Posted: 2/9/2025 11:46:09 AM EDT
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For good reason Applied Ballistics has long had a well esteemed position as a top dog in the science of ballistics. They are known for having the best ballistics calculator. It appears with their new version "Quantum" that has ended. Quantum was released in December and with it AB has gone from the best to the worst. I did some shooting Friday and the "solution" Quantum gave me was so bad I was missing at 500y. Forgetting environmental data and running with my generic rangecard would have given me a better solution. For instance, this was the solution the app provided me: Attached File Way off. Wasn't able to properly diagnose the issue on the range (and the range was forcing me to use this garbage). At home I crosschecked with Hornady's app and found the actual solution and did a dive into Quantum. Apparently the heart of the issue is Quantum's custom ballistic library is compromised. This was what the app provided me when I selected Norma 6.5CM: Attached File Norma is good... but not 1.000 G7 BC good. I didn't put that number in. It was from Quantum's library. So I updated to a non-custom G7 BC and got this solution: Attached File Much better. Very close to Hornady's solution. Then without even touching the phone.... on its own the HUD display went back to this: Attached File Houston... there is a problem. Checked and the BC went back to 1.000 On the firing line I witnessed the Quantum app "self update" many times... changing the solution....with no input from me... most of the other shooters on the line who were forced to use this steaming pile of garbage were also missing their shots. Anyways... While PRB has glowing (Paid?) recommendations for this app... I suggest that probably any other ballistic solver would be better. Don't upgrade your old AB app to Quantum. This new app is a safety hazard. |
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Update. Today, without any inputs from the user(me) to the app, more random updates are showing: Attached File Wind direction changed, as did temp, humidity, pressure and density altitude. Again with no input from me to the app. I think they should rename this app HAL |
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Is it pulling atmospherics from the web, the phone, or a device? I looked for a setting for automatic updates and found none. The old app had a setting for auto-update. Last night I cut tables for CWNW using the same rifle and ammo I've used for 3 years. The new solution was within a fraction of an MOA out to 500 yd. I attribute that to the fact I've re zeroed the rifle at 2000 ft elevation, instead of the previous 500 ft. |
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Quoted: I think there is a bug in the reticle screen https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/170924/1000013475-3459989.png It doesn't have a zoom slider for this reticle. I suspect it's stuck at 1x That almost looks like it's pulling a weird cosine, like you are shooting off a cliff. I don't have any experience with AB Quantum, but I've had Geoballistics randomly pull angle of fire on me sitting in my lap and give me almost zero drop to 1200. |
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Quoted: Is it pulling atmospherics from the web, the phone, or a device? I looked for a setting for automatic updates and found none. The old app had a setting for auto-update. Last night I cut tables for CWNW using the same rifle and ammo I've used for 3 years. The new solution was within a fraction of an MOA out to 500 yd. I attribute that to the fact I've re zeroed the rifle at 2000 ft elevation, instead of the previous 500 ft. I manually set the atmospherics. If it was pulling atmospherics from somewhere... they are WRONG for my location. |
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Quoted: Did you pick the bullet from the AB Bullet Library? It doesn’t look like it to me. On my AB Quantum it will show the selected bullet. If you are shooting the 143gr ELD-X it should look like this and I would use AB custom drag curve for the best results https://i.imgur.com/Y12HHy9_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand So I was shooting Norma 6.5CM 143gr and originally selected Norma 6.5CM from the custom library ... and as in your screenshot, got a BC of 1.000. At first I thought maybe that was just to not disclose any proprietary data... but apparently at some point it actually gave me a G7 BC of 1.000. When I changed it to a G7 profile, it gave a G7 BC of 0.293... then reset itself back to 1.000 when I was on the HUD screen. I reset it again ... and for now the BC is holding at 0.293 Again... I never directly entered a BC into the app. I am just using what Quantum provided me. |
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Quoted: For good reason Applied Ballistics has long had a well esteemed position as a top dog in the science of ballistics. They are known for having the best ballistics calculator. It appears with their new version "Quantum" that has ended. Quantum was released in December and with it AB has gone from the best to the worst. I did some shooting Friday and the "solution" Quantum gave me was so bad I was missing at 500y. Forgetting environmental data and running with my generic rangecard would have given me a better solution. For instance, this was the solution the app provided me: ------------------------------ Way off. Wasn't able to properly diagnose the issue on the range (and the range was forcing me to use this garbage). At home I crosschecked with Hornady's app and found the actual solution and did a dive into Quantum. Apparently the heart of the issue is Quantum's custom ballistic library is compromised. This was what the app provided me when I selected Norma 6.5CM: ------------------------------------------ Norma is good... but not 1.000 G7 BC good. I didn't put that number in. It was from Quantum's library. So I updated to a non-custom G7 BC and got this solution: ------------------------------------------ Much better. Very close to Hornady's solution. Then without even touching the phone.... on its own the HUD display went back to this: ------------------------------------------ Houston... there is a problem. Checked and the BC went back to 1.000 On the firing line I witnessed the Quantum app "self update" many times... changing the solution....with no input from me... most of the other shooters on the line who were forced to use this steaming pile of garbage were also missing their shots. ------------------------------------------ I see a number of issues here. What was your target card data? It looks like you have input an inclination. Also as someone else pointed out, it looks like you did not use the bullet library. We don't have "Norma 6.5 CM" in our bullet library. We do have 3 Norma 0.264/6.5 bullets none of which would have populated a 1.0 G7 BC. Can you provide me more information here on where you got the 1.0 G7 BC? |
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Quoted: Is it pulling atmospherics from the web, the phone, or a device? I looked for a setting for automatic updates and found none. The old app had a setting for auto-update. Last night I cut tables for CWNW using the same rifle and ammo I've used for 3 years. The new solution was within a fraction of an MOA out to 500 yd. I attribute that to the fact I've re zeroed the rifle at 2000 ft elevation, instead of the previous 500 ft. The app does not have automatic enviro updates in AB Quantum. We do automatically pull data at periodic intervals which sits in the background, but you need to manually push that info to the app. |
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Quoted: I think there is a bug in the reticle screen ----Image---- It doesn't have a zoom slider for this reticle. I suspect it's stuck at 1x I have a video coming out about this soon. The reticle slider is not the same as pinch to zoom on the reticle. The reason the slider doesn't exist is because you are on a FFP scope or Red dot etc. When using the app, that slider is for SFP reticles, and allows the reticle to be ballistically calibrated for SFP scopes since they are magnification dependent. With a FFP scope it doesn't matter. We made a video about this, and it will release here in the near future. |
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Quoted: I manually set the atmospherics. If it was pulling atmospherics from somewhere... they are WRONG for my location. Atmospherics are not the same as target data. I agree in that it looks like you an inclination set. You can send a support ticket to me through the app and I can check your firing solution through the logs. |
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Quoted: I see a number of issues here. What was your target card data? It looks like you have input an inclination. Also as someone else pointed out, it looks like you did not use the bullet library. We don't have "Norma 6.5 CM" in our bullet library. We do have 3 Norma 0.264/6.5 bullets none of which would have populated a 1.0 G7 BC. Can you provide me more information here on where you got the 1.0 G7 BC? Quoted: Quoted: For good reason Applied Ballistics has long had a well esteemed position as a top dog in the science of ballistics. They are known for having the best ballistics calculator. It appears with their new version "Quantum" that has ended. Quantum was released in December and with it AB has gone from the best to the worst. I did some shooting Friday and the "solution" Quantum gave me was so bad I was missing at 500y. Forgetting environmental data and running with my generic rangecard would have given me a better solution. For instance, this was the solution the app provided me: ------------------------------ Way off. Wasn't able to properly diagnose the issue on the range (and the range was forcing me to use this garbage). At home I crosschecked with Hornady's app and found the actual solution and did a dive into Quantum. Apparently the heart of the issue is Quantum's custom ballistic library is compromised. This was what the app provided me when I selected Norma 6.5CM: ------------------------------------------ Norma is good... but not 1.000 G7 BC good. I didn't put that number in. It was from Quantum's library. So I updated to a non-custom G7 BC and got this solution: ------------------------------------------ Much better. Very close to Hornady's solution. Then without even touching the phone.... on its own the HUD display went back to this: ------------------------------------------ Houston... there is a problem. Checked and the BC went back to 1.000 On the firing line I witnessed the Quantum app "self update" many times... changing the solution....with no input from me... most of the other shooters on the line who were forced to use this steaming pile of garbage were also missing their shots. ------------------------------------------ I see a number of issues here. What was your target card data? It looks like you have input an inclination. Also as someone else pointed out, it looks like you did not use the bullet library. We don't have "Norma 6.5 CM" in our bullet library. We do have 3 Norma 0.264/6.5 bullets none of which would have populated a 1.0 G7 BC. Can you provide me more information here on where you got the 1.0 G7 BC? Sorry. Your app gave me the 1.000 G7 BC. Did not input it. Also today I got another weather update: Attached File -886ft DA. Impressive! ![]() |
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Quoted: Atmospherics are not the same as target data. I agree in that it looks like you an inclination set. You can send a support ticket to me through the app and I can check your firing solution through the logs. Quoted: Quoted: I manually set the atmospherics. If it was pulling atmospherics from somewhere... they are WRONG for my location. Atmospherics are not the same as target data. I agree in that it looks like you an inclination set. You can send a support ticket to me through the app and I can check your firing solution through the logs. I have not accessed the target controller until you mentioned that. It didn't show any inclination. Support request Sent. |
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Quoted: Sorry. Your app gave me the 1.000 G7 BC. Did not input it. Also today I got another weather update: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/7BE5C376-5567-4834-81C0-5708B6CA7313_jpg-3460941.JPG -886ft DA. Impressive! ![]() So I checked your weather and everything is working correctly. Density Altitude can be a negative number. Here is a link to a calculator for you: FAA Density Altitude Calculator. Since you will need dewpoint here is another one for you: Dew Point Calculator Here is some more information that should help explain what Density Altitude is: FAA Density Altitude Educational Information Keeping in mind the app actually has decimal place information there that isn't visible it coincides quite well with the calculator: ![]() I checked the bullet library, and the app. I also briefly looked for anomalies in your profile/logs from your email. The app did not provide you a G7 BC of 1.000. The app provided you a G7 BC of 0.293 after you selected Ammo ID 1655 Norma 0.264 140gr FMJBT. I am reviewing your email now, and we will get back to you after we check the data from the logs. However the app does not automatically change the weather. In order for the weather to update, the user must press one of the buttons under each input they wish to update. |
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Quoted: So I checked your weather and everything is working correctly. Density Altitude can be a negative number. Here is a link to a calculator for you: FAA Density Altitude Calculator. Since you will need dewpoint here is another one for you: Dew Point Calculator Here is some more information that should help explain what Density Altitude is: FAA Density Altitude Educational Information Keeping in mind the app actually has decimal place information there that isn't visible it coincides quite well with the calculator: https://i.postimg.cc/g2SZvr5N/Untitled-DA.jpg I checked the bullet library, and the app. I also briefly looked for anomalies in your profile/logs from your email. The app did not provide you a G7 BC of 1.000. The app provided you a G7 BC of 0.293 after you selected Ammo ID 1655 Norma 0.264 140gr FMJBT. I am reviewing your email now, and we will get back to you after we check the data from the logs. However the app does not automatically change the weather. In order for the weather to update, the user must press one of the buttons under each input they wish to update. Quoted: Quoted: Sorry. Your app gave me the 1.000 G7 BC. Did not input it. Also today I got another weather update: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/7BE5C376-5567-4834-81C0-5708B6CA7313_jpg-3460941.JPG -886ft DA. Impressive! ![]() So I checked your weather and everything is working correctly. Density Altitude can be a negative number. Here is a link to a calculator for you: FAA Density Altitude Calculator. Since you will need dewpoint here is another one for you: Dew Point Calculator Here is some more information that should help explain what Density Altitude is: FAA Density Altitude Educational Information Keeping in mind the app actually has decimal place information there that isn't visible it coincides quite well with the calculator: https://i.postimg.cc/g2SZvr5N/Untitled-DA.jpg I checked the bullet library, and the app. I also briefly looked for anomalies in your profile/logs from your email. The app did not provide you a G7 BC of 1.000. The app provided you a G7 BC of 0.293 after you selected Ammo ID 1655 Norma 0.264 140gr FMJBT. I am reviewing your email now, and we will get back to you after we check the data from the logs. However the app does not automatically change the weather. In order for the weather to update, the user must press one of the buttons under each input they wish to update. If you have access to the logs you would know I didn't put in any of those weather numbers. Nor did I ever enter a BC of 1.000... which you have a screenshot of. Denial tends to work better for lawyers than software development. |
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If you shoot in the winter in EST or CST tz -1000 DA is pretty common. I’ve been deeply disappointed in quantum. Last year when they were doing daily updates it was unusable. I decided to just wait til spring or summer to try it again. Hopefully they’ll have the bugs worked out and functionality restored. I want to like some of the new features but they just aren’t working like I expected them to FWIW quantum wasn’t giving me wildly wrong answers or inputting the wrong BC. It was just obvious interface bugs that wouldn’t let you do various things. Given how unintuitive the interface is, I’d say it is highly likely that you’ve input something wrong. |
| I don’t get the whole unintuitive thing. I like the interface and it’s easy for me to use. I’ve used all the ballistic calculators and a Kestrel and find AB to be the easiest for me but that’s just me. I understand the buggy part but seems like most of that has been fixed. |
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Software guy here…the app changing things because it feels like it is a BAD thing. Immediate action: quit the app and restart the phone. See if it does this again. Fallback: uninstall the app, RESTART the phone, then reinstall the app, and try again. If it’s still goobered after all of this, report the behavior to the publisher including the indications you got from the above steps. |
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After a few updates I’ve been using ABQ for the past few weeks and gotten decent data out of it. I posted elsewhere last week was the first time I got better solution out of AB than shooter. I’m still not a huge fan of the interface or subscription model but it seems like the data is good. What I’ve noticed lately on the interface is that sometimes changing values doesn’t cause it to recalculate reliably. Like if I change the angle and then change the distance it may not recalc the solution. I’ve got to change one value and hit done and then change another value etc. |




