How do YOU read wind in the field?

[Punisher]

Today, I was shooting at 1000 yards, and put streamers on my target stand to indicate wind shifts.

Unfortunately, I still had some (2 of 10) misses on my 10" plate even with the indicators. (I shoot for sub-MOA performance at all ranges, so if I can't hit the 10" at 1000, I shouldn't be hunting at that distance.

1 mph of wind made .70 MOA difference (4-5mph) so I need to learn a way to get better with small wind changes.

 

[No Fear in Accuracy]

I usually read the mirage, not the wind flag or trees.

If there is a slightly mirage then I'll watch how the wind flags act, 400 yards, 800 yards, and 1,000 yards.
If you feel the wind is right, shoot as fast as you can. (if the target is fixed, not pop up and down)

 

[Punisher]

I usually read the mirage, not the wind flag or trees.

If there is a slightly mirage then I'll watch how the wind flags act, 400 yards, 800 yards, and 1,000 yards.
If you feel the wind is right, shoot as fast as you can. (if the target is fixed, not pop up and down)

I am only using one indicator flag. And even that is cheating

 

[sp6x6]

Ya well thats the trick and guys that shoot 1000 bench shoot same range meanig they differ from town to town and know them. And they still have missesby amount your talking,the guys I know are shooting 6mm,they are WR holders but they get sitters before match, then it go time and if conditions are best they send all 5 as fast as they can work bolt,if they miss wind they might have a group in 3's at 1000 but off target score area.What are u shooting,Im shooting 300 berger which has about half windrift value of bullet I mention above so thats a factor too.Experiance is a big key. Period

 

[406precision]

Guys that win shoots generally win reading the wind.
The wind is mother nature's equalizer.
I try to use everything I can grass,trees,windflags, a piece of trash caught in a fence and .I watch the tree tops if I can
I think reading the wind is like vodoo ..
what's the wind doing at your location?
What's the wind doing at the target?
What's the wind doing halfway to the target?
And what the hell is the wind doing 90 feet in the air?

Jordan@406

 

[Punisher]

I shoot a 168 VLD.

 

[KYpatriot]

Everybody has their techniques...but there are few oeople whose actual skill at this is as good as they think it is. We have all had thise days when we couldnt miss because we were killing the wind call that day. But if we are honest with ourselves, was that really because we were fortunate enough to have a good guess on the first shot and scored a hit instead of needing sighters to walk in with?
I think the only wind call that counts is the first one. The very first round you send is worth all the rest, and your first round hit performance is the only responsible way to determine what range is ethical for you. If you have kept notes, and you should, you should know what your first round percentage is for certain wind conditions...calmer days, low wind with slight gusts, high steady winds, high gusty winds...our limits should be relative to those conditions because we should KNOW we are gonna hit when we send one on game.
One round a day over twenty days is much better practice than forty in one session. The more experience i get the less confidence i have in the wind even though i am improving. We too often come up with a reason for a miss when really we just missed a wind switch downrange or a vertical wind component.

 

[Punisher]

What I do often is while I'm shooting,I put one or two down range and then go sip a mt dew in the truck and listen to some music then go back after a few minutes when the wind is different.

That gives me better practice, but I misread the wind by 1 mph and hit the corner of the next target over. (About 10")

The first two were almost on top of each other and I guessed the wind switch better. But I'm hoping to get some more ideas about everybody's technique.

 

[MMERSS]

For Maximum Effective Range hunting I estimate wind reading in two parts. The first is average intensity and direction. The second is the estimated variance and time interval, or estimating wind uncertainty. For example, assuming I am hunting on a flat I can use a wind meter pointed into the wind and mentally record the readings over a period of time. Standing up with the meter above my head (If I can) I view the wind meter readings. Let's say I observe the meter displaying wind readings of 3 to 6 mph from 3 o'clock. I'm anticipating shooting around 1000 yards with a time of flight over one second. If the readings fluctuate between 3 and 6 mph with less than one second intervals between each MPH I will assume an average of 4.5 mph with an uncertainty of 1.5 mph. If the readings fluctuate with a longer time interval I can make the decision to shoot on the upper or lower end of the fluctuations and try to time the shot accordingly. I will still apply a 1 mph variance on the other end for uncertainty. Now the hard part for me, after determining the above data I will look thru the scope and verify if wind at my position is consistent with mid and long range mirage. If so this wind average data with wind uncertainty is programed in a ballistics computer and verified by drop charts. Shooting cross canyon or uneven terrain is a different ballgame as winds can swirl and show different intensity and interval as distance increases above ground and as the terrain varies. For these situations I commonly will increase my wind speed uncertainty.

I make certain to leave room with my estimated wind uncertainties for the bullet to still strike vitals, along with other uncertainties such as MVV and precision analysis. It is unlikely in the above example that when I release the first shot the wind will be blowing at exactly 4.5 MPH but creditably should be somewhere between 3 and 6 MPH. Conducting and applying uncertainty analysis is just as important as applying sight corrections to average intensity and direction for the wind. If wind uncertainties take the cold bore dirty bore shot outside the vitals it is good practice to position a different shot with high probability to produce success with the estimated uncertainties.

FWIW, I ran uncertainty analysis using Applied Ballistics WEZ on a 7mm 168 VLD using a 10" circular target at 1000, 900, and 800 yards. I used estimated 4-5 MPH winds as portrayed by the OP and applied the direction to 3 o'clock. The average computed speed was 4.5 MPH with a .5 MPH uncertainty.

MV-3025 fps
Precision potential (analysis) - .5 MOA
Muzzle velocity variation (MVV)- 7 fps SD

Environmental conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity uncertainties were negligible assuming a calibrated meter such as a Kestrel was used and adjusted to standard atmosphere. Range to target was 1 yard SD assuming an accurate range finder was used.

Corresponding WEZ hit percentage based on a 10" circular target with above data and uncertainties:

1000 yards-78%
900 yards-89%
800 yards-97%

As shown, the program predicted approximately 8 out of 10 shots hitting the target at 1000 yards but also predicts 97% or reliably 10 out of 10 shots hitting the target at 800 yards. Assuming a hunter uses the "9 out of 10 shots centering the vitals" guideline, a Maximum Effective Range of 900 yards should be considered corresponding to the 89% WEZ uncertainty analysis. For practice, any and all ranges should be used and results bounced off uncertainty analysis prediction.In this case 8 of 10 shots hitting the 10" target correspond with the WEZ analysis at 1000 yards.

 

[pyroducksx3]

I have applied ballistics and couldn't find this "WEZ" feature

 

[Punisher]

Thanks, that was good information. I will have to get AB software.

 

[MMERSS]

I have applied ballistics and couldn't find this "WEZ" feature

The WEZ feature is found on the Applied Ballistics Analytics package. This program is downloadable for purchase from the Applied Ballistics online store.

 

[MMERSS]

Thanks, that was good information. I will have to get AB software.

The program is costly but to me well worth the investment.

I additionally use an estimated Maximum Effective Range (MER) field expedient method to estimate MER. If there is enough interest, I may post the steps to this process. The field expedient method is not as detailed as WEZ but does provide an estimate to MER when no other methods are utilized.

 

[pyroducksx3]

That's a cool package but with it only being available for desktop it wouldn't really be much benifit until you got home. Hopefully they will get a mobile app version.