Reading the wind
- Thread starter cavedweller
- Start date
Telescoping wind flag at/on rifle ... and a lot of seat of your pants learned estimation.
Non scientific, but seldom are conditions text book
Non scientific, but seldom are conditions text book
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Don't lie Scott, thats a freaking fishing pole on there.... LOL
My 'Motorhead' clone wind antenna was a huge hit at the Worlds, i'd leave it up between shooting the lane and everyone was using it for wind calls.
My 'Motorhead' clone wind antenna was a huge hit at the Worlds, i'd leave it up between shooting the lane and everyone was using it for wind calls.
Upvote 0
this is brilliant Mike and i am trying this, but haven't mastered it in my one handed mode "yet".
Upvote 0
Although this video has competitive rifle shooters talking... it does have valuable info
I learned something immediately about MIRAGE within just a few minutes of listening.
I learned something immediately about MIRAGE within just a few minutes of listening.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
I used to shoot with Regina and her husband before PRS or NRL existed, such were called tactical matches back then, then later precision rifle matches.
It was interesting watching her progress into a top shooter in those games. I used to be able to outscore her until she'd gotten so good it was futile. Her and her husband had begun helping with and hosting matches and their skills got crazy good since they were shooting so much. Wind reading and using intuition are a big part of these games. The last match I shot with her she was 2nd place with a 308 which is at a disadvantage compared to the more appropriate 6mm's and 6.5's in the wind. I was way down the roster so 7-8 places down it.
Back then we didn't even know there was such a thing as balancing a rifle on a bag, lol. We'd use bags but our rifles were rear heavy so we'd be muscling them around.
Ironically much of my wind reading skills came from shooting FT which "at first" gave me a advantage over most of my competitors in these centerfire steel matches. When I went to my first tactical match, which was in Phoenix at PRGC, I won it, which kinda shocked me as well as them.
Sure is fun to think back about all these adventures I experienced!!!! What great memories.
Upvote 0
Definitely recommend the above youtube video regarding wind tips as MIRAGE info was really good and something i have not learned about until today.
Upvote 0
Just throw some gas on 2 or 3 old tires placed around your yard, and light em. The nice black smoke should last for hours and you will get lots of practice. haha. see ya soon Rudy. Not to mention, your neighbors will love the thick black smoke lingering in the neighborhood. haha
Upvote 0
Idea !! .... an incense burner on the rifle, whoa dude "Follow the Smoke Man" Yo brother smells good huh
Upvote 0
Bill,
you and I are from the same tribe...:
➧ gasoline
➧ burning tires
➧ thick, black smoke
And to complete the picture, some heavy duty fireworks.
Matthias
Upvote 0
Here's my rendering of the instruction given in the video that was linked above (with the metric equivalents included
).Matthias
Upvote 0
Mirage is my next go to wind indicator if I can't use the string.
It's very important to focus your scope between you and the target when finding mirage. If you just look at the mirage behind the target...you are seeing the wind behind the target...not in front of it. Some scopes are good at seeing mirage and others are not. My Leupold is very good and I can leave the focus at 40-45y when viewing mirage and still see a 55y target well enough that I don't have to refocus and shoot.
Mike
It's very important to focus your scope between you and the target when finding mirage. If you just look at the mirage behind the target...you are seeing the wind behind the target...not in front of it. Some scopes are good at seeing mirage and others are not. My Leupold is very good and I can leave the focus at 40-45y when viewing mirage and still see a 55y target well enough that I don't have to refocus and shoot.
Mike
Upvote 0
This was also posted by me on a windflag thread today but does seem like it belongs here as well.
Of recent months my attempt to understand the wind, or my lack of understanding the wind, has me now playing with several different wind flags or windicators.
I have at least four different flags that a very good buddy made for me in Ohio (sit on tripods and you level them type) very simple and very efficient.
Ray Hill's flags are absolutely exceptional fine workmanship - crazy responsive to even the slightest movement. They sit on some nice B&H tripods i purchased on Amazon and Ray's leveling system is da Bomb of crazy coolness.
Rays health is waning with age and cancer he said, but, he says hes got a few more flags in him. Ray Hill <[email protected]>
Thomas Orlando's Flags are also good, but they are the - poke in the earth - fiberglass and or carbon type so they are a bit harder to level up or change the height. Thomas Orlando <[email protected]>
I also have two different cheap amazon types - poke in the earth and they are just so so and they bend at a whim.
I have also created some very basic engineering streamers, which in their own way may be just fine.
I am also laying out field target reset lines close to my wind flags @thomasair .
I am comparing, and writing down almost all of the subtle information these wind toy methods are conveying to me but jeez... there are some bizarre things that the wind can and does do.
Yesterday i was looking at a wind flag streamer (elevation 36") through my scope and the streamer was hanging straight down with no real indication of direction; yet the grass in front of the field target itself, just a few feet away at ground level, was definitely moving left to right.
Wow what a revelation - just a change a foot or so from the ground and the wind speed increases; way high up, even more so.
it would seem one could obsess themselves in a hurricane of data all to no avail... yet i shoot much better when apply the input the flags are giving me.
Point is, I am wondering if a wind meter that i can blue tooth to my phone will aid in my understanding of this crazy visual data field because i am not that good at guessing.
i'm all ears... or streamers at this point. I seldom get mirage in my backyard this time of year... maybe when it warms up.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Since this is the field target section an important distinction needs to be made with all this talk of wind flags.....and that is that wind flags are to field target what crying is to baseball.
In regards to field target, it's best to figure out how to account for wind with the same means you'll have access to during a match....which amounts to: whatever you've got hanging off the gun, the string, the mirage, and the flora.
In regards to field target, it's best to figure out how to account for wind with the same means you'll have access to during a match....which amounts to: whatever you've got hanging off the gun, the string, the mirage, and the flora.
Upvote 0
yes yes yes absolutely... what i am trying to do is translate various types of input to equate to what i or others might be dealing with in a lane, woods, field, etc... the flags are a more visual thing i can focus on first from far away and then try to balance what that means when looking up close while on target... like the string info.
Upvote 0
Since I have been shooting over flags for 12 years....I know what to expect.
I learned mirage and the string by comparing what I saw to my flags. It's a good tool for learning ft...even if there will be no flags at a ft match.
I learned mirage and the string by comparing what I saw to my flags. It's a good tool for learning ft...even if there will be no flags at a ft match.
Upvote 0
I may need a little help in Mobile Al. I have overdone things with the wind vanes, kites and strings.
A less humorous and more realistic contribution to this thread comes from @Motorhead with his super lightweight fishing pole thingamajig
I am now evaluating the type of string to "string from my do-dad" gun mounted windicator
so far dental floss with a feather works and i am told in archery land that the floss behaves better as it ages.
Upvote 0