Setup guide

Your rifle, in five minutes.

Seven screens take you from a blank Rifles tab to your first dope table. Scroll through here, or keep this page open on a second screen while you work through the app.

  1. Step 1 of 7 · Rifles tab

    Open Rifles and tap the plus.

    Every solve in Trace starts from a rifle profile. The starter rifle is a demo you can shoot with right away; your first real rifle replaces it.

    • Free keeps one rifle. Pro adds as many as the safe holds.
    • Name it the way you say it at the bench. It becomes the header on every tab and on the watch.

  2. Step 2 of 7 · Rifle

    Barrel, twist, scope height, zero.

    Four numbers describe the rifle. Three come off the barrel stamp or the maker's page. One you measure.

    • Scope height is center of bore to center of the scope tube, in inches. A ruler against the action is close enough.
    • Twist drives spin drift. 1:8 means one turn in eight inches.
    • Zero distance is where your turret reads zero. For most rifles that is 100 yards.

  3. Step 3 of 7 · Scope and zero

    Tell Trace what you are looking through.

    Type the optic. A library match fills the click value and focal plane; otherwise set them by hand.

    • Click value must match the turret: 0.1 MRAD or 1/4 MOA. Everything downstream speaks that language.
    • FFP or SFP decides whether holds scale with magnification. SFP rifles also get a calibration power.
    • Reticle: pick a pattern, or draw yours in the Designer. Holds land on the glass you actually see.

  4. Step 4 of 7 · Ammo loads

    Add the load you shoot.

    A rifle needs at least one load to solve. Start with the box that is in your pack, not the one you are curious about.

    • Two loads on the free tier, unlimited with Pro.
    • The first supersonic becomes the load the rifle is zeroed with. Every other load gets a re-zero badge in clicks.

  5. Step 5 of 7 · Library

    Pick it from the library.

    Nearly 400 factory loads across 53 calibers, with the published ballistic coefficient and velocity already filled in.

    • Search by caliber, then tap the exact box you buy.
    • Not listed? Enter the bullet by hand: weight, BC, drag model, velocity.

  6. Step 6 of 7 · The load

    Check the numbers, set the table.

    The library fills the load sheet. Two things are worth a look before you save.

    • Velocity from the box is a start. A chronograph reading, or truing on the Tune tab, replaces it later.
    • Supersonic or subsonic sets the default table range. The dope distances decide how far the table runs and in what steps.
    • Color is how the load shows up in chips and badges. Pick one you can tell apart with gloves on.

  7. Step 7 of 7 · Done

    Save. You have dope.

    The Dope tab solves for the live atmosphere the moment the rifle saves. From here the app is yours.

    • Wind comes from the clock, the way you call it. Tap Use GPS for the weather where you stand.
    • Confirm at distance, then log the clicks on the Tune tab and the whole table trues itself.
    • The watch gets the rifle through your own iCloud. Nothing to pair.

That is the whole setup

Now go shoot it.

Range on the map, walk a course of fire, true the table to what you actually shot. Every screen is on the home page, and every question has an answer on the support page.

See how it shoots Support