Basic Wind Reading for the Rifle Shooter

[milotrain]

Everything is easier when you know what you are doing.

Indeed, and everything is easier when you shoot 10s. In cycling they say you make your own luck by staying ahead of the peloton and that way you don't crash when everyone else does. Shooting 10s keeps you ahead of the wind.

[dingos]

Good thread. Wanted to share a good technique here. 175 grain SMK BC is .496. We all know it's much lower. Round to 5. (This will work with all BC). In a 5 MPH full value wind(cause BC is 5) your bullet will move .1 miles at 100M, .2 at 200M so on up to 500M. After 500M add .1. At 600M .7 mils, and so on. 1000M would be 1.1 mils. Knowing this you double it for a 10MPH full value wind and half it for a 2.5 MPH wind. It works like MONEY!! From there you can keep data in a book, crunch and tighten it, write it on a tiny little card, tape front and back to weather proof, and tape it to your stock for quick accurate come ups. Also, we use spotting scopes to read mirage 3/4 way to target and to read trace. Wind will effect bullet most at 1/4 of the distance left to target. Trace will help you see how far off you were from center mass so you can adjust in MOA based on knowing the size of the target, then convert to mils if you want or need to.

[JMP]

Milo, this is very good information.

I will note since many long distance shooters will use a scope. The scope also provides additional information about the wind that isn't observable with the naked eye, mainly the convection currents. I think it's good to be able to shoot and read the wind without glass--it is something that I cannot do very well.

[milotrain]

Thanks JMP

I certainly use a spotting scope whether there is a scope on the rifle or not. I have no idea how to read mirage for speed of the wind but it's really easy to tell when the wind is changing. Typically I try to avoid shooting in a change and wait until the mirage looks to have settled into some action. Sometimes you get lucky and the wind is right on the edge of blowing the mirage out, then you have a really good flag for a letoff when the mirage pops back up on the scope.

[rd2play]

I have no idea how to read mirage for speed of the wind but it's really easy to tell when the wind is changing.

I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but reading mirage really isn't that difficult, IF... you go out with somebody who's good at it. You read, he corrects, you read, he corrects, etc... and eventually you'll get good at it. Then you start taking shots, and that will be your confirmation. You do this over a few sessions and your confidence will increase once you see that you're making the right call. Nobody is perfect at this, but you'll get good enough to make reliable calls.

[milotrain]

It's easy to compare mirage to previous states of mirage, that's what this whole article is about. It is very hard to look at mirage and make a wind value call for a specific range at a specific distance, but luckily that's not necessary in most competition environments.

[rd2play]

It is very hard to look at mirage and make a wind value call for a specific range at a specific distance

It is not hard at all to make a wind call by looking at mirage (and surrounding landscape), if you learn how to do it. Learning to make an adequate call can be done in a few sessions. Once you have a wind value, the formula can easily be done in the head, or even easier on a phone.

That's all I'm saying. Again, I don't want to sound like a smart *****, I just want to make it clear there is nothing mystical about it. It's a skill like any other, and you don't have to be great at it to do a decent job. The more you do it, the better/quicker you can do it.

[kcstott]

Since mirage is only good for the lower wind speeds anyway, I don't remember off the top of my head but mirage goes flat at pretty low wind speeds

[waveslayer]

Since mirage is only good for the lower wind speeds anyway, I don't remember off the top of my head but mirage goes flat at pretty low wind speeds

it goes flat around 8mph. then you need to read the trees, bushes, dust etc.

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[rd2play]

It goes "really" flat over 12 mph, so definitely surrounding landscape and dust. Sometimes you shoot in an environment where there is hardly any vegetation, or just bushes that don't move much with the wind, and the wind doesn't kick up any dust. At that point... you might as well read the wind at your location with some device and start with that. I agree, it gets difficult at that point.

I shot in places with strong full value winds and no way to read the landscape. I shot and adjusted until I got it right... Then, knowing the adjustment and the distance to the target, we figured out the wind. I shot in places where you couldn't even see the impact because of the hard ground and strong wind. We waited for hours, nothing changed, so we packed and went home I always check the wind conditions before driving for 3 hours to some spot on BLM land.

[waveslayer]

It goes "really" flat over 12 mph, so definitely surrounding landscape and dust. Sometimes you shoot in an environment where there is hardly any vegetation, or just bushes that don't move much with the wind, and the wind doesn't kick up any dust. At that point... you might as well read the wind at your location with some device and start with that. I agree, it gets difficult at that point.

I shot in places with strong full value winds and no way to read the landscape. I shot and adjusted until I got it right... Then, knowing the adjustment and the distance to the target, we figured out the wind. I shot in places where you couldn't even see the impact because of the hard ground and strong wind. We waited for hours, nothing changed, so we packed and went home I always check the wind conditions before driving for 3 hours to some spot on BLM land.

get a kestrel! and place small flags or streamers where you shoot

[milotrain]

It is not hard at all to make a wind call by looking at mirage (and surrounding landscape), if you learn how to do it. Learning to make an adequate call can be done in a few sessions. Once you have a wind value, the formula can easily be done in the head, or even easier on a phone.

That's all I'm saying. Again, I don't want to sound like a smart *****, I just want to make it clear there is nothing mystical about it. It's a skill like any other, and you don't have to be great at it to do a decent job. The more you do it, the better/quicker you can do it.

I don't disagree with you. It's not magic or juju, but it is out of the scope of a "basic" process. This is exactly the kind of information that I got early on that didn't help me. "Hey go cultivate a skill of reading mirage." Ok...

The point of the article is giving people specific steps they can take to get over the hump of "I don't know how to read wind" and into the range of "Hey I know how to check what I'm looking at and I can learn what the mirage is doing".

get a kestrel! and place small flags or streamers where you shoot

That's a really good idea for training. It doesn't work in most competition, or casual match environments typically, but it is a great idea to keep a wind meter on you and sit watching the conditions and measuring them when the rules allow it (during squadding, pit changes, etc).

[waveslayer]

I don't disagree with you. It's not magic or juju, but it is out of the scope of a "basic" process. This is exactly the kind of information that I got early on that didn't help me. "Hey go cultivate a skill of reading mirage." Ok...

The point of the article is giving people specific steps they can take to get over the hump of "I don't know how to read wind" and into the range of "Hey I know how to check what I'm looking at and I can learn what the mirage is doing".


That's a really good idea for training. It doesn't work in most competition, or casual match environments typically, but it is a great idea to keep a wind meter on you and sit watching the conditions and measuring them when the rules allow it (during squadding, pit changes, etc).

yeah, for training purposes. what I do is read the wind and then verify it by looking at my cheaters, you learn really fast what the wind is, just by feeling it. good training techniques

[rd2play]

I don't disagree with you. It's not magic or juju, but it is out of the scope of a "basic" process. This is exactly the kind of information that I got early on that didn't help me. "Hey go cultivate a skill of reading mirage." Ok...

I agree, going out and "cultivating the skill" is not basic. It becomes basic though if and when you go out with somebody who can teach it. If you don't have access to someone like that, yeah, use any technique that works. In the end, it's about making the right call/shot.

[kcstott]

picked up Wind book for rifle shooters. Milotrain thanks for bringing this up. damn good book.