Having our little 600 yd shoot today, weather calling for 20-30MPH winds(south) so we'll be shooting with the wind, any tips you can give might give me an edge I really need, LOL Thanks.
F T/R Competition Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
- Thread starter JGorski
- Start date
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
thats a lot of wind.... hopefully your range does not have any intermediate berms between you and the target...a tail wind like that will cause a "curl" off of those berms with nasty effects on your vertical. Best advice I can give you (being a novice in comparison to many of these guys) is to pick a condition and try to only shoot in that same condition.
It could be worse...just be glad it is not a 1000 yard match
thats a lot of wind.... hopefully your range does not have any intermediate berms between you and the target...a tail wind like that will cause a "curl" off of those berms with nasty effects on your vertical. Best advice I can give you (being a novice in comparison to many of these guys) is to pick a condition and try to only shoot in that same condition.
It could be worse...just be glad it is not a 1000 yard match
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
All we have is grass between us and the target, hopefully the conditions will be the same for each shot, thanks!
All we have is grass between us and the target, hopefully the conditions will be the same for each shot, thanks!
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
I am a novice at reading the wind. But here is a tip I have picked up. If you get a sighter shot, shoot it in as short a time period as possible before the record fire. Then shoot the record fire as soon as the period begins as rapidly as possible.
The idea is to get the sighter down range, then shoot as soon as possible after you see how the wind effects the bullet. The longer you wait, the more the wind changes. If you have to wait for posting of the targets, try to pay attention to the wind flags, or signs you have available. Only shoot when they are all the same as when you fired your sighter.
I am a novice at reading the wind. But here is a tip I have picked up. If you get a sighter shot, shoot it in as short a time period as possible before the record fire. Then shoot the record fire as soon as the period begins as rapidly as possible.
The idea is to get the sighter down range, then shoot as soon as possible after you see how the wind effects the bullet. The longer you wait, the more the wind changes. If you have to wait for posting of the targets, try to pay attention to the wind flags, or signs you have available. Only shoot when they are all the same as when you fired your sighter.
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
Thanks for the advise, wish me luck, off we go now.
Thanks for the advise, wish me luck, off we go now.
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
Do you believe in prayer.
It is very hard to get all of your rounds downrange without a shift in the wind somewhere along the path of you bullet. There are periods of calm sometimes during winds and that is when you can exploit by shooting real fast. Most times assuming no change in strong winds for a full string should be combined with some ritual to a higher being (prayer, goat sacrifices, or whatever you think will work.
Having grass can be a great indicator of wind and if look across a field of high grass the grass moves and waves, this is an indicator of changing winds. It is rare to look at a field of tall grass and see them all laying down in the same direction for the length of time required to fire a string (3-4 minutes w/ good pit service).
Let us know how things worked,
wade
Do you believe in prayer.
It is very hard to get all of your rounds downrange without a shift in the wind somewhere along the path of you bullet. There are periods of calm sometimes during winds and that is when you can exploit by shooting real fast. Most times assuming no change in strong winds for a full string should be combined with some ritual to a higher being (prayer, goat sacrifices, or whatever you think will work.
Having grass can be a great indicator of wind and if look across a field of high grass the grass moves and waves, this is an indicator of changing winds. It is rare to look at a field of tall grass and see them all laying down in the same direction for the length of time required to fire a string (3-4 minutes w/ good pit service).
Let us know how things worked,
wade
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
See my other post, 600 yd shoot in the books, not pretty.
See my other post, 600 yd shoot in the books, not pretty.
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
Normally the one good thing about high velocity winds is that they (usually) tend to be less twitchy - the velocity is more constant, and usually doesn't reverse either. Even those are not exactly a given, so you have to work with what you have.
If you are shooting string fire and have a 'block' of time to work with, combined with a reasonably fast target puller... this might help in the future.
Try assessing what the wind is doing *before* coming to the line, i.e. while scoring for the previous relay, during setup, during prep... and see if you can pick out any dominant patterns where it stays somewhat consistent for a few minutes. If you can identify a couple different wind patterns - the one you 'want' and then what it seems to be doing when it switches around.
Do your best to take at least one sighter during the condition you want... as a new shooter, you may just want to take your second sighter during the same condition to help get it dialed in for your record shots. This is a time when getting the rounds down range may pay dividends over dithering over the best possible hold. A squeaker 9 out the top beats the heck out of a 8, 7 or 6 out the side because you screwed around too long and the conditions started to change. The key here is to pay attention to whats going on down range... particularly *up* wind... and see the change coming and *stop* shooting before it gets to you. Wait for your condition to come back, then pound some more rounds down range. Don't try to shoot thru the change if you can avoid it.
A somewhat more advanced technique, assuming you have a good no-wind zero and a lot of confidence in your ability to get that first shot pretty close and correct off of it... is to take your first sighter in the desired condition... and then wait and take your second sighter in the *other* condition. This definitely depends on a few things - the wind conditions are changing quickly but do come back, you have good target service that isn't screwing around talking in the pits (i.e. you don't have to call for a mark every time you stop shooting for a couple minutes in mid string), and that you have fine tuned your gun/ammo/plot setup to where you can sling lead down range pretty quickly when needed. Keeping a plot sheet is almost a must for this sort of shooting. The ideas is now you know what base correction you need when you are shooting in your desired conditions... and if they go away, and you don't have time for them to come back because the wind has been switching enough that you haven't been able to get all your rounds off in your preferred conditions, you are not stuck having to guess and effectively take a 'sighter' with record shot #15. You already have the basic information you need - from sighter #2. It may not be exact, and the wind may be more or less than it was before based on the flags... but at least you can make an educated call.
If you are shooting Fullbore, aka pair fire where you have to shoot within 45 seconds after your partner, and can't blaze the rounds down range in a preferred condition and can't wait out the condition - i.e. have no choice but to shoot thru the change... thats a whole different story.
The big thing to remember about shooting under these conditions... *especially* for F/TR... is that you aren't going to be shooting great scores. Probably not even very good ones. Neither is anyone else, most likely. It's going to be a blood bath, death by a thousand paper cuts, a 9 here, a 9 there, an 8, or even a 7 (or worse). How well you weather the adversity, and how much you let it bother you, is going to have a lot to do with how well you do at the end of the day. One bad relay happens to everyone on days with conditions like this.
YMMV,
Monte
Normally the one good thing about high velocity winds is that they (usually) tend to be less twitchy - the velocity is more constant, and usually doesn't reverse either. Even those are not exactly a given, so you have to work with what you have.
If you are shooting string fire and have a 'block' of time to work with, combined with a reasonably fast target puller... this might help in the future.
Try assessing what the wind is doing *before* coming to the line, i.e. while scoring for the previous relay, during setup, during prep... and see if you can pick out any dominant patterns where it stays somewhat consistent for a few minutes. If you can identify a couple different wind patterns - the one you 'want' and then what it seems to be doing when it switches around.
Do your best to take at least one sighter during the condition you want... as a new shooter, you may just want to take your second sighter during the same condition to help get it dialed in for your record shots. This is a time when getting the rounds down range may pay dividends over dithering over the best possible hold. A squeaker 9 out the top beats the heck out of a 8, 7 or 6 out the side because you screwed around too long and the conditions started to change. The key here is to pay attention to whats going on down range... particularly *up* wind... and see the change coming and *stop* shooting before it gets to you. Wait for your condition to come back, then pound some more rounds down range. Don't try to shoot thru the change if you can avoid it.
A somewhat more advanced technique, assuming you have a good no-wind zero and a lot of confidence in your ability to get that first shot pretty close and correct off of it... is to take your first sighter in the desired condition... and then wait and take your second sighter in the *other* condition. This definitely depends on a few things - the wind conditions are changing quickly but do come back, you have good target service that isn't screwing around talking in the pits (i.e. you don't have to call for a mark every time you stop shooting for a couple minutes in mid string), and that you have fine tuned your gun/ammo/plot setup to where you can sling lead down range pretty quickly when needed. Keeping a plot sheet is almost a must for this sort of shooting. The ideas is now you know what base correction you need when you are shooting in your desired conditions... and if they go away, and you don't have time for them to come back because the wind has been switching enough that you haven't been able to get all your rounds off in your preferred conditions, you are not stuck having to guess and effectively take a 'sighter' with record shot #15. You already have the basic information you need - from sighter #2. It may not be exact, and the wind may be more or less than it was before based on the flags... but at least you can make an educated call.
If you are shooting Fullbore, aka pair fire where you have to shoot within 45 seconds after your partner, and can't blaze the rounds down range in a preferred condition and can't wait out the condition - i.e. have no choice but to shoot thru the change... thats a whole different story.
The big thing to remember about shooting under these conditions... *especially* for F/TR... is that you aren't going to be shooting great scores. Probably not even very good ones. Neither is anyone else, most likely. It's going to be a blood bath, death by a thousand paper cuts, a 9 here, a 9 there, an 8, or even a 7 (or worse). How well you weather the adversity, and how much you let it bother you, is going to have a lot to do with how well you do at the end of the day. One bad relay happens to everyone on days with conditions like this.
YMMV,
Monte
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
Thats great advice Monte, Ill try that next time we have the same kind of conditions. Actually, we were shooting 600yd BR today, 7 mins to shoot 5 shots, 7 mins also to shoot as many sighters as we want, but were shooting at 5" "paper plates" set in the berm and having spotters tell us where were hitting, not exactly a serious OFFICIAL BR shoot, but its all we got around here.
Thats great advice Monte, Ill try that next time we have the same kind of conditions. Actually, we were shooting 600yd BR today, 7 mins to shoot 5 shots, 7 mins also to shoot as many sighters as we want, but were shooting at 5" "paper plates" set in the berm and having spotters tell us where were hitting, not exactly a serious OFFICIAL BR shoot, but its all we got around here.
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
Understand the wind rose, use what ever indications you have for wind conditions, practice and prayer.
OK, it only works fair for me but I am lacking in that practice element!
Good luck!
Understand the wind rose, use what ever indications you have for wind conditions, practice and prayer.
OK, it only works fair for me but I am lacking in that practice element!
Good luck!
Re: Any tips for shooting with the wind, 20-30MPH?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: memilanuk</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #FF0000">It's going to be a blood bath, death by a thousand paper cuts, a 9 here, a 9 there, an 8, or even a 7 (or worse).</span>
Monte </div></div>
Now that right there is funny, and a truer statement may never have been uttered. You just have to do your best and hope that your best is better than everyone else. Great advice Monte!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: memilanuk</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="color: #FF0000">It's going to be a blood bath, death by a thousand paper cuts, a 9 here, a 9 there, an 8, or even a 7 (or worse).</span>
Monte </div></div>
Now that right there is funny, and a truer statement may never have been uttered. You just have to do your best and hope that your best is better than everyone else. Great advice Monte!
Similar threads
