External Ballistics
The study of a bullet's flight from muzzle to target, covering drop, wind drift, and the aerodynamic drag that shapes the whole path.
External ballistics is everything that happens to the bullet between the muzzle and the target, once the barrel can no longer influence it. The dominant forces are gravity, which pulls the bullet into a curved trajectory, and air resistance, which bleeds off velocity and lets the wind push the bullet sideways. A solver predicts these effects from inputs like muzzle velocity, the ballistic coefficient, and the chosen drag model.
For relative long range work this is the discipline that decides hits and misses. Reading the wind, accounting for spin drift at distance, and trusting a verified drop solution all live inside external ballistics. The better your inputs and your understanding of these forces, the further you can stretch any cartridge before the math falls apart.