve - No Truing
Range Vel/Mach Drop MILS Prediction Error MILS Error Inches
300 2088/1.89 -1.1 -0.94 -0.16 -1.7
600 1660/1.50 -4.0 -4.08 0.08 1.7
700 1531/1.39 -5.6 -5.47 -0.13 -3.3
1000 1182/1.07 -10.7 -10.66 -0.04 -1.4
1101 1088/0.99 -12.8 -12.93 0.13 5.2
1166 1059/0.95 -14.2 -14.43 0.23 9.7
1200 1032/0.94 -15.4 -15.45 0.05 2.2
1323 993/0.90 -18.6 -18.76 0.16 7.6
Table 2. Actual vs. Predicted drop for the 175 grain Berger OTM Tactical thru
transonic speed.

Table 2 shows the same data for the Berger .30 caliber 175 grain OTM Tactical bullet.
Again you can see the CDM prediction matches the observed drop within +/- 10” for the full
trajectory which includes deep transonic flight.

Remember that the tables above are showing the UN-TRUED raw predictions from the
Applied Ballistics solver and CDM’s. In other words; nothing was tweaked to bring these
predictions into alignment with the observed drop. This is the first shot accuracy of the
Applied Ballistics solver when used with CDM’s.

The predictions using the G7 BC were also very close, while the G1 predictions are the
worse. It’s worth noting that Applied Ballistics is the only source of live fire BC and CDM data
for all brands of modern long range bullets. There is no combination of ballistic solver and data
that matches the accuracy of the Applied Ballistics solver when used with Applied Ballistics
CDM’s.
 You can read about another demonstration of the raw accuracy of the Applied Ballistics
solver and CDM’s here: http://www.longrangeonly.com/forum/showthread.php?529-Field-
Test-of-Ballistic-Apps-Cold-Bore-1-0-Applied-Ballastics-amp-others&highlight=applied+ballistics

In this carefully done test, Jeff Brozovich presents his live fire results which are
summarized in Table 3 below. As with the previous test cases, all of this shooting was done
with an un-trued solution, meaning the raw, first shot accuracy of the Applied Ballistics solver
and CDM’s.

Range AB – Custom Curve

Error
Yards Prediction
800 11.4 MOA -0.1”
1200 21.9 MOA +4.0”
1600 35.1 MOA -1.8”
1773 42.2 MOA -1.8”
Table 3. Long range test showing excellent agreement between predicted and actual drop out to a
mile.

The rifle was a .338 caliber wildcat that fires 300 grain Berger Hybrids at 3198 fps! So
even at 1773 yards, the bullet was still supersonic under the test conditions so this
demonstration was fully supersonic yet the error was kept to within 4” to beyond a mile. It
simply doesn’t get much better than that for first round, predictive accuracy.

The preceding examples of the AB solver and CDM’s are typical of what you can expect
when using these tools in the field. The hardest part is getting good field data into the solver
such as MV, range and making sure your scope is dialing accurately.

Conclusion

The barriers to truly accurate ballistic modeling have been lack of data, and the
hardware/software to run it. Applied Ballistics has overcome those barriers by conducting the
careful live fire testing necessary to establish the CDM’s for over 500 bullets commonly used for
long range shooting. Furthermore, the software tools and apps available from Applied Ballistics
such as the AB Analytics software, Kestrel 5700 with AB, as well as numerous smart phone apps
gives you access to the state of the art in drag modeling and trajectory prediction. If you’re the
average long range shooter who stays within supersonic ranges, then accurate G7 BC’s are
enough to keep you on target. If you routinely shoot into transonic ranges and need your first
shots on target, the accuracy you get from the Applied Ballistics solver running live fire based
CDM’s is unmatched.
 Technical Appendix

Dynamic pressure
The equation for dynamic pressure (pounds per square foot) is:

𝑞 = 1/2𝜌�2

Where: 𝜌 (greek letter rho) is the air density (slugs per cubic foot;
standard value is 0.002377 sl/ft3)

V is the velocity of the bullet (feet per second)

Bullet Frontal Area

The equation for a bullets frontal area (square feet) is:

𝑐𝑎𝑙 2
𝑆=𝜋( )
24
 Where: 𝑐𝑎𝑙 is the bullet caliber (inches)

Aerodynamic Drag
The equation for aerodynamic drag on a bullet (pounds) is:

𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 = 𝑞𝑆𝐶𝑑

Where: 𝑞 is the dynamic pressure (pounds per square foot)

𝑆 is the bullets frontal area (square feet)

𝐶𝑑 is the bullets drag coefficient (unitless)

Drag Coefficient
The drag coefficient of a bullet has to be measured by live fire. By shooting many shots
at various speeds (Mach numbers), a drag curve is established. This drag curve is used to
determine the aerodynamic drag on a bullet at any speed, which is used to compute the
deceleration of the bullet, it’s time of flight, drop and every other metric of a ballistic trajectory.
Drag coefficients and drag curves are difficult to measure and require carefully instrumented live
fire testing to determine with accuracy.