I have been needing a kestrel at least for wind. I do not get to shoot often. Should I buy a full capacity Kestral or weather featured and keep with my cards?
- Thread starter SporterII
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At what ranges and under what conditions do you typically shoot?
Inside 1200yds, above freezing. Different parts of the country. Mid / south east most.
Check out the weather flow meters. They are more affordable than the over priced kestrels.
http://weatherflow.com/weather-meter-for-shooting/
http://weatherflow.com/weather-meter-for-shooting/
I'm in a similarish situation geographically, and I use a DA card taped to my stock. My zero conditions are 1700K DA and my shooting is generally between -2K and 2K DA. I used JBM to find out my drop changes at 500, 750, 1000, and 1250 yards every 1000 DA of change for -3000 DA to 4000 DA. It works very well for me, and it's free which is great. To figure out my DA when I shoot, I use the AutoDens App, which gives you the DA from the nearest airport (good enough for me), and the app also has manual DA calculator you can use in it. Even if I'm between DA and distance numbers (like 660 DA and 835 yards), I'm almost never off by more than 0.1 mil.
I should have specified, you need to use the temperature/pressure/elevation to change the DA. The DA formula that I found on an aviation website can be found here https://www.flyingmag.com/technique/tip-week/calculating-density-altitude-pencil. I just made an excel file where I can change the inputs of temp/press/elevation to calculate DA. For example, an easy one is a 15 degree Fahrenheit change changes your DA by 1000 ft. So I set up JBM with my zero conditions (750 ft ele, 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 29.92 in-hg - summer in WI), which is about 1.7K, then change conditions to change DA from there. For example, in winter I still shoot at 15 degrees pretty frequently, so change T to 15, and at 750 yards my 6.5 creedmoor needs another 0.2 mils from my standard drop. We also shoot in South Dakota sometimes, so I'll also go up in my DA chart too. 80 degrees, 29.92 in-hg, 2100 ft ele about is a DA of about 4000, and at 1000 yards, I need 0.4 mils less than usual from my zero conditions. Please let me know if any of that isn't clear. I know it's a decent amount of number crunching, I just had a free afternoon one weekend and gave it a shot, and it works well for me.
Maybe a non-solver Kestrel and the Whiz Wheel will provide the answer you're after.
Personally, due to the terrain and swings in weather conditions hour by hour that we have in my AO, I opted for the do-all AB Kestrel.
Personally, due to the terrain and swings in weather conditions hour by hour that we have in my AO, I opted for the do-all AB Kestrel.
+1. Get the AB Kestrel. Great, and importantly rugged tool. I did all the DA cards, etc. I still carry a few in my pack, but the AB Kestrel is my go-to and its doing a great job. Is it perfect? No. Is it close? In my opinion, yes.
