Been in a wind kick lately. Here’s what you really need to know about wind when at a match. And it’s not how to read wind down to 1-2mph.
The important thing is how to only miss once on a stage. This is assuming your fundamentals are sound and you can spot your shots. As well as assuming you are building good positions and managing time properly. If not, work on those and forget this for now.
Let’s say your wind reading ability sucks (most do, so don’t worry). And that you can basically tell which way the wind is coming from. Let’s also say you can break wind down into “low” “mild” and “high” wind. Go into your calculator and come up with a value for each of those such as 3-5mph, 5-10, and 10-15. Then using the quick wind formula we always talk about, see what your holds will be for the median of those wind brackets. Say 4mph lightC 7mph mild, and 12mph high. This gives you a starting point when your at a match and you can say “the wind is blowing mildly from right to left.” Instead of attempting to call wind to 2mph when you aren’t skilled enough to make that call (yet), make easy references so you can make quick decisive calls at a match
You decided that mildly is a 7mph and you have a 7mph gun and we are shooting at 500 yds. So your starting point is a .5 right hold. It’s a standard 2moa plate so it’s .6 wide.
Don’t second guess yourself unless you know someone is a good enough shooter and their wind value is different and their bullet is similar to yours. Do not listen to the mid to low pack shooters. Even if they are your buddies or you’re also a mid to low pack. Their holds will include trigger slaps, bad zero’s, etc etc. Unless someone is absolutely trustworthy, go with your guess starting point which is a .5 right hold.
So, now we have our hold. Don’t second guess. Get up there, build a badass postion hold .5 to CENTER (none of this edge of plate reference bullshit). Make a good trigger press and make sure you absolutely see the shot. If you don’t see it, it’s basically wasted, especially if you miss.
Now here is the most important part. What to do after the first shot. If you center punch the plate, awesome. If not and you see it swing a little left or right, just add or subtract a tenth. If it moves a lot left or right, add or subtract two tenths. Remember, it’s .6 wide, so that’s .3 each way. You’d need to barely swipe the edge to need to move .3. So most will be .1 or .2. Obviously if you see where it hit, measure it. But the quick reference if little swing vs big swing will get you close.
If you miss on the “pro” side (upwind), most everyone will correct pretty well. As you were holding .5 and it’s .3 from center to edge, you’ll either miss and see the miss at .2,.1 or zero. Most everyone has no problem seeing that and putting it on center and continuing.
Where the real problems happen is when people miss down wind. It’s away from the center of reticle where we like to be.
And this is where the edge of plate referencing bullshit screws people up. We get into the habit of referencing the edges cause it’s a defined point. So, when people miss down wind, and say they miss by .5 off center. They see that its .2 off the edge and for some odd reason, they are scared to make the correction which is *at least* .5. They make the .2 correction which barely gets them on the plate. Then they either make a bad trigger press or the wind picks up slightly and they miss in the exact same spot. Thats when you hear “I don’t know how I hit the same spot, I held more.”
So, first, only reference the center of the target. And we know it’s .6 wide (.3 from center to edge). So, the *absolute minimum* you should ever correct is half a target. At the very *minimum*. I always hear people calling corrections for .1 or .2 when someone misses. That is always wrong.
Since on the theme of quick reference, if you ever miss on the downwind side, on a standard 2moa target, just add .5 to your hold. (if you missed by a mil, obviously correct that). But if you miss just off the edge (which is where you see most misses, .2 or so off edge), don’t even think about it. Just add .5 to your hold. Trust me. Do it and your will never again hit the same spot even though you corrected. You’ll either hit center, or within .1 of center each way most of the time. The exception is very switchy wind days.
.5 seems like a big correction, but think about it. You were attempting to hit center and missed. So that’s .3 already. You can even make it a habit to correct and entire target. Add .6 to your wind call. You held .5 and missed down wind, immediately move to a 1.0 or 1.1 hold. I promise your second round hit percentage will improve exponentially.
If you have good fundamentals, you can use this method to easily shoot 80%+ of available points at most club matches. Depending on the day, that’s top pack or winning.
Come up with light, mild, and high wind values. Make the call. See the shot. Gauge the swing of steel. If you miss on amateur side, correct .5 or an entire target. Your scores will improve exponentially without needing to be a 2mph wind reader.
