Wind doping strategies

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

Anybody with some good wind judging strategies that they use? I can guess pretty good but just curious as to what people are using that has worked for them.


It's always an adventure!!!

 

[sageadvice]

Bull, i shoot a couple flat shooting rigs with wind bucking abilities but have had to compensate more than a few times.
500 yds is about my self imposed limit on game animals, this has worked for me;

If a crosswind is barely blowing, i hold on or near so out to 200 then 1" for each additional 100 yds, out to 500yds.

When it's blowing cross at near 10 mph, i hold a couple inches out at 200yds and 2" more for each additional 100 yds, out to 500.

If it blowing like 20 mph or more, i'll hold off 4" at 200 yds and 4" for each additional 100 yds, out to 500.

So, with a 450 yd shot with a 20 mph cross wind, id hold, 4+4+4+2=14"

Have flat stoned some nice bucks using this rule of thumb but you got to sometimes go with your gut feelings for slight adjustments!

Joey

 

[hntbambi]

For long range shooting, doping he wind is what separates the men from the boys. Judging the wind without some kind of tool is very difficult unless you practice it constantly. I use a Kestrel 4500 wind meter. It also provides density altitude, another important factor in long range shooting.

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

The problem I run into constantly at these benchrest tournaments is at 1000 yards the the wind is so varied it's really tough to adjust. The flag at the 1000 yard target can sometimes be blowing a different direction that the flag at 400 yards. It makes it interesting but you're right, it does separate the men from the boys. I use a wind meter as well and it's really accurate where I'm at but pretty tough to gage those long distance shots. I have used my kids with 2 wind meters and 2 way radios to see what wind is down range. It's pretty amazing at the change. I have rarely had the wind blowing the same in both places. Fun topic, and one that has 100+ articles written on it with just as many oppinions.


It's always an adventure!!!

 

[sageadvice]

1000 yds?? Nevermind!!

Joey

 

[completesportsman]

ya'll are all wrong...stinkystomper does it the best way

 

[Prism]

Wind sucks! Shot this morning. Out to 600 everything is hunky dory, 600-800 so so, 800-1000 I give! Just super hard for me to be consistant. If you figure it out, let me know!

Problem like you said is shifting winds. Where I was shooting from was right to left. At the target was left to right, and never consistant. So I'd shoot right and then I'd shoot left. I feel your pain

 

[one_dryboot]

Wind it tough! Its easy to tell what it is doing where your sitting, but at the target and mid range, not so much. One thing I try to look at is the vegetation. If my meter reads 10 mph I look at the veg at the target to see if it is consistant with where I am. A lot of times it could be more or less but it will give you an idea. If it looks the same I hold for full value. If it is more or less at the target I try to adjust based on what I think it is doing. You guys are probably alot better then me so I should just shut up!

 

[Prism]

I'm fairly new to longrange shooting and honestly I'm not very good at it. It's pretty humbling to shoot with guys that are really good. It's kind of like watching a pro ball player nail 3 pointers over and over and wonder how do they do that.

If I've learned one thing, it's that longrange shooting is really a team activity. You need a spotter. Without one you're really handicaping yourself.

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

I 100% agree. Spotters can make or break a competition. One thing is for sure though. It's addicting!


It's always an adventure!!!

 

[bogey]

I shot Thursday with my 9 yr old Nephew as my spotter, it was sometimes interesting what I was getting as feed back to his reading the vapor trail for me at 780 yards!! We had started at 600 and it went good, first day out with the 2.5x10 PSt mounted on my 300 WSM hunting rifle. Both of us made first shot hits at 600yards on a 12" target....he decided one shot was enough and didn't care for the kick. He liked the 25 lb 6BR a lot better! Anyway like said above 600 the wind was not to much to deal with for shooting bowling pins, for small groups its out of my league with a 10x scope. At 780 I was needing around 4 minutes of windage and I only scared the bowling pins. Moved back to 600 with a different load, after a couple shots, and after my nephew remembered his left and right direction on the vapor trail, I went 5 in a row on pins....a lot better then I would have expected. Bow can you tell a difference watching the vapor trail when shooting the 55 grain vmax out of the 6BR and the 105 BIB's

 

[centerfire]

Shooting in the wind is pretty much up in the air.

<grin>

 

[BuckSnort]

I was just messing with my shooter app on my Droid phone and found a decent strategy for a full value 10mph crosswind...

Just add .75MOA for every 100 yards down range..

Example..

300 yards 2.25MOA
400 yards 3MOA
500 yards 3.75MOA
1000 yards 7.5MOA

Obviously this is not dead on for every bullet at every velocity but its in the ballpark.. Reading wind down range is an art form IMHO...

Disclaimer:
The poster does not take any responsibility for any hurt or bad feelings. Reading threads poses inherent risks. The poster would like to remind readers to make sure they have a functional sense of humor before they visit any discussion board.

 

[Prism]

LOL

You guys ever shoot at the range in vernal? It's impressive for a public range. One of the best I've ever been too.

But the WIND sucks out there most of the time. If you want to practice wind doping it's the perfect spot as you can shoot longrange at multiple steel targets from different directions.

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

Same goes for the new range in Price. Great year round range with heated shooting benches. I've heard they are putting in a 100 yard range if they haven't done already.



It's always an adventure!!!

 

[B_BOP_A_LU_LU]

Well!

If You Guy's would Quit trying to hit a Gnats Ass at 1000+ Yards,GEEZUS!

I've seen BULLS Gun,it ain't no PISSCUTTER!



For GAWDS Sakes Guys,We Got Kids on this Site,Some of them are 65 years Old!

I don't care if they're big or small!
If they throw lead I like em all!

 

[Prism]

Heated shooting benches I'm there!

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-14-11 AT 12:02PM (MST)[p]Sorry. I just looked at my previous post. That would be a 1000 yard range not 100.

Prism, I've never been there yet but all the S.W.A.T. buddies of mine say it's an extremely nice range. They apparently have competitions almost every weekend as well. I know they were shooting in February.

Here is the website for that shooting range in Price. It's called North Spring Shooting Range:

http://www.carbon.utah.gov/nssr/default.aspx


It's always an adventure!!!

 

[Loner]

Just for fun. The wind velocity is holding pretty constant (rare day). You know the distance and that if it was a full value wind it would be worth 10 minutes. But the wind is not full value, it is coming out of 1 o'clock "30 degrees off the target". How many minutes do you put on?

 

[BPKHunter]

The bullets make a ton of difference. Look at the difference on a chart for a 3000 fps round at .600bc vs .450bc vs .300bc past 500 yards. So when you guys keep making generalizations you need to put in a factor for the differences in your bullet and starting speed.

I use a fairly simple factor system. My 7mm with 168 bergers (.617bc) starting at about 3000fps has about a .5 factor, vs my 25-06 shooting 110 accubonds(.410bc) at 3100 fps has about a .7 factor. The factor works like this: at any given range take the yardage/100 x factor = hold off in MOA for a 10 mph wind. So at 600 yards my 7mm is .5x6 = 3.0 moa = 18". My 25-06 is .7x6 = 4.2 moa = ~25". So if you have a 4mph wind you simply take a little less than half, so 8" on the 7mm or 10" on the 25.

Sounds more difficult than it is. It's real easy if you have a windage knob in MOA or marks on your horizontal reticle like Greybull Precision, Nightforce, or Huskemaw.

I have Excel spreadsheets that I test my loads against and they are usually on out to 800yds +/- 2".

Of course this assumes you know the windspeed which is the really difficult part, but I have a Kestrel and keep my shots under 800 yards up to 5mph and under 500 yards over that.

 

[AWHOLELOTTABULL]

How do you come up with your factors that you assign, i.e. 0.5 and 0.7. If I am shooting a Berger 210 matchgrade VLD what would the factor be and how do you come up with that number?


It's always an adventure!!!