Box2d - applyforce inconsistent behavior

I am using box2d to simulate projectile motion from a cannon. I am calculating the angle and distance between the cannon barrel and the crosshair. The greater the distance between the crosshair and the barrel the larger the force. I am running this program on Xcode 8.2.1 and cocos2d. When I run my program on the iPad air I see inconsistent behavior. For example, as I increase the distance I expect the force to increase, and as a result I expect the distance the projectile travels to be longer, but I am not seeing this behavior. I decrease the distance between the barrel and the crosshair and the projectile flies farther. Below is the code I am using. I know that box2d is not deterministic and I have tried applyForce, applyLinerarImpulse, and setLinearVelocity, but I cannot get the behavior correct. I want the force to be less when the distance is less, and the force to be greater when the distance is greater. Below is my code. Any help is appreciated.

- (void)ccTouchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    
    if( self.boulderFired || gamePaused)
    {
        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
        return;
    }

    NSLog(@"began");
    UITouch *myTouch = [touches anyObject];
    CGPoint location = [myTouch locationInView:[myTouch view]];
    location = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] convertToGL:location];

    float angleDegree, angleRadian;
    int direction =1;
    if(self.hud.isSoundOn)
        [self.musicInterface playAudioStartTouch];
    
    float distanceX = ( (location.x/PTM_RATIO) - (barrel.position.x/PTM_RATIO) );
    float distanceY = ( (location.y/PTM_RATIO) - (barrel.position.y/PTM_RATIO) );
    if (fabsf(distanceX)>18*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth) ||
        fabsf(distanceY)>18*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth))
    {
        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
        return;
    }
    if(barrel.position.x<location.x)
    {
        angleRadian = atanf(distanceY/distanceX);
        angleDegree = CC_RADIANS_TO_DEGREES(angleRadian);
        
    }
    else
    {
        angleRadian = atanf(distanceY/distanceX);
        angleDegree =180 + CC_RADIANS_TO_DEGREES(angleRadian);
        direction=-1;
        
    }
    

    slingPosition = ccp(barrel.position.x, (barrel.position.y+15/scaleFactorSpriteResolution));
    barrel.rotation = (angleDegree*-1);
    
 
    if (distanceX*distanceX+distanceY*distanceY>(17*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth)))
    {
        CGFloat angleTemp = atan2f(distanceY,distanceX);
        CGPoint tempStandPos = [self scalePoint:ccp(35,135)];
        CGPoint tempBarrelPos = [self scalePoint:ccp(65,165)];
        location.x=tempBarrelPos.x+tempStandPos.y*cosf(angleTemp);
        location.y=tempBarrelPos.y+tempStandPos.y*sinf(angleTemp);

        
    }

    crossHair.position = ccp(location.x, location.y);
    distanceX = ( (crossHair.position.x/PTM_RATIO) - (slingPosition.x/PTM_RATIO) );
    distanceY = ( (crossHair.position.y/PTM_RATIO) - (slingPosition.y/PTM_RATIO) );
    float distance = sqrtf(distanceX*distanceX+distanceY*distanceY)*direction;
    bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(slingPosition.x, slingPosition.y);
    //bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance/scaleFactorSpriteResolution),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance/scaleFactorSpriteResolution));
    bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance*10),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance*10));
    
 
    if(sniperOn)
        [self drawProjectilePath:b2Vec2(barrel.position.x, barrel.position.y) withVelocity:b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance*23.895),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance*23.895))];
    
    //   [self drawProjectilePath:bulletStartingPosition :b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*distance*56.595,sinf(angleRadian)*distance*56.595)];
    //[self drawProjectilePath:bulletStartingPosition :bulletStartingVelocity];

}
-(void) ccTouchesMoved:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    NSLog(@"move start");
    if( self.boulderFired || gamePaused)
    {
        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
        return;
    }
    

    UITouch *myTouch = [[touches allObjects] objectAtIndex:0];
    
    CGPoint location = [myTouch locationInView:[myTouch view]];
    location = [[CCDirector sharedDirector] convertToGL:location];
    float angleDegree, angleRadian;
    int direction=1;
    float distanceX = ( (location.x/PTM_RATIO) - (barrel.position.x/PTM_RATIO) );
    float distanceY = ( (location.y/PTM_RATIO) - (barrel.position.y/PTM_RATIO) );
    if (fabsf(distanceX)>18*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth) ||
        fabsf(distanceY)>18*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth))
    {
        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
        return;
    }
    if(barrel.position.x<location.x)
    {
        angleRadian = atanf(distanceY/distanceX);
        angleDegree = CC_RADIANS_TO_DEGREES(angleRadian);
       
    }
    else
    {
        angleRadian = atanf(distanceY/distanceX);
        angleDegree =180 + CC_RADIANS_TO_DEGREES(angleRadian);
        direction=-1;
       
    }
    

    barrel.rotation = (angleDegree*-1);

    
   
    if (distanceX*distanceX+distanceY*distanceY>(17*(screenSize.height/designSizeHeight)*(screenSize.width/designSizeWidth)))
    {
        CGFloat angleTemp = atan2f(distanceY,distanceX);
        CGPoint tempStandPos = [self scalePoint:ccp(35,135)];
        CGPoint tempBarrelPos = [self scalePoint:ccp(65,165)];
        location.x=tempBarrelPos.x+tempStandPos.y*cosf(angleTemp);
        location.y=tempBarrelPos.y+tempStandPos.y*sinf(angleTemp);
        

        
    }
    crossHair.position = ccp(location.x, location.y);
    distanceX = ( (crossHair.position.x/PTM_RATIO) - (slingPosition.x/PTM_RATIO) );
    distanceY = ( (crossHair.position.y/PTM_RATIO) - (slingPosition.y/PTM_RATIO) );
    
    float distance = sqrtf(distanceX*distanceX+distanceY*distanceY)*direction;

    bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(slingPosition.x, slingPosition.y);
    //bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance/scaleFactorSpriteResolution),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance/scaleFactorSpriteResolution));
    bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance*10),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance*10));
    

    
    if(sniperOn)
        [self drawProjectilePath:b2Vec2(barrel.position.x, barrel.position.y) withVelocity:b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*(distance*23.895),sinf(angleRadian)*(distance*23.895))];
    
    //   [self drawProjectilePath:bulletStartingPosition :b2Vec2(cosf(angleRadian)*distance*56.595,sinf(angleRadian)*distance*56.595)];
    //[self drawProjectilePath:bulletStartingPosition :bulletStartingVelocity];

}

- (void)ccTouchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
    if(gamePaused )
    {
        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
        return;
    }
    NSLog(@"ended");
    

    

    if(!self.boulderFired)
    {
        
        [self createBullets:slingPosition];
        bullet->SetActive(true);
        NSLog(@"ending starting position %f and %f", bulletStartingPosition.x, bulletStartingPosition.y);
        NSLog(@"ending began starting velocity %f and %f", bulletStartingVelocity.x, bulletStartingVelocity.y);
        //bullet->ApplyForce(bulletStartingVelocity, bulletStartingPosition);
        bullet->SetLinearVelocity(bulletStartingVelocity);
        self.boulderFired = true;
        [self enableGestureSwipes:true];
        

        bulletStartingVelocity = b2Vec2(0,0);
        bulletStartingPosition = b2Vec2(0,0);
    }
    
}