The wind ? How do I get started ?

G

gray wolf

Guest
OK--OK--- I give up.
I need to read the wind And I am not sure how to get started.
I thought I was one of those guy's that didn't need to--after all I am shooting at 100 yards and hey how much could a 7 or 8 mile an hour wind move my 130 grain bullet?
I am limited for money but I have plenty of the thin plastic trail marking tape and I am sure I can come up with some stakes. My biggest problem is how do I know what the tape is telling me as it moves from the wind.
I am in the dark here and I need some help to get started.

GW.
 
Gray Wolf,

You can actually make either dasiy flags or non-daisy flags for about 5.00 each and get pole for around 5.00 each. You can get by with three to 100yds (I recommend 4) and five to 200 yds. All you need is a utility knife and drill/bits to do it.

Hovis
 
Get started by putting something out there to show you what the wind is doing, then try to pull the trigger only when your wind indicators look the same (or at least fairly close) as the previous shot.

As Kevin said, basic wind flags are fairly easy to build, but even some surveyor's tape on a stick is better than nothing. Put indicators out at three distances (25, 50, 75) at first. At first that's about all the data you can absorb.
 
Thank you for the start and the tips. I will try and use the tape and at least three poles.

GW.
 
Here is what I did with the pole and surveyor's tape. Works better than just taping the surveyor's tape to the top fothe pole.

I ground the top of the pole down to a point and drilled a guide hole. Inserted a screw through the eye of a fishing swivel such that everything moved freely.

Tied on 4" or so of fishing line with a fishing swivel/snap at the other end and attached that to the surveyor's tape.

Better than nothing. Suggest folks consider this also if they occasionally have to shoot at a range where rednecks shoot their wind flags.

Greg J.
 
SGJennings said:
Here is what I did with the pole and surveyor's tape. Works better than just taping the surveyor's tape to the top fothe pole.

I ground the top of the pole down to a point and drilled a guide hole. Inserted a screw through the eye of a fishing swivel such that everything moved freely.

Tied on 4" or so of fishing line with a fishing swivel/snap at the other end and attached that to the surveyor's tape.

Better than nothing. Suggest folks consider this also if they occasionally have to shoot at a range where rednecks shoot their wind flags.

Greg J.
Click to expand...


Yes, great advice..!

Suggest folks consider this also if they occasionally have to shoot at a range where rednecks shoot their wind flags.

Ha..! It's happened to me......................!
cale
 
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Try not to allow the Rednecks to shoot your wind flags more than once. Gently explain to them that wind flags can be expensive, and/or take time to make, are necessary to determine conditions. Furthermore, it upsets you to have your windflags shot up.
Bob H.
 
You may recall my post the other day about flyers and my submission to learning to read wind flags. Yesterday at my range (100 yards), berms on both sides, and winds up and down to 15 mph and changing direction, I set out 2 flags; one at 30 yards and one at 60 yards. It worked, somewhat for me, but the problem was two fold:
One, when the 60 yard flag is flying in-line with my LOS to the target, or near to inline, I can't tell whether it is angled toward me or away, without using the scope. But if I use the scope, I can't see the 30 yard flag.
Two, sometimes I would have to wait 2 -3 minutes between shots, or more, to see what I felt were the same wind conditions. This isn't going to work very well for our varmit shoots where I have to get off 15 rounds in 10 minutes. :(

My groups were barely sub-1/2 MOA, but at least I only had one flyer. I would appreciate any advice here. Thanks.
 
Model 14,
I went and found your previous post about wind. I can't help with everything, but maybe I can offer a few suggestions.

First, from a factory Remington .223, 1/2 MOA is pretty good. If you can do that consistently, that's about as good as you can reasonably expect.

You've already seen from placing two flags, that the wind is always there. The difference is, now you can see it. It's not a bad idea to add a couple more, 20, 40, 60 & 80 yds should give more than enough info to really confuse you :).

You'll want to place the flags in a manner that will allow you to see them with one eye while looking through the scope in the other (hey, nobody said this stuff was easy).

On most days, at least where I shoot, the wind is constantly switching and it's very difficult to shoot the exact same condition for every record shot. That's why you shoot sighters. See where your bullet goes in different conditions and hold off accordingly.

Try this and come back with more questions.

Rick (who can't read the wind either)
 
I know this is going to sound trite, and will probably be taken wrong, :( But FOR ME the first time I could see the wind was when I got an accurate rifle. IMO it's impossible to really learn the wind without a BR rifle. Because you can't "see" it.

A 1/2" rifle just leaves you guessing. A 1/4" rifle is better, but still guessing. A BR rifle MAPS the wind.........

al
 
There seems to be truth in the last post--one above. Had to read it three times to get that it was not a slam. After it sunk in it made allot of sense.
Us folks with our 1/2 and 3/8'' Fact rifles got to use what we got and all that we learn can't hurt. Who knows we may have to dust a varmint thats about to eat you some day. Kidding aside I soak up what you all offer.
So keep it coming.

GW.
 
gw ...

gray wolf said:
My biggest problem is how do I know what the tape is telling me as it moves from the wind. I am in the dark here and I need some help to get started. GW.
Click to expand...

Ask someone who shoots in competitive benchrest matches to be your mentor and then ask him or her to show you the fundamentals of reading the wind and shooting with the use of flags. Don't be afraid to ask for help at the range. There are plenty of good shooters out there that are willing to help. All you have to do is find a good one and then ask. You can always piggyback off of other shooters flags until you acquire some of your own. ;)
 
Wind direction

Anyone shooting Benchrest use flags that are more than just tape. Most all will have a vane of some sort sitting on a pivot system offering with little resistance to direction changes. The vanes are painted/marked with stripes or some other method to determine which way it is pointed. All this so we can determine the extent of wind direction and velocity. As you shoot more with such devices, you will discover that the bullet flight is altered differently in a left to right wind vs a right to left even though velocity and angle are the same. Good luck, Randy J.
 
After years of using home made flags and cheap flags and etc.. I've recently bought some of these flags, which are ecellent and not too expensive , especially if you make your own stands, which I did using PVC pipe and 1/2' dowels. You can easily tell which way the wind is blowing at every station.

http://www.brflags.com/index.html
 
model14 said:
....I set out 2 flags; one at 30 yards and one at 60 yards. It worked, somewhat for me, but the problem was two fold:
One, when the 60 yard flag is flying in-line with my LOS to the target, or near to inline, I can't tell whether it is angled toward me or away, without using the scope. But if I use the scope, I can't see the 30 yard flag.
Click to expand...

When you set your flags, arrange them in an 'arc' toward the target. In other words, the first flag will be further to the side than the downrange flag(s). If you'd rather keep them in line with each other, stagger the heights. Here's a picture to give a better idea what I'm talking about...this is a height stagger.
f1-1.jpg


Daisy wheels, props, a half/half painted ball.... all help you to determine if the flags are pointing toward or away in headwind/tailwind situations. A good set of tails is important, as well.

To use flags effectively with a high magnification scope, learning to shoot with both eyes open is the first thing you have to master. In twitching conditions, it simply takes too much time to look at the flags and then go back to the scope and fire w/o the flags changing. In light steady conditions you can get away with this. Usually.....:eek:

To establish a solid foundation for learning to shoot over flags, try this: have someone reliable standing behind you watching the flags and telling you when to shoot. Ignore the flags and shoot quickly when they tell you to. Use a nice follow through and keep your head down until after the gun stops coming back. Repeat this with the flags in the exact same postion and wind speed..here's where the "reliable" part comes in. ;) This method will show you how well the gun performs 'on target'.

There's nothing better than a well tuned BR accuracy rig to teach you about reading the wind. To make meaningful progress, you simply have to have a gun that will put all the bullets through the same hole. Trying to 'hold off' the width of one bullet with a gun whose groups are three bullets wide/high will be frustratiing. On the other hand, you'll quickly learn when you're up against the limitations of your equipment.

Which isn't a bad thing. :)
 
Once again I thank you for what you know--and your willingness to share.

GW.
 
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