Reading wind

[Gerald89]

Hello,

I was out today and managed to take my best shot to date a crow at 400mtrs!

This was with my .243win and a 70gr nos bt @ 3400fps.

I now have a good drop chart for this bullet but I have no idea how to get an accurate windage adjustment in field conditions.

On the shot today wind was @ 3 o'clock and brisk so I guessed at 1mil and aimed with hold off on the mil dots, as it happens correctly!

Working the 1mil back seems to give a wind speed of 10mph how would you describe/identify a ten mph wind?

How would you go about settings for wind on such a shot?

Thanks Jeza

 

[Michael Eichele]

Feel, trees moving, grass moving, mirage moving, cotton wood seeds or fog drifting by. Anything and everything that can be used as a visual aid should be observed. How fast?? You will know by the amount of practice you spend in the field. It sounds like you are making a good start and on the right track! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[wapiti13]

Jeza, Buying a good wind speed meter will help also. You can read the wind and then observe the effect on trees, bushes, mirage, etc. Then when you are afield and can't use the meter, you'll have a SWAG to go by (scientific wild a** guess!!). Practice shooting will teach you how much to hold off unless you get a PDA. Then all the data can be inputted and the "answer" will be given. Good luck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Brown Dog]

Yup, I'd agree, buy a wind meter...and use it on dog walks (as well as when out shooting!) to 'calibrate' -with certainty- your senses and SWAG cues ...for the time you forget to pack it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif!

 

[Gerald89]

Thanks for the replies!

Wind meter and copious practise it is then. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



I like the dog walk idea but I'm not sure how much more the wife and kids can take as I already take the range finder along and zap everything in sight! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jeza

 

[Buffalobob]

In addition to the wind meter watch how birds fly and leaves shake on the limb or float as they drift down. These will give you an idea of what is happening in the vicinity of your target.

Go down to the General Discussion section and look at the Paw Paw bends picture. Wind up on the ridge where I was set up was from east to west but down along the river it was north to south. Final wind drift at 800 yds was 12 and 18 inches on two different shots at a rock because wind was gusting.


Morale of the story - there is wind drift where you are and there is wind drift where the target is. Very often they are different.

 

[Gerald89]

Nice location!

So that would have been .4 mil and .6 mil adjustment needed?

Did you have enough info/feel for the shot to dial that in then?

Jeza

 

[Buffalobob]

I could see the ripples on the river to see if the wind was blowing down there(this is what I was trying to say - use all information available). Because it was gusting up where I was on the ridge my decision was to try to wait on the shot until I got calmness on both winds. Unfortunately I never got a chance on a deer.

 

[sniper2]

All good advice especially the practice part! Most ballistics programs have section to dope wind study these as well or make a few dope cards to take with you! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Shawn Carlock]

Probably the best wind visual que I have seen is fog. Not a lot but light spread out patches. I took a customer to the range this morning to test fire his new 6.5-06 I just completed and the conditions were good for testing 100-300 yards. When we zingged out a couple groups in the low 3's and high 2's @ 100 we moved right out to my 10" disk @ 1148 yards. In watching the fog lower in the canyon move we were able to read and make adjustments for a wind that was fine enough to only require .25-.50 moa correction from zero (some required as much as 2.25 moa). The most important thing we could read was the constant switching of direction of the wind. I called as many as a dozen wind changes in a minute, but was able to keep my shooter on the 10" disk a little over 50% of the time. Most misses were no futher than a few inches off the edge of the plate. The fog just made detection of fine change much easier.

 

[Gerald89]

What was the procedure there then?

Did you calculate or use feel?

Sounds like you were making quick decisions.

I guess once you have a reference to start from every shot can be worked as a +/- value from that,
correcting each time.

Did you manage to connect with the first round?

Thanks

Jeza

 

[Shawn Carlock]

My customer was off in windage about 3 inches and high about the same not bad for a guess on ballistics I had no PDA or even a paper chart, total SWAG. I connected first round with my 338 EDGE and hit 3 of 4 shots. I called all corrections that were more than the edge of the plate in MOA. I have shot and tested enough rifles to look at the fog and say .55 BC @ 3000 fps 1.50 MOA left wind. My point was that light snow, fog, or rain will tell the tale of the wind with instant indications. Reading those elements seems to be much more consistant than reading the bend of the grass or sway of the tree etc.

Shawn