Horizontal stringing..

[LHSmith]

In reading this thread, the phrase "close only count's in horseshoes and hand grenades" comes to mind. The name of this site is ACCURATE Shooter. Unless you shoot indoors, one has to learn how to shoot in conditions that are present in whatever your choosen shooting passion is to be consistently accurate. True, it is not realistic to have flags in many types of events, but learning wind effects through using flags in practice and progressing to learning how to read mirage in the absence of flags will always yield greater accuracy. Also, load development in various challenging conditions will allow you to develop loads that will seem to "shoot through" the wind by yielding a load that offers the best stability in all conditions. IMO testing only in calm conditions is counterintuitive........you may shoot well in no-wind situations, but odds are your load will not perform well accuracy-wise in actual real world hunting or target shooting situations.
FWIW-if you're just loading for a deer rifle and your max range is 200 yards, then this advice is overkill. For those that shoot long-range and varmints-learn how to shoot in wind.....it takes you to a new level that pays back bigtime in shooting enjoyment -and saves a lot of wasted components learning nothing.

 

[savagedasher]

Many of times I have seen the same thing .
My advice is to change your bags and rest .
Then change the nut behind the stock.
I can't say how many of times that cured the problem. Let someone shoot your gun and see . Not saying it you or your bags or rest . Sometimes others can help . Good luck Larry

 

[LHSmith]

Well, I did say I would probably make some grown men cry...send me your address, I will next day air you a nice warm milk bottle. You can drink it all down, cry it all out and go to sleep and maybe wake up feeling better in the morning. Simplest answer is somebody wants to sell some wind flags.

You are way out of line here. The OP was given a simple cost effective way to measure wind. NO one has posted that they are soliciting wind flags. The very first thing that comes to mind from anyone that shoots competitively when they are shown a target with mostly horizontal grouping is it's a "weather report"

 

[Greyfox]

Well, I did say I would probably make some grown men cry...send me your address, I will next day air you a nice warm milk bottle. You can drink it all down, cry it all out and go to sleep and maybe wake up feeling better in the morning. Simplest answer is somebody wants to sell some wind flags.

Dude, I gotta hand it to you you really are a hoot. Do you do stand up or do you just shoot pie plates @ 50 yards with your '06?

 

[Dgd6mm]

Wait a minute, hold up on that car wash gentlemen. Ask the op what the wind was doing when he broke the shots. I reread the the op, wind is the main suspect on this one first and foremost. With no wind indicators you might as well be p-----g in it.

 

[long40shot]

next time, I'm gonna keep shit to myself.

 

[Ned Ludd]

next time, I'm gonna keep shit to myself.

Then I'd say that through this thread, you have truly achieved enlightenment .

 

[Tim Singleton]

No wonder

next time, I'm gonna keep shit to myself.

ive felt this way before after asking questions. You really do have to sort the wheat from the chaf on this and any other open forum.
When you do that there is a wealth of good information and some great guys here
They have helped me in my goals to become a short range benchrest shooter that can compete with anyone out there

 

[Tim Singleton]

Valuable information sorted from all the junk on this thread
1. buy Tony Boyers book will help anyone learn how to develope a load for their rifle
By far the best advise I ever got

2. Confirm seating depth and load. After reading the above book

3. If you are serious about 3/8" groups more often than once in a great while you must use some type of flags and allow for the wind

 

[Tim Singleton]

When you mentioned 3/8" groups. Is when the wind flags immediately came up from the real world competition guys
What a lot of people don't realize because they read some of the bull on the Internet about dime size and 1/4" groups all day long
Real 3/8" 5 shot groups on a regular basis won't be done without considering the wind. Those of us who shoot competition BR know how hard it is to shoot smaller than that on a regular basis

1/2" to 3/4" groups are to me acceptable from a factory hunting rifle probably shot from bags or a bipod and no flags
Can you improve that some. I hope so that's what keeps us shooting

 

[Terry Altom]

next time, I'm gonna keep shit to myself.

Nah....ask away, it's the way to learn. There's always those setting on their couch with a laptop looking for someone to argue with without being face to face. Sort of like road-rage. No direct eye contact emboldens them ;-)

And listen to what others are saying about the wind. You don't need to buy a $400 set of professional benchrest windflags for what you're doing. I've got two little girls who's college funds take precidence over everything I've got going on other than breathing. Surveyers tape will tell you the wind picked up or changed directions half way between you and the target.

Heck, I made these and they respond very fast to very little changes. I've got 14" tails on them. Made them from garrage sale signs from Lowes. A couple of $13 music stands from amazon.com and there ya go! But, a stick or limb with surveryers tape will give you basic indications that will help you determine if that wide shot was most likely the wind.

http://www.benchrest.com/flags/

p.s. If you do want to build a little set like this, you feel free to PM me and I'll give you the tips I learned and send you detailed pics of them and a video of them responding ot the wind.

 

[JASmith]

Two things about flags and wind:

First, one needs to see the flag hanging limp to indicate dead calm -- not often seen on some areas.

Second, if wind is present, time one's shots so the angle of fall of the flag is as close to the same as possible for each shot.

A more subtle effect I have encountered is wind into the face or over the shoulder. One can get eddies that roil in the vertical direction. This causes vertical stringing too!

Again, wait for either a limp flag or a consistent angle of drop.