no wind conditions

R

recon1st

Member
I have a 40X that shoots very well, untill the wind stops.
Under a no wind situation it refuses to shoot.
I have tried several known lots of ammo with no results.
Anyone have a sugestion where I should start.

Dean
 
No wind is sometimes the hardest condition

fact is though that there still is a little air moving and going with lighter tails might tell you something. The bullet will move less with this condition but knowing which direction will turn a frustrating match into a winner.

edit: Also, in these conditions, the flag at the muzzle is ten times as important as the one at the target.
 
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Don I understand this but the the distance of the impact is greater than
any amount of wind deflection

Dean
 
mirage is not the issue either.
I also observed several other normally very good guns W/shooters, not
doing well

Dean
 
Bullets moving off POA

farther than the the amount of wind is one of the anomalies of rimfire shooting. It's humbling.....
 
recon1st said:
mirage is not the issue either.
I also observed several other normally very good guns W/shooters, not
doing well

Dean
Click to expand...

Dean,
You are not alone ... I would say 75% of the shooters struggle when the wind totally dies down during a match. I believe that having some wind helps stabilize the bullets flight from the muzzle to the target. When it's hot and calm here in south Florida the .22lr bullets appear to float around a little more than when wind is moving the flags. Could be related to pockets of different air / humidity densities that are not present when the wind evens things out. John
 
No wind can be tough, especially in the heat of the day. I think there are mirage and thermals that we are dealing with. What I find is that a no wind overcast day or a no wind in the early morning on a sunny day, yields predictably good results. A no or very light wind sunny, warm or hot day can be a real puzzle and will often give me vertical. On those days, all I can do is try to look for ammo that will handle it better. It does seem to me that there are days that some rifle/ammo combos just seem to handle better than others. For me, it's all part of the mystery that is rimfire BR.
 
No wind shooting

Try looking up Gene Beggs discussion about Wake Turbulence in the Benchrest Central archive
Don't know if it applies to rimfire but it could.
Ray
 
Bill B said:
No wind can be tough, especially in the heat of the day. I think there are mirage and thermals that we are dealing with. What I find is that a no wind overcast day or a no wind in the early morning on a sunny day, yields predictably good results. A no or very light wind sunny, warm or hot day can be a real puzzle and will often give me vertical. On those days, all I can do is try to look for ammo that will handle it better. It does seem to me that there are days that some rifle/ammo combos just seem to handle better than others. For me, it's all part of the mystery that is rimfire BR.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, I would rather shoot with the wind steady at 20 mph than try shooting in a light switchy
wind. It looks like nothing, but it will sure throw you off your game. I shot inside some with no wind, while it will produce good scores, its still not as good as shooting with a steady breeze. I think the wind stabilizes the bullet to some degree, plus eliminates the mirage.

George
 
recon1st said:
I have a 40X that shoots very well, untill the wind stops.
Under a no wind situation it refuses to shoot.
I have tried several known lots of ammo with no results.
Anyone have a sugestion where I should start.

Dean
Click to expand...

Your rifle is not tuned.
 
mike
the not in tune was my first thought of possible things to play with.
the gun, in my very inexperienced opinion, shoots very well 22X best
with many 18-20s this and last year in IR50/50.

Would we be talking a little adjustment or alot?

Dean
 
Dean,

I just looked up your scores on the IR50/50 site and I would not worry. Looks to me like you've only had one bad day with your 10.5 and 13.5 lb rifle. Your average is right there with Mike's on the 13.5 lb rifle and right there with me. You don't put up those kind of scores with a rifle that is out of tune. Don't let a couple bad days throw you off or fixate on them. We all have them, just shake it off and look ahead to the next match. Looking at your scores, my suggestion would be to work on your sporter. Upgrade it or spend more time shooting it. Once you get that thing going you will be in the running for more 3 gun wins.
 
Bill
Thanks for the vote of confidence, I have been doing pretty well
I had another no wind yesterday, IR match in the morning, really frustrating.
After the IR match we had an ARA match. The wind came up 1 or 2mph and
the gun worked great
 
If it was all about tune and perhaps it is

Those in tune would shoot 250's with high x counts and 25 X es would be common, seems to me. Of course, it could be that very few, if any, rifles are in tune for the conditions. On another forum and in another discipline, a well known National Shooter has said a few times that at least 75% of all the rifles on the line, at any given time, are out of tune. I am inclined to think there is some validity to that statement particularly in light = humid = thin air.

Pete
 
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No wind

I look at "no wind" as ABSOLUTELY NO WIND" . If there is the slightest tail movement you can encounter quite significant cganges in the POI. I've only shot "absolutely no wind" matches- a 250 with my sporter in Montezuma and my first 250 with the heavy gun at Wyoming antelope. When there is that very slight flicker of the tail I hope to shoot in the low 240's. A half mile an hour wind magnifies the effect of other factors effecting poi.
 
Could be...

That your rifle just refuses to shoot in very little wind. Had a centerfire barrel that worked like that and I prayed for enough wind to get it in line. Tried a lot of stuff and it never shot well when the wind died. Glad it finally wore out!!
 
Dean- curious, have you ever shot the rifle in an indoor range?

Thanks,
Evan
 
recon1st said:
mike
the not in tune was my first thought of possible things to play with.
the gun, in my very inexperienced opinion, shoots very well 22X best
with many 18-20s this and last year in IR50/50.

Would we be talking a little adjustment or alot?

Dean
Click to expand...

Dean it is probably just slightly out of adjustment and there is nothing you can do about it, I have seen your scores and I wouldn't worry so much about it and concentrate on shooting technique. When the heat is really high there are a lot of things going on that you just cant see, there are heat waves rising from the ground and cooling waves falling to the ground you cant see. But if your rifle just wont shoot in a NO wind condition it is out of tune, I have not had a rifle that wouldn't shoot in a no wind condition.
 
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