Long range wind

[BCDeerWild]

I haven't got a wind meter yet but the ones I have looked at say that you haveto have them facing directly into the wind to get an accurate reading. Would holding it parallel to your sight line give you the affective wind speed on you bullet. If this is the case than you wouldn't haveto calculate the affective wind drift, just use the affective wind value.
Example would be a 20m/h wind at 30 degrees gives an affective wind value of 10m/h according to the formulas I have tried.

 

[Bart B]

I don't know of any wind meter that read correctly unless pointed directly into the wind. The way the wind flows around them plus what effect the holding hand may have could give a false reading.

Years ago when I got my first Dwyer meter, I thought it would read correct at any angle. A couple of simple tests showed me it didn't.

 

[Jimm]

This wind business is the heart of the matter . I have been trying to study the effects of wind on various trees , shrubs , grasses etc. Sometimes the wind is there but high up in the tops of the trees , with little effect down closer to the ground . But ...........when you are shooting way ou t there your bullet is going to get quite high and then be exposed to some of that wind even though it is not a low level wind.

In the foothills of the Ouachita mountains where I shoot mostly the terrain is topsy turvy. Slopes change quickly from right to left to the opposite in a few hundred yards. Studying the wind across a clear cut to a 800 yd. or so shot often provides a confusing amount of wind data . A lot of times I have to view and interpret alone as I have a very few " believers " that will spot for me .

My best wind doping day happened a few days ago . The rock ( an often abused target ) was at a known 800 yds( some days 801 , some days 799 ) using a Swaro 1500) A friend that is beginning to get into longrange shooting went to my lease to shoot his ladder twest that I had loaded up for him and on the way out of the lease we stopped at my " high hide " to shoot .

the wind was crazy , crows going to roost were hugging the terrain , using the ridges to their benefit and so on .

As I studied the wind between me and the rock I realized that it was not going to influence the bullet for 300 or so yards then was going to push right for a couple hundred then full value left for the last 300 or so yds . Broom sage is a great indicator and there was plenty of it twixt here and there . I was not shooting on level ground .

Bottom line is that I made a good guess and hit the rock first shot . My friend was duly impressed ( so was I /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif )

Thanks Bart B for your hard earned wind info , this is a thread that needs to be pinned . All here can come here and share their exp about Their dealings with our common enemy .

Jim B.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I'll be the first to say that I suck at judging wind. Very hard thing to do. takes years and years and years of practice and most of all, shooting in windy conditions. I tried to help myself by buying a brunton windmeter. Pretty cool little piece of equipment. At least it tells me how fast the winds going, from where my barrel is anyways. Truth is, I dont like shooting in the wind. If its more then about 10 mph, I dont even waste my shells. I probly should, since its invaluble practice. Shooting at game animals in the wind is not something I would do just yet if its more then about 10 mph. Just to risky and i'm not that good at guessing wind. I am getting better though however with my windmeter. My 1st shot hits are a lot closer then what they use to be, thats for dang sure.

 

[Jimm]

"Shooting at game animals in the wind is not something I would do just yet if its more then about 10 mph. Just to risky and i'm not that good at"

I hear you Remmy, and you are on track. Thing is you can go to the downwind side of game and shoot a spotter ( need a pard here ) and learn all you need to know to get on the " fur " spot

I am aware that a lot of us shoot solitary , but I have learned that there a lot of guys / pards out there that really would like to be a member of a team and they enjoy the outcome .

Jim B.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Usually I always have my dad or friend with me. They are my spotters. They dont mind. My friend just likes to go along to get out of his house. I hear ya on those spotter shots. Those are suppose to work from about 700-800 yards on out I think. If I was to shoot at something about 1000 yards, I think your suppose to pick a point that is relatively close in elevation, but just go either right or left 100 yards, shoot your shot, confirm where it was, what you need to do, then swing over to the animal and get your shot off quickyly as possible so that the conditions dont change on you. thats my understanding of the spotter shot on when shooting at game 1000 yards away or farther. Better then wounding your animal. At least you'll know exactly your windage and maybe make a click or two for elevation.

 

[41mag]

With all of the stuff I have done through the years that wind has an effect on, I personally have gotten fairly accurate at doping the wind. This is mostly due to paying specific attention to wether forcast, as well as in the field shooting.

In the past year I have extended my shooting to past the 400yd mark, which has put this knowledge to the test. I picked up a cheap wind meter, and have found that I am fairly accurate in my estimations, according to it anyway. This however, does not help one much, when you have not placed a bullet into a predicted area at a previously unknown or untested range. This, at least in my case, will require time behind the trigger as well as more time on the ballistic tables to get the accurate placement down to precision.

 

[THOMAST]

Bart B, thanks for the info. I played around with your idea on the computer, and guess what? It seems so work! Cant wait to get to the range tomorrow (guess who's hoping for wind?)
Have rifle, anenometer and chart, will shoot! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dog caller]

[ QUOTE ]
Cant wait to get to the range tomorrow (guess who's hoping for wind?)

[/ QUOTE ]

That's just sick!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[THOMAST]

I went to the range this morning. Well, the wind 12mph coming in at between 10 & 11 o clock, distance 350 meters (not yds - we're metric over here) Did some calculations and adjusted turrets, shot one fouler (old habits die hard, I guess)and first shot into the diamond!!(1.5"x1.5") Second shot was 1.8" to the left (wind was gusting a bit)Im still grinning! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Thanks alot for the info BartB, you da man!

 

[Bart B]

Good to hear you had great results.

I hadn't thought of metric issues regarding my magic number formulas. So, I did some metric math and learned the magic number for metric ranges (hundreds of metres) and metric wind (speed in kilometres per hour) is 1.46 times larger than the one for English ranges and wind speed.

 

[davewilson]

Bart, i hope your buddy doesn't see this! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[THOMAST]

Bart, for the test, I converted everything to yards, inches and miles. 350 meters is 383 yds and dadadaping!
I actually prefer to use inches, because of my scope turret calibrations, which is in inches.
Thanks again!

 

[Coyoter]

I'll throw in a quick note here that the Meteos wind meter I refered to earlier has an impeller on top that reads the wind from any direction. I also picked up a unit that was made for Radio Shack that works on a similar principal, but gives a fairly accurate reading of which direction the wind is coming from through a digital display around the face that gives you the wind speed. I mounted the Meteos on a tripod with a makeshift wind flag pinned under it and was pretty happy with how it all worked out. The Radio Shack model is hand held and turns itself off in about 2 minutes, so it's not ideal for long shooting sessions, but may be pretty sweet on an antelope hunt.
Thank God for EBay!!! That's where I picked up both of them.
Coyoter