Keeney small wind flag
- Thread starter tattooo
- Start date
@tattooo ,
At what distance will you be shooting when using this flag? Will you place the flag at your shooting position, at the target, or somewhere in between? Keep in mind that your terrain, tree lines, temperature variation, etc. will effect wind speed and direction along the bullet's flight path. I watched some serious benchrest competitors in a 200yd match a couple weeks ago and one guy put out 15 flags between himself and his target. A little overkill in my opinion, but still important to learn to read the wind along the way. Flags are helpful, but also learning to use grass, leaves, and anything else that moves will be a tremendous advantage...
At what distance will you be shooting when using this flag? Will you place the flag at your shooting position, at the target, or somewhere in between? Keep in mind that your terrain, tree lines, temperature variation, etc. will effect wind speed and direction along the bullet's flight path. I watched some serious benchrest competitors in a 200yd match a couple weeks ago and one guy put out 15 flags between himself and his target. A little overkill in my opinion, but still important to learn to read the wind along the way. Flags are helpful, but also learning to use grass, leaves, and anything else that moves will be a tremendous advantage...
You mean the range to end all ranges... one range to rule them all.... Jealous!
But yeah reading wind is tough especially judging the speed! I have a Brunton mini wind/temp gauge and I try to guess the wind speed on my walks with my wife as practice. Sometimes I come close... other times I'm off a bit.
Yup, that range.
A digital wind meter is a valuable training tool. Like WM said, using your senses to judge wind speed and direction and then checking the digital reading to see how close you got is a great exercise...
A digital wind meter is a valuable training tool. Like WM said, using your senses to judge wind speed and direction and then checking the digital reading to see how close you got is a great exercise...
Lets not forget the full value vs half value (or 3/4 value) etc to place on your bullet trajectory and making up DOPE charts for your particular load.... gets.... very.... technical.
Fixed that for you.
Looks at MikeD's avatar.... raises eyebrow... slowly tilts head
At 300 the wind has to be blowing hard to move you around , for me it the cut off point for seriously considering wind unless I'm trying to be a BR shooter that day. At 300 you need a good 10 mph honest 90degree cross wind to move it enough to get serious about. 400 out wind really works as the projectile starts to really lose energy and fps to combat wind
A piece of light yarn tied near you muzzle and standard flagging by the target at 300 is plenty.....if you are getting cross winds in a 300 yard stretch your in a special place.
Tie flagging, like the piece on the fishing swivel of your thing, between you and the 300 yard target and I bet you don't see a cross wind 360 days out of the year.
Your thinking long range, 300 is in the beginning stages of medium range.....IMO
A piece of light yarn tied near you muzzle and standard flagging by the target at 300 is plenty.....if you are getting cross winds in a 300 yard stretch your in a special place.
Tie flagging, like the piece on the fishing swivel of your thing, between you and the 300 yard target and I bet you don't see a cross wind 360 days out of the year.
Your thinking long range, 300 is in the beginning stages of medium range.....IMO
I'm with @oli700 in that unless you're shooting .22lr your typical wind conditions won't be a huge factor out to 300yd.
For the exercise though, the most important places to take wind readings are at the shooter's position, at 50-60% of your distance to target, and at your target. Once you get into long range shooting and your projectile's degree of trajectory increases you will also need to consider wind readings at the top of the trajectory curve. There could be a significant difference in wind speed and direction at say 20' off the ground vs. your ground level prone shooting position or at the 6' high target at 1000yd. At these distances there is far more to consider than just wind though. Knowing your cartridge's actual muzzle velocity, the projectile's true ballistics coefficient, and what happens to the projectile as it reaches its transonic range will all come into play before you even start to get into wind adjustments. All of these factors will change at different ambient temperatures, so data gathered on an 80 degree day will not produce the same results on target when it's 40 degrees outside.
Since you have your wind meter, I'd put the flag at mid range and hang a string or ribbon off your target stand. This will allow for thee different readings to compare. It'll be good practice even if it's not enough to push your bullet around too much...
For the exercise though, the most important places to take wind readings are at the shooter's position, at 50-60% of your distance to target, and at your target. Once you get into long range shooting and your projectile's degree of trajectory increases you will also need to consider wind readings at the top of the trajectory curve. There could be a significant difference in wind speed and direction at say 20' off the ground vs. your ground level prone shooting position or at the 6' high target at 1000yd. At these distances there is far more to consider than just wind though. Knowing your cartridge's actual muzzle velocity, the projectile's true ballistics coefficient, and what happens to the projectile as it reaches its transonic range will all come into play before you even start to get into wind adjustments. All of these factors will change at different ambient temperatures, so data gathered on an 80 degree day will not produce the same results on target when it's 40 degrees outside.
Since you have your wind meter, I'd put the flag at mid range and hang a string or ribbon off your target stand. This will allow for thee different readings to compare. It'll be good practice even if it's not enough to push your bullet around too much...
And value is easy to judge , the best thing is to just not over complicate everything.
It's a simple thing really, sans competition where victory is measured to the 100th" and military snipers.
Wind that crosses 2,3,4 - 8,9,10 o'clock basically 90 degree or close is counted as full value of judged speed, 6 is 6
Head and tail winds , 12 & 6 o'clock don't count
Everything else, 11, 1, 5, and 7 o'clock wind is half value, wind speed cut in half .....6 is 3 , not hard, judging speed is.
At 3 mph is hardly felt smoke starts to drift, 5 starts to blow dead leaves along the ground , 10 will carry papers and leaf litter , 15 bows small trees and moves them readily
Then you got gusty winds, the worst......
It's a simple thing really, sans competition where victory is measured to the 100th" and military snipers.
Wind that crosses 2,3,4 - 8,9,10 o'clock basically 90 degree or close is counted as full value of judged speed, 6 is 6
Head and tail winds , 12 & 6 o'clock don't count
Everything else, 11, 1, 5, and 7 o'clock wind is half value, wind speed cut in half .....6 is 3 , not hard, judging speed is.
At 3 mph is hardly felt smoke starts to drift, 5 starts to blow dead leaves along the ground , 10 will carry papers and leaf litter , 15 bows small trees and moves them readily
Then you got gusty winds, the worst......
I'd put your flag out at 50-60% of the distance to your target, so that'd be out to 150-180yd. Hang a ribbon on your target and use your wind meter at your shooting position. That'll give you three different readings to compare...
You're welcome Sir...
if you know of a surveyors supply store, construction supply, online or even some outdoors stores will have flagging, some call ribbon. its light and reacts to breezes easily, comes in every color and patterns like candy stripe and polka dot
used heavily here for logging boundaries ,hazards, marking back roads to jobs in the woods, fires, marking your way to and from things hiking in the woods
used heavily here for logging boundaries ,hazards, marking back roads to jobs in the woods, fires, marking your way to and from things hiking in the woods
