Another question about longrange windage.

M

mitchell koster

New member
Hi all.

When shooting "long range" (hard to define longrange) lets say 700 yards +. out to how however far you want. When you measure the windage how do you "calculate" how far to allow. Like you've got your windage measuring device, and ballistics programs but what if the wind is blow strong here and barely out where the target is?

Any thoughta or theories would be awesome.

Have a good weekend.

MK
 
S

Sarge

New member
I see you posted this in 'The Hunt'. Don't believe I'd be shooting at 700+ yard game on a day when I couldn't dope the wind. Coyote on a calm day, if I was dialed for the range? Sure. Otherwise, not.

One of the best ways to answer your question is to find a long stretch of cultivated ground with a safe impact area, set up a white plastic 5 gallon bucket and get busy. I have done this to about 900 yards with typical hunting rifles (usually 30-06) and scopes; a very little change in the crosswinds makes a foot of windage dispersion out at the target.

Some genuine 600-1000 yard highpower shooters should pipe-up here shortly, with far more useful information.
 
H

hagar

New member
There are plenty of free ballistic programs that will do a very good job of telling you how much to hold off or adjust for wind. I like PCB, it's an old DOS program but it works as good as any, and it comes with a huge database of all kinds of bullets with their bc's.
 
K

kraigwy

New member
but what if the wind is blow strong here and barely out where the target is?
Click to expand...

Seldom is wind constant between the firing line and target. One of the first things done when I went to Sniper School ( and I did at my schools) was to pop smoke on various yard lines out to about 1000 yards.

You notice the smoke if blowing every which way.

The answer is to use mirage instead of wind indicators. Mirage seems to average the wind out across the range. When the wind gets about 12-15 mph its pretty constant so you can go back to your wind indicators.
 
A

azredhawk44

Moderator
One thing to add to kraigwy's excellent post...

Mirage is harder to see on cooler or overcast days, but it becomes more visible the lower to the ground you get and the more magnification you have available.

It is also only applicable to wherever the backstop of the MIRAGE is, which may not be the same as the target backstop. If your view of the mirage is only downwards towards a slope at the base of a hill 400 yards away and your target is up a gentle slope another 200 yards on top of the hill (600 total yards and a net-flat shot), there's 200 yards of unaccounted for distance where the wind can be doing something different.

You "average" the wind.

If you've got a 10mph L-R crosswind to 400 yards, and then you read the movement of branches or dustdevils from 400 to 600 for a 10mph R-L crosswind, you only give yourself a 6.6mph L-R adjustment for 600 yards.
 
J

Jimro

New member
When in doubt concentrate on the effects of the wind from the halfway mark to your target. Wind is usually faster with increasing altitude, and your maximum ordinate is usually just after halfway.

Jimro
 
M

MO. Shootin

New member
I will admitt right off that I have not done a lot of long range shooting. I have read some on it.
I thought that the wind closest to the gun made the most difference on what the bullet would do? So you would give it a little more preference in your decision.
 
B

BIG P

New member
I hunt/shoot in the same place.I have drums set out from 400-1000yrds in cutovers/fields I keep shootin log each time i go, Iuse wind guage/range finder
And shoot from a bench there is very little cover,the log ie. cheat sheet has helped me a good bit.THE main job here is hog control so after 15mph winds Ijust dont shoot.
 
C

Colorado Redneck

New member
My prairie dogs shooting is piddley compared to the stuff you guys are talking about. I have a wind meter, and have tried to dope the wind. My skill seems to have gone backwards since doing that. I have had better luck just trying a couple of pokes and see if it works. If the wind is blowing harder than about 12 mph I go home. The JBM calculator for windage seems to be overstated, in my opinion.

As to my learning curve, I probably won't live long enough to get skilled at doping the wind.
 
N

ndking1126

New member
I thought that the wind closest to the gun made the most difference on what the bullet would do? So you would give it a little more preference in your decision.
Click to expand...

It seems to me since the bullet is traveling faster the closer it is the the muzzle, the less chance the wind has to affect it.
 
P

P-990

New member
I've found it's mostly a matter of watching mirage and experience. There are charts and calculators, but actually putting lead onto targets at 500+ yards on windy days is your best practice.

Also, some people are uncannily accurate at doping wind, while the rest of us are so-so. But don't second guess yourself either! I have done that a few times on the 600-yard line at Camp Perry. Watching the mirage, saying "WOW! That looks like 3 minutes left," then debating myself and only putting half that on the gun because it can't be that bad. BANG! First shot nice in 7-8 ring on the right. Go with your first estimate, don't second-guess it... :eek:

Over 15 miles per hour, mirage is pretty much gone from what I am told, so it's mostly watching wind flags and other indicators.
 
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