Heat Shield Technology

If the BC degrades with older tip material, how accurate are trajectory predictions?

They become progressively more inaccurate beyond ranges of 300 to 400 yards. The effects of changing ballistic coefficients (BC) with distance can be modeled with several commercially available ballistic calculators, but it is virtually impossible to know what the actual BC changes are without Doppler radar data. Reducing velocity to measure the simulated BC in mid-flight does not reflect the effects of aerodynamic heating on the tip.