This post could be put in any number of forum related topics, including hunting, but i thought i would put it in the General catch all place because it really does apply to all airgun disciplines. Two months back I started a similar albeit less informed thread called "reading the wind".
www.airgunnation.com
In short - It's The Wind dummy.
For the last few years (and many many air rifles and scopes later) i have been doing my best to UP MY GAME; you know, become a better shooter.
So much of my time, and money was wasted on the "its the Arrow" (gun and or scope) argument Vice paying attention to me the Marksman.
In field target you get scored on a hit or a miss... so you never develop a true sense of (how much you missed) X or 0 that's it.
In Bench Rest, you get a numerical score that equates to a much more precise understanding of how well you hit or miss.
And if you want to keep records, you can begin to chart your improvement, or lack thereof.
In my case my field target score cards over a two year period (regardless of airgun scope combo) indicated i wasn't doing much better than 52%, regardless of my chosen gear.
For the last two months I have been laid up from left hand surgery. This forced me (out of boredom) to play with my lightest cheapest gun scope option, a Crosman HFT Challenger. It was resting on my bench and i was shooting strictly from indoor to out door from 10 yards to 80 yards and i was focused on <20 FPE pellet weight and speeds.
You would think i would be hitting much more KZ's from a bench as in better than the 52% stated above. NOT! This was so frustrating i didn't even bother trying to shoot offhand.
What gives?
Well, out of ignorance or pure stubborn willfulness i wasn't using and or applying all the tools and info i had at my disposal.
So i began to set out wind flags and strings and study the wind and watch how it affected my Point of Impact.
Then i started to apply the info from my Rose Chart and began to watch how using all of that info changed my POI compared to my it point of aim.
WOWZA!
Within just two sessions, with my least expensive rifle scope combo, my KZ scores jumped to 88%.
I was Still on the bench with a bum hand but something was definitely working.
As my hand continued healing i had several opportunities to shoot outside FT sessions; using a bucket and sticks (bipod) guess what.
Using this new to me wind game info my KZ hits remained at 80 plus %. Hey we are on to something.
So it doesn't matter if your shooting exploding golfballs, punching paper, knocking over field targets or trying to dispatch an animal in a humane manner... your time investment in learning how wind effects your shot is time well spent.
it's the WIND!
Reading the wind
What I’m hoping to create is a discussion about how different people successfully read wind speed to adjust their POA around the KZ. This is a huge part of improving someones score. Seems like there are a crazy amount of variables. In my backyard alone the wind has weird swirling and shifting...
www.airgunnation.com In short - It's The Wind dummy.
For the last few years (and many many air rifles and scopes later) i have been doing my best to UP MY GAME; you know, become a better shooter.
So much of my time, and money was wasted on the "its the Arrow" (gun and or scope) argument Vice paying attention to me the Marksman.
In field target you get scored on a hit or a miss... so you never develop a true sense of (how much you missed) X or 0 that's it.
In Bench Rest, you get a numerical score that equates to a much more precise understanding of how well you hit or miss.
And if you want to keep records, you can begin to chart your improvement, or lack thereof.
In my case my field target score cards over a two year period (regardless of airgun scope combo) indicated i wasn't doing much better than 52%, regardless of my chosen gear.
For the last two months I have been laid up from left hand surgery. This forced me (out of boredom) to play with my lightest cheapest gun scope option, a Crosman HFT Challenger. It was resting on my bench and i was shooting strictly from indoor to out door from 10 yards to 80 yards and i was focused on <20 FPE pellet weight and speeds.
You would think i would be hitting much more KZ's from a bench as in better than the 52% stated above. NOT! This was so frustrating i didn't even bother trying to shoot offhand.
What gives?
Well, out of ignorance or pure stubborn willfulness i wasn't using and or applying all the tools and info i had at my disposal.
So i began to set out wind flags and strings and study the wind and watch how it affected my Point of Impact.
Then i started to apply the info from my Rose Chart and began to watch how using all of that info changed my POI compared to my it point of aim.
WOWZA!
Within just two sessions, with my least expensive rifle scope combo, my KZ scores jumped to 88%.
I was Still on the bench with a bum hand but something was definitely working.
As my hand continued healing i had several opportunities to shoot outside FT sessions; using a bucket and sticks (bipod) guess what.
Using this new to me wind game info my KZ hits remained at 80 plus %. Hey we are on to something.
So it doesn't matter if your shooting exploding golfballs, punching paper, knocking over field targets or trying to dispatch an animal in a humane manner... your time investment in learning how wind effects your shot is time well spent.
it's the WIND!
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