Learning how to judge the wind

[alfred1222]

How did yall learn to adjust for windage and elevation, as well as using mil dots? ive read all of the theoretical articles on CGN and other sites, im wondering if anyone here has taken a class or learned through some practical method? i know the best solution is to just shoot, but i follow the "work smart not hard" mentality. Any help would be appreciated

[badbread]

Tagging along, good question!

[Untamed1972]

I've always been told that learning to read the wind is just the "acquired art" part of precision shooting. All the rest of it is fairly scientific and mathematical and can be easily calculated and accounted for. Wind on the other hand with it's variable speeds, gusting, directional changes etc is something acquired by experience....especially the longer the distance you can have issues with the wind being different between the shooter and the target even.

Not that perhaps taking a class or workshop with some experienced shooters wouldn't provide some pointers to get you moving in the right direction.

[bambam8d1]

See if you can pick up a 23-10 online or something? I'm sure you can come across one on Amazon. Has a lot of good information. But like others have said. Gotta get out and do it. It was a little different for me transitioning from a shooter to spotter but it's actually a lot of fun. Calling wind, watching trace.. Pretty cool get out there and train

[MoBait]

Nothing beats training, but when that's not an option, this video series seems quite informative:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJUaiRIEduNXoal2_PkBZi0vDCIcEPxUn

There's a couple videos about wind in their.

[bambam8d1]

Also, I'm sure they make a civilian version of the kestryll, not really sure if there would even be a difference as I've never looked into it. But you could then use that to aid you in learning the baseline you know? Feel the wind on your face, notice how the grass/ vegetation is moving, clouds above you, and so forth... Make your call, then check what it actually is and check your call. That will help with close up wind where you are, but you'll still need to train on judging wind at further distances. Watch vegetation, mirage. Stuff like that

[CK_32]

Honestly for me learning wind is just shooting in wind and just learning from your kisses and hits or (DOPE) as much as I hate using "tactical" military acronyms.

I would suggest watching magpul dynamics long range video series to get a basic starting point and tips on what to focus and look for. Then just out and shoot. There is no secret to learning reading wind accept shooting in it and getting experience.

Personally what I learned helps a ton owning and making wind calls is buying a role of caution tape or light plastic Home Depot tape and making 5-10" wind flags and station them every so many yards and let that show you what the wind is doing. Also if you have the funds investing in a Krestal wind meter will help a bit as well for ballistic calc inputs.

I started to get the hand of it but fell off after taking a break, so if your serious about it you gatta out and keep time invested into it. Also look at hitting up your local matches to get some feed back from comp shooters and maybe find a shooting buddy to help guide you along.

[dozer wright]

I found a military book in a surplus store. It describes reading the angle of the heat waves coming off the ground.I don't know how accurate. It is but its was pretty cool none the less

[dskit]

Elevation? Get your bullet and your speed and plug it into a ballistics program. JBM is free make sure the adjustments match your scope and zero is 100 yards.

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj_simp-5.1.cgi

When at 600 yards, dial you 600 yard and see what happens.

Add a 10 MPH wind reading to the above and you have a starting point for wind.

Buy a wind meter - if you read a 5 mph wind, just do half of adjustment listed for 10MPH as the distance. See what happens.

You can buy ballistic aps for your phone as well.

The only trick is having the right equipment, particulary a scope that is designed for such work. Any scope with "target" "varmint" or "tactical" turrets will work.

Be sure to zero those turrets after you zero the rifle at 100 yards or you'll have to count clicks....

[NapalmCheese]

Lots of places online will tell you how to read the wind. That doesn't mean much if you don't practice it. You don't have to shoot to read the wind, but you need something that'll let you know what the wind is doing. If you're near and airport they have a windsock that will pretty accurately tell you what the wind is doing up to 15 mph.

As far as mil-dots go, just do the math and make sure your scope is at the correct magnification if it's SFP.

This can help you practice the math http://www.shooterready.com/lrs.html

[sjb269]

Elevation:
Get the BC of the bullet your using.
Record the speed of the bullet
Know your DA (density altitude)
Plug info into ballistic calculator.

Windage
Carry a windmeter. estimate wind based on observation and feel or mirage.
Compare your estimate with wind meter reading.

[B]Mil dots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5AGsHSIsVo

[dskit]

What he said.

As for mil dots - adjust the output in your ballistic program for mils and you can hold over all you want and hold off for wind.

If your data indicates a 1 mil hold at 300 yards, then put the first mil dot on the target and press.

If your wind call is .5 mils, hold halfway between the cross hair and the first mil dot.

[Ahhnother8]

How did yall learn to adjust for windage

Practice shooting in the wind. There is NO substitute. Many have tried to learn wind reading in other ways, and ALL have failed. It is more of an art than a science.

[as_rocketman]

What we do at Appleseed KD classes (Known Distance) is to teach wind estimation by comparison to environmental factors. For instance, if you can feel the wind on your face, it's at least 4 MPH. If it starts kicking up dust, it's at least 13 MPH. And so on. Requires memorizing a simple list.

Also estimate the direction and apply full or half-value. Then try to average conditions between where you are and the target. Then we apply this to your bullet's deflection value to compute an offset in MOA.

Obviously this isn't precise, but it's good enough to get on paper, or put food on the table. To get better results you'll need better indicators, like flags at known distances, like real precision shooters often use.

But like others have said, it takes practice. Lots of it. Keep shot logs and take good notes.

[killshot44]

Kestrels are nice but they only tell you what the wind is right there, not what it's doing between the muzzle and the target.

Save the $$$ and spend it on the range, shoot on windy days and the more flags you can use the better.

Watch this space next year for the Wind Clinic run next year at Sacramento Valley as sign up.