Wind Flag Delay

[mmahoney]

I just had my hat handed to me by a variable 2-7 mph tailwind while shooting three N50 cards. My 3 windflags (hanging pieces of flagging tape) were worse than worthless. Not only was I having trouble determining the strength of the wind at this angle, I swear there was a several second delay between wind direction shifts and the time it took the flagging tape to report them.

So these are my questions: Is there a way to make the wind flags react quicker? Do the flags on ball bearings work significantly better?

 

[lenweber2]

flagging is almost immediate. Do you have the flags so you can see them in the scope? That is the game.

 

[JimNM]

The wind is like a current in water. It takes a short bit of time for the effect to carry from one place to another. The block of air between you and the target is not solid, it will change at different places and at different rates.

Get some bubble solution and blow bubbles into the air like a kid. Watch how they move.

 

[mmahoney]

 

flagging is almost immediate. Do you have the flags so you can see them in the scope? That is the game.

Not exactly, but I shoot with both eyes open so that I can see the crosshairs and flags at the same time.

 

[needledriver]

Was at the range today. One of the guys said he watched his pellet zig zag through a whirl wind that passed between us and the targets.

 

[Ghostranger169]

Lighter winds can be the easiest to fool you. Sometimes, wind can also be very different in just a small height difference. I've walked up to limp flags at knee height, but could feel the wind blowing on my face. Maybe try putting flagging tape on a taller pole at different heights to see if that happens where you shoot. That helped me 

 

[thomasair]

Look at the very ends of the tails. If they curl, the wind has changed…but maybe not long enough to flip the whole flag.

You should also get some flags with vanes that allow you to see the angles. The angles are very important. The dual vane wicks are very easy to see the angles. The short dual tails I’m not fond of. I replace them with a single longer tail.

Mike 

 

[thomasair]

 

[mmahoney]

Thanks, Mike. I'll keep an eye on the ends. I've been holding off on the purchase of proper flags in case I lost interenst in shooting benchrest. I'll pick a couple up.

 

[thomasair]

http://benchrest.com/class/index.php?a=2&b=4729


Ray Hill is the guy to get the Wicks style. I would not bother with the propellers. Get yourself some Amazon basic light stands and Rays leveling tops and you will be good. I use 3 for 50y. Some guys use more. 3 is all the information I can handle. A 5 lb barbell weight on the base of the tripod does a good job of making sure the flags stay out of the dirt when it gets rough.

Mike 

 

[nomojo65]

I have the Keeny small flags with the very light streamer’s and they work pretty good, they all most react to quickly if that’s possible? As Mike said I can only process so much information that quickly… I can definitely see the advantages of the dual vane for easily detecting Quartering winds. Maybe I will pick up a couple for next season. I also bought a wind probe that Mike suggested and that has helped a lot as well.

When I started using the wind probe I went to using only 2 flags for 25m. 

 

[Franklink]

Seriously Mike. I said it before once, but that path you've beaten into the dirt going back and forth to change out targets is hardcore. It takes more than a back and forth a time or two a day to create a trail like that. 

DEDICATION. 

 

[thomasair]

It’s well packed. The adobe dirt here turns into an awful mess with rain. The path stays clean because it is packed enough to shed the water. Narrow is the path that leads to good BR scores. Hahaha 

 

[mtnGhost]

Was at the range today. One of the guys said he watched his pellet zig zag through a whirl wind that passed between us and the targets.

This was happening to me at RMAC in the 100y event, shooting the 44gr JSBs. I normally shoot the 50gr, but had a barrel issue and had to fall back to the FX barrel and 44's. 

I ended up being in the last relay group on the upper range, where the sun was situated to my 6 in a late afternoon and I could see every pellet track downrange to the target. It was pretty unnerving seeing the pellets at times doing a weird corkscrew zigzag as they flew through the wind!