Deciding to shoot in heavy wind.

[C Harrison]

Today, my wife and I were shooting in 12-18 mph wind with gusts of 22 mph. The calibers were .260 Remington pushing a 142 SMK at 2784 fps and a 300 Win Mag pushing a 210 Berger at 3010 FPS. The target was an AR500 12 inch round. We are headed for a hunt next week and wanted to make sure everything was in order. We were able to shoot 5/5 all the way to 950 yards but the next attempt was at 1136 yards. 6/12 was the best I could do and I blame the wind. The wind drift variation was up to 4 MOA between shots depending on guests. My question is, when do you guys call off a shot and, if you decide to shoot, how do you determine what the wind is doing throughout the distance to determine acceptable accuracy?

 

[MMERSS]

Today, my wife and I were shooting in 12-18 mph wind with gusts of 22 mph. The calibers were .260 Remington pushing a 142 SMK at 2784 fps and a 300 Win Mag pushing a 210 Berger at 3010 FPS. The target was an AR500 12 inch round. We are headed for a hunt next week and wanted to make sure everything was in order. We were able to shoot 5/5 all the way to 950 yards but the next attempt was at 1136 yards. 6/12 was the best I could do and I blame the wind. The wind drift variation was up to 4 MOA between shots depending on guests. My question is, when do you guys call off a shot and, if you decide to shoot, how do you determine what the wind is doing throughout the distance to determine acceptable accuracy?

Your wind uncertainties still have to leave room for the bullet to connect with vitals. Assume you estimate wind at your position to be blowing inconsistently from 12-18 MPH from the 3 o'clock direction. You could assume the average wind velocity is 15 MPH with an uncertainty of plus or minus 3 MPH MINIMUM. Using a ballistics computer plug in your rifle data, anticipated environmental conditions, and 3 MPH wind at 3 o'clock. Scroll down the wind drift chart in inches until you see 5" of wind drift corresponding to the 3 MPH cross wind. Note the range corresponding to this drift. Use this range as a MAX range guideline for an estimated 3 MPH cross wind uncertainty.

Assume you have a 2-6 MPH 9 o'clock blowing wind. Assume 4 MPH as the average with a plus or minus 2 MPH uncertainty MIMIMUM. Follow same procedures. Plug in 2 MPH with a 9 o'clock wind direction.Scroll down the charts until you find the range corresponding to 5" of wind drift. Use this range as an ESTIMATED MAXIMUM range for 2 MPH crosswind uncertainty.
Complete the same for 1 MPH and 4 MPH and so on.

I'm using 5" of drift as a guideline and this is depending on the size of game animal and precision potential of the firearm. There is a more detailed field expedient method with estimating MAX range using similar principles.

 

[Korhil78]

I make my decision based on actually practicing shooting in the wind. If I am successful at distances in a certain amount of wind (through practice), then I am comfortable shooting at game in that amount of wind. If I am hunting and the wind is blowing harder than what I have practiced in or I am going to have to shoot at a distance combined in the amount of wind that I have not practiced in with success then I will not take the shot and try to get closer.

It all comes down to confidence and confidence comes from practice in the situation that you are about to take a shot at a game animal in. If you get everything set up and are ready to shoot and you have that little feeling of doubt lingering, then you shouldn't take the shot.

As for determining what the wind is doing down range, I look at the vegetation to see which way it is blowing and how hard it is blowing the vegetation downrange. Its not easy either but you get used to it after practicing a lot in it.

 

[C Harrison]

Awesome gentleman, perfect. Thank you.

 

[AZShooter]

Our entire deer hunt was windy. I had a shot at a deer which was cross canyon. The wind meter showed a pretty constant 6-7 mph wind on our side and the brush/weeds/grasses on other side looked the same. Missed the shot at 550 yds. It sure bothered me missing. It finally dawned on me, I didn't consider the higher velocity winds in the center of the canyon I was shooting across. Lesson learned.