This watch won't be much use to a pistol shooter, but it could be pretty useful to anyone shooting a rifle mounted with a scope, particularly in any kind of long range tactical or hunting shooting. One uses buttons locate around the bezel to enter data relevant to both the rifle and the environment. The sequence goes something like this:
- Push red button to start ballistic calculator. Last firing solution will be displayed
- Press button, enter range* in 25 yard increments (850)
- Press button, enter wind direction (toward my 9 o'clock)
- Press button, enter wind speed** (10 mph)
- Press button, enter inclination angle*** (15)
- Partial firing solution is displayed
- Hold red button down, enter temperature (75),
- Press button, enter elevation (1,200 ft),
- Press button, enter height of scope bore above barrel bore (2.2"),
- Press button, enter bullet's ballistic coefficient (.505),
- Press button, enter muzzle velocity (2,750 fps),
- Press button, enter rifle zero (100 yards),
- Press button, enter display mils/MOA (mils),
- Press button, enter clicks on/off (off). This will tell you how many clicks to rotate the turrets if you have MOA knobs. If you have mil/mil knobs in .1 mil adjustments, the firing solution will tell you how much to rotate the turrets if you don't want to use hold over values.
- Press button, enter units (English),
- Hold down red button while solution calculates, firing solution is displayed (1.8 Mils right, 6.7 Mils up)
* Range has to be obtained separately, either by using a laser measuring device, or by reading a reticle marked in mil-dots or some other ranging markers.
** Wind speed must be calculated either by means of a device like a Kestrel wind meter, or by SWAGing or other more traditional wind-doping methods.
*** There is a sight line inscribed on the watch face, left to right from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock. Hold watch face at 90º to the ground, and looking at edge of bezel, sight along the line up or down to the target. Holding that angle, rotate the bezel up or down so that E and W are back to horizontal. Read the bezel to see how many degrees you had to rotate it away from the sight line on the face. That will give you a rough approximation of inclination angle.
Of course, watches can break, and software can fail, so there is no substitution for being a good rifleman and for being familiar with your rifle and cartridge combination. Nor should one ignore other relevant skills like how to read wind values off of heat waves, or how to range a target using just your reticle.
But that said, the 5.11 Field Ops watch with Sureshot ballistic software is a nifty little device. I bought mine because I needed a new watch, and the ballistic software option seemed like a cool gimmick, since I wanted something like it anyway, but didn't want to pop for a new PDA just so I could run it. The watch also has the usual assortment of timers, stopwatches, alarms and such built into it, as well as an accurate digital compass which is correctable for declination. They also come with a spare extra-long wrist band to fit over operator gloves if need be, and the tool to swap the wrist bands out. Numbers are illuminated at night by pushing a button.
I ordered mine from onthegobackpacks.com on sale for $168.99 plus freight. List is $239.99 if ordered directly from 5.11 Tactical. The watches are available in Black, Coyote Brown, and OD Green. Mine is black.
It will make a handy accessory for anyone who loves rifle shooting like I do.
