LR Hunting -- Help?

[Brydawg512]

Wind will always be your biggest variable to deal with at long range as it will affect the flight of your bullet more than the others provided you have a decent drop chart or calculator app handy.

To even begin to understand how to read the wind and compensate for it requires a whole lot of time behind the gun shooting at various ranges under varying conditions.

The best thing you can do besides having accurate dope to dial is to keep good records of what you saw, how you read it, how much you compensated for it and how far off of your aimpoint the actual wind drift was.

While we rely heavily on Tech these days reading and compensating for the wind is still as much art as it is science, it requires feel as much as it does good weather data because the wind on a long shot can be completely different at the target than it is where you are set up for the shot and it's not unusual especially when shooting across varying terrain for the wind to change direction and intensity multiple times during the flight of the bullet.

Order this book it's a good start.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990920615/?tag=lrhmag19-20

You will probably want to start saving now and at some point attend a good long range shooting school as well.

Great, thank you! I am very ready to get out and practice things.

 

[Brydawg512]

A Krestal wind and weather devise will give you accurate data at your position. It will give you wind speed & direction, humidity, and absolute pressure.

It will not tell you the wind angle and speed at the target, but it will give you a base point to start. Mirage and vegetation movement, between and at target, can help fine tune your windage. Wind is the single most critical thing affecting long distance shooting and the hardest to learn.

Thank you!

 

[Brydawg512]

My point of impact at 100 doesn't change much with temp changes. Now if I went up a mountain it might. When doing LR, I just use my phones ballistic program to pull my GPS data/station data. If I have signal it will give me a wind temp etc.

It doesn't take much time to train yourself to what the wind is. You obviously know the difference in wind from a 0 wind and 30 mph wind already. Now you just need to fine tune how you look at wind variations. Google it. If the wind is blowing on a tree and only the leaves are moving, no branch movement, that's 0-5, branch movement 5-10, whole tree movement can be over that. Research wind reading then go for a walk and try to understand this. compare your guesses with a weather station to see if you're in the ballpark... It doesn't take much to get a hold of this, just some practice.

Thank you for the advice. I will be sure to get out and practice.

 

[dsculley]

If you want to shoot and hunt long range I would highly encourage you to check out bangsteel.com and go to one of their classes. Dan Newberry (of OCW load development) runs this school and stresses practical long range which is what long range hunting is. I attended in May of 2017 and it was some of the best money I have spent! At $400.00, this school is a steal for two days of instruction from accomplished shooters. There will be some classroom time where Dan covers what he considers practical information for shooting. He does not spend a lot of your time talking about theory that is not relevant to making the shot. Most of your time will be at the range shooting and spotting for others. You will shoot 150 - 200 rounds from 600 to 1,100 yds.

If you want a good exercise in learning to read the wind, go out to your range to shoot one day when it is raining or snowing. The rain/snow will let you see what the wind is doing all the way to the target.

 

[WiscGunner]

I highly recommend BallisticARC for a simple and VERY effective app to use, especially for beginners. The built in Google Earth mapping is great for hunting and ranging targets if you don't have a Laser Rangefinder yet. The App does not require crazy inputs and variable that really are unnecessary inside 1000 yards. The User Interface is very clear and easy to understand. The Bullet library is decent and easy to add custom bullet data if not in the library. The Dope charts have an export button to store in your photo library on your phone or print at OfficeDepot for laminated dope cards for when batteries inevitably go dead at the wrong time. Easily pairs with a Kestrel wind meter if you have one but I highly recommend the WeatherFlow wind meter as it is a fraction of the price and collects all the same atmospherics such as wind, temp, DA, humidity.

When starting, it is important to get solid data as a base. Accurate scope height measurement over bore, barrel length, twist rate, etc entered into the app.

Next Get a solid 100yard...actual yardage is not important as long as it is accurate. My range is 95yrds.

Third - get an accurate bullet velocity if you have access to a LabRadar or Magnetospeed (do not bother with any other chronograph).

4th - Shoot at distance using the recommended adjustments in the app and measure the difference from point of aim. Continue to adjust the POI to POA with your turrets. Go back into the app and adjust the BC under your bullet parameters until the recommended adjustments match up with what you actually needed to dial to get the POI to match the POA.

Now you are ready to start learning. Buy or load a 1000 rounds and run to the range any day their is bad weather and learn from all of your wind guesses. In between range days study the extensive amount of information available on different longrange podcast, and forums.

If you have a local PRS club match in your area I would HIGHLY recommend joining it. You will learn very fast as it is a create training environment and full of helpful knowledgeable people eager to assist.

Good luck, have fun and be safe.