How do you judge wind

[SBS]

The lateral trajectory of a bullet under the influence of wind will be a curve, not a straight line. If the influence of the wind stops at some point on the way to the intended target, the bullet will continue moving offline on the tangent line to that initial curve at whatever point the wind effect stopped. This is because of bullet rotation, the weathervane effect, and the resultant drag effect that are what actually cause the bullet to move offline under the influence of wind.

Being an old HP shooter & having spent many days spotting/scoring behind shooters, you can often see the curved trace of the bullet in the wind on the way to the target @ 600 & 1000 yards. It never goes back to a line perpendicular to the firing line. Not even if the farther flags downrange are drooping.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Being an old HP shooter & having spent many days spotting/scoring behind shooters, you can often see the curved trace of the bullet in the wind on the way to the target @ 600 & 1000 yards. It never goes back to a line perpendicular to the firing line. Not even if the farther flags downrange are drooping.

Agreed. Somehow he took a few snippets of my posts without regard for all that I said. I never said the bullet doesn't curve. In fact, just the opposite, more than once....fwiw.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Check the rules before bringing electronic devices to a Benchrest event.

I honestly didn't know that devices would be prohibited. I have never shot Benchrest.

I've seen flags down by the targets, is that all shooters are allowed to use in most cases at Benchrest?

 

[searcher]

I didn't see anyone elaborate on reading mirage for wind movement - so I'll throw this in. Cranking on the focus of a variable power scope that has some nice upper-end power to it can allow one to see the mirage that is present - and get a fairly good reading on the direction and speed unless it goes over about 10-12 MPH. Beyond that, it can still be read up to 20 MPH or so, just less accurately. When one sees the mirage boiling straight up - no wind. Gently rising or waving to left or right shows movement. The more it lays down flat, the faster it is. when it hits around 10 to 12 mpg, it stays flat and the additional speed is tougher to read as the mirage just continues to read flat. This is important as, even with a Kestrel, it might show no wind movement - but looking down range can tell another story of what your bullet is in for in a huge way. Worth knowing and studying afield.

 

[wjm1000]

I didn't see anyone elaborate on reading mirage for wind movement - so I'll throw this in. Cranking on the focus of a variable power scope that has some nice upper-end power to it can allow one to see the mirage that is present - and get a fairly good reading on the direction and speed unless it goes over about 10-12 MPH. Beyond that, it can still be read up to 20 MPH or so, just less accurately. When one sees the mirage boiling straight up - no wind. Gently rising or waving to left or right shows movement. The more it lays down flat, the faster it is. when it hits around 10 to 12 mpg, it stays flat and the additional speed is tougher to read as the mirage just continues to read flat. This is important as, even with a Kestrel, it might show no wind movement - but looking down range can tell another story of what your bullet is in for in a huge way. Worth knowing and studying afield.

I use the parallax adjuster to get rough idea what the wind is doing at different distances

 

[JFrank]

I honestly didn't know that devices would be prohibited. I have never shot Benchrest.

I've seen flags down by the targets, is that all shooters are allowed to use in most cases at Benchrest?

https://internationalbenchrest.com/documents/folder/rules/rulebook_for_long_range_matches

I had to look it up but I believe you’ll find it on
Page 32 line 1269
At Deep Creek we have flags early and ribbons at 1000, plenty of mirage and live pits where each sighter is spotted for the shooter through the sighter period, once we go to the record targets we no longer have a sighting opportunities.