Oh man, what have I done now?

[HTDUCK]

Went to a " clay pigeon shoot " today with two buddies who shoot them frequently.
Never shot any kind of rifle match before except as a boy scout some 30 odd years ago.
Target boards were at 250 yards.
Hunter class ( which I shot ) is factory production rifles. Targets are 5 90mm clays and then 5 mini's which are 25 mm. Four strings of fire for score after sight in.
Open class is pretty much anything short of a rail gun and their targets were 10 of the minis.

I shot my Rem 700 VSSF in 308, which I just changed the scope on Thursday.
Load was 47 grs of Varget and a 155 Lapua Scenar at 2950 fps.
Before the first string I got the rifle zeroed pretty good. Last two sighters were touching in the 1 inch bull at 250.

It was a horrible day weather wise. Started off at 31 degrees with winds 20-25 gusting to 45.
Wind was coming over my right shoulder but the wind flags down range were going every which direction.While I was zeroing the wind just about stopped for three or four minutes. I think this actually hurt me.

I ended up shooting a 24/40 because I had to rezero again between the 2nd and 3rd strings.
With the wind the rifle was shooting three inches higher than I originally zeroed it?
I ended up in a shoot off for 2nd place and ended up in 3rd :roll:

Now I can't wait to do it again.
I'm HOOKED !

So somebody point me to material on reading/doping wind....

 

[SJB358]

Gotta find yourself a Kestrel Howard!

Very cool, that sounds like alot of fun to me!

 

[HTDUCK]

Gotta find yourself a Kestrel Howard!

Very cool, that sounds like alot of fun to me!

Scotty my buddy Mark had one with us. Where we were shooting from the line there was a grove of trees and a pretty good clump of them behind us. Wind at the benches was pretty well blocked and only measured 4-8 mph as a result. We didn't have any wind flags but there were plenty of them along the right side of the range all the way down to the 200 yard line.
I was watching the grass, the dust and anything else I could see when sighting.

 

[SJB358]

Ah, got ya. Makes sense. Hard to read the wind in conditions like that.

 

[DrMike]

Yeah, matches are addictive, especially when you meet the challenge of wind.

 

[Desert Fox]

20-25MPH. That's Santa Ana type condition for us here in Southern Cal. :?

 

[cloverleaf]

Howard,
That sounds like fun! CL

 

[usmc 89]

The wind wouldnt cause a 1.25 moa vertical shift. I think something moved. Applied ballistics to long range shooting second edition has good info on wind doping, it is more of a explanation of how wind affects bullet flight versus how to make assessments and corrections. Due to the multitude of variables involved doping wind is not an exact science, reducung these variables through knowing what to look for and knowung how your bullet is affected is a good start. A kestrel is a good tool to have bit its not magic, its ine dimensional meaning it only gives you the information at the firing point, being able to read mirage from point a to imoact and accurately assessing it is where the true genius lies.

 

[Guy Miner]

CONGRATULATIONS! You did well.

Agree that reading the wind is likely the most difficult aspect of long-range precision rifle shooting.

For some great info, go to MSgt Jim Owens' website: www.jarheadtop.com

The guy has got some GREAT stuff in there, mostly for NRA "Highpower" competitors, but applicable to any rifleman seeking to improve his accuracy, particularly at longer ranges.

Semper Fi, Guy

 

[257 Ackley]

You could fly into Minneapolis this weekend, hang out with a bunch of great shooters and go to the wind clinic (coaches from the national palma and f-class teams will be instructors) and than shoot 4 relays of mid-range f-class on Sunday. We still have snow on the ground and forecast is for more yet before the weekend.

Some of us that were helping the new guys sighting in for qualifying last night said we might be able to use our shooting mats as sleds from the firing line down to 300 yards where the course levels out :roll: :lol: .

 

[JD338]

Sounds like a lot of fun.
Adjusting the scope for distance is the easy part.
Reading the wind will separate the men from the boys.

JD338

 

[HTDUCK]

You could fly into Minneapolis this weekend, hang out with a bunch of great shooters and go to the wind clinic (coaches from the national palma and f-class teams will be instructors) and than shoot 4 relays of mid-range f-class on Sunday. We still have snow on the ground and forecast is for more yet before the weekend.

Some of us that were helping the new guys sighting in for qualifying last night said we might be able to use our shooting mats as sleds from the firing line down to 300 yards where the course levels out :roll: :lol: .

I'd love to HOWEVER,
This weekend we're off to Creedmore's place in Del Rio,Tx which is almost to the Mexican border.
It's been in the upper 80s here for the last three days with S winds at 15-25 MPH.
We're taking some steel gongs w us and planning on doing some shooting at longer ranges.

Oh and snow? Naw, I'll pass........
I saw some of that earlier this winter one morning, I've had my quota for the year.

 

[257 Ackley]

Wind clinic and matches called off....we received 13 inches of snow last night and it is still coming down :evil: . This winter will not come to an end. I think it has something to do with the bike sitting in Colorado Springs waiting to be rode back here.

 

[Guy Miner]

Likely a byproduct of Al Gore's "global warming" ... :grin:

 

[DrMike]

Wind clinic and matches called off....we received 13 inches of snow last night and it is still coming down :evil: . This winter will not come to an end. I think it has something to do with the bike sitting in Colorado Springs waiting to be rode back here.

God is punishing Minnesota for voting Democrat. I cleaned about four inches of ice off my truck this morning. Thank you, Minnesota. :evil:

 

[257 Ackley]

You may be right Mike. The liberal voters in the 7 county area of Minneapolis/St Paul offsets the common sense people that live in the rest of the state. When there is a large population base that gets all the free assistance from the government, they will always vote for the people that continue to promise them more freebies. Just another reason why I am watching the housing market to figure out if it is time to sell and move west.

 

[SJB358]

Get a big plot, that way we can share the range!

 

[257 Ackley]

I figured we could just go to Jeff's and shoot steel from 200 - 2000 at his range :grin: .

 

[SJB358]

I figured we could just go to Jeff's and shoot steel from 200 - 2000 at his range :grin: .

That too.. I wouldn't get nothing done with a range like that.

 

[shoots_5]

Personally the greatest aid I've had in reading the wind didn't come from a book, or a class....It came from a pile of ammo and getting out and shooting in the wind A LOT. There is no substitute for experience. And on that note, keep a shooting log when you go out and jot down notes about the conditions and what dope you dialed or held and where the bullet landed. Over time you'll start to see similar conditions that you've shot through in the past and be able to make much more educated guesses on your wind call. Because honestly that's all it is, is an educated guess. The guys that are really good at it are just that much more educated, but even they are rarely exactly on with every wind call.

Another helpful hint, is think of wind like water. Try to picture your terrain from a birds eye view and think if I poured water into this terrain from this direction what would it make it do? Wind will do the same thing over terrain. Just because the prevailing wind is coming from one direction, it doesn't mean that the canyon you are shooting over, or that tree line break halfway to your target isn't redirecting it...and then you'll start to get into updrafts and downdrafts and get really tied up in knots! I think of wind reading as a life long class that I'll probably never master, but hopefully will continually improve.