Less Than Ideal Conditions

[K22]

Match shooters and hunters have no choice, you can't control the weather. Wind and mirage are a fact of life in our sport so to be successful we have to learn to adapt to it. This not some new revelation - we all know it. Just want to share my experience with you guys.

In years past, I would shy away from going to the range if the winds were forecasted for over 10 mph and I'd avoid afternoon range visits on sunny days when mirage was at its height. No one I know likes to shoot poorly - it doesn't help your confidence. So, to maximum my chances of a "good" range day, I would choose a day or time when weather conditions were more conducive to good shooting. Thus, I developed a false sense of confidence. This is ok for a strictly reactional shooter but not a match shooter or hunter.

However, I soon discovered, that there is value in range practice under less-than-ideal conditions because we shoot matches, and in my case, hunt in less-than-ideal conditions. I'm not suggesting going out when there are gale force winds but practicing on windy days and when there is mirage can have value.

So, I began range practice when conditions weren't ideal. The Southwest Marksmanship Training publication on mirage has been helpful to me in understanding and dealing with mirage. The wind issues have been more difficult for me, but I've studied various publications on the subject, and it's been helpful.

But the point of this post is that by going out for range practice under less-than-ideal conditions and keeping detailed notes over the past few years I've learned a lot by adapting to wind and mirage and this has made me a better varmint hunter.

If you want to hunt varmints in the spring in eastern PA, you have to deal with wind or sit home and watch re-runs of Gunsmoke which I've done 100 times. This year the wind has been especially problematic, but I've managed to be successful this spring due to learning from range practice in less-than-ideal weather conditions.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

K22: Wind, the arch enemy of shooters everywhere.

We normally schedule a week+ ground squirrel shoot for April when there's hope of fairly decent weather, and the alfalfa crop is not too high as to hide the critters from sight. This year we were greeted with winds from 20 - 40 mph, blowing snow and temps rarely getting above freezing. Snow every night rocking our trailers as we attempted sleeping. Not many nice green fields this year in April.

Despite all this, very limited "drive-by shooting" could be done out the truck window using either custom 10-22's or 17HMR bolt guns over window bags. We never even uncased our CF rifles, let alone set up field benches. Normally in a week, there's about 2K moribund squirrels. This year, maybe 200. But as I tell my friends..."we shot more squirrels here than if we had stayed home".

Being able to shoot in the wind is a requirement if you live and or shoot out west. We all accept that, but trying to shoot very shy targets in 30+ mph winds with blowing snow is, well about impossible, and not enjoyable whatsoever. I consider myself a rifleman, but an insane one.

You're spot-on in advising practice in less than ideal conditions....up to a point. We might have been better off staying home and watching those Gunsmoke re-runs. But the camaraderie being out with the crew is reward itself in the grand scheme of things.

Normally nice 'n green at this time of year, it looked quite different this year..... (In a 'normal' year, this pic may have held as many as 400+ ground squirrels romping about.)



Oh, and there seems to be more high wind this year than in recent memory, not just in your neck-o-the-woods either.

 

[searcher]

My buddies and I like to have friendly competition shooting ground squirrels. Sometimes - when it is "crazy windy" - we break out the .17 HMRs just to see who can hit one the furthest out. When you are holding off three feet with a rimfire- it is pretty challenging to make contact.

 

[Creedmoor02]

K22: Wind, the arch enemy of shooters everywhere.

We normally schedule a week+ ground squirrel shoot for April when there's hope of fairly decent weather, and the alfalfa crop is not too high as to hide the critters from sight. This year we were greeted with winds from 20 - 40 mph, blowing snow and temps rarely getting above freezing. Snow every night rocking our trailers as we attempted sleeping. Not many nice green fields this year in April.

Despite all this, very limited "drive-by shooting" could be done out the truck window using either custom 10-22's or 17HMR bolt guns over window bags. We never even uncased our CF rifles, let alone set up field benches. Normally in a week, there's about 2K moribund squirrels. This year, maybe 200. But as I tell my friends..."we shot more squirrels here than if we had stayed home".

Being able to shoot in the wind is a requirement if you live and or shoot out west. We all accept that, but trying to shoot very shy targets in 30+ mph winds with blowing snow is, well about impossible, and not enjoyable whatsoever. I consider myself a rifleman, but an insane one.

You're spot-on in advising practice in less than ideal conditions....up to a point. We might have been better off staying home and watching those Gunsmoke re-runs. But the camaraderie being out with the crew is reward itself in the grand scheme of things.

Normally nice 'n green at this time of year, it looked quite different this year..... (In a 'normal' year, this pic may have held as many as 400+ ground squirrels romping about.)



Oh, and there seems to be more high wind this year than in recent memory, not just in your neck-o-the-woods either.

That picture looks like around here (the Sandhills).

 

[K22]

K22: Wind, the arch enemy of shooters everywhere.

We normally schedule a week+ ground squirrel shoot for April when there's hope of fairly decent weather, and the alfalfa crop is not too high as to hide the critters from sight. This year we were greeted with winds from 20 - 40 mph, blowing snow and temps rarely getting above freezing. Snow every night rocking our trailers as we attempted sleeping. Not many nice green fields this year in April.

Despite all this, very limited "drive-by shooting" could be done out the truck window using either custom 10-22's or 17HMR bolt guns over window bags. We never even uncased our CF rifles, let alone set up field benches. Normally in a week, there's about 2K moribund squirrels. This year, maybe 200. But as I tell my friends..."we shot more squirrels here than if we had stayed home".

Being able to shoot in the wind is a requirement if you live and or shoot out west. We all accept that, but trying to shoot very shy targets in 30+ mph winds with blowing snow is, well about impossible, and not enjoyable whatsoever. I consider myself a rifleman, but an insane one.

You're spot-on in advising practice in less than ideal conditions....up to a point. We might have been better off staying home and watching those Gunsmoke re-runs. But the camaraderie being out with the crew is reward itself in the grand scheme of things.

Normally nice 'n green at this time of year, it looked quite different this year..... (In a 'normal' year, this pic may have held as many as 400+ ground squirrels romping about.)



Oh, and there seems to be more high wind this year than in recent memory, not just in your neck-o-the-woods either.

Yea, last week I was in the field hunting ground hogs and the sustained winds were miserable, 30+. The weather people totally blew the forecast but it was bright sunny day.

So, like you, I'm not insane. I spent the day just enjoying being outdoors. I hate to wound an animal so I passed on a couple ghogs that had venture out of their holes but I had no confidence I could make the shot in this wind, especially beyond 200 yards. Usually I will time a shot as the gust subsides but these were sustained winds so I passed. As Dirty Harry once said, "a man has to know his limitations."

 

[std7mag]

I shoot in wind, rain, snow, sleet, 18°f - 100°f.
If you don't know how your bullet/rifle reacts in different conditions, then you don't know.

Not so much for match use, but as a hunter i really want to make an educated decission on when it's ethical to shoot, or to not shoot.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

I shoot in wind, rain, snow, sleet, 18°f - 100°f.
If you don't know how your bullet/rifle reacts in different conditions, then you don't know.

Not so much for match use, but as a hunter i really want to make an educated decission on when it's ethical to shoot, or to not shoot.

Yeah, good ethics for 'hunting', but we're not talking about hunting, we're discussing shooting varmint pests; ground squirrels. No one I know wants to endure blowing snow in 30+ mph winds when it's below freezing out. Elk hunting? Sure, but NOT squirrel shooting. We eat elk, we let the raptors have the squirrels (or what's left of them).

Save the sermon for hunters.

 

[jr600yd]

Anybody can shoot in the calm……….

 

[std7mag]

Yeah, good ethics for 'hunting', but we're not talking about hunting, we're discussing shooting varmint pests; ground squirrels. No one I know wants to endure blowing snow in 30+ mph winds when it's below freezing out. Elk hunting? Sure, but NOT squirrel shooting. We eat elk, we let the raptors have the squirrels (or what's left of them).

Save the sermon for hunters.

I've heard they are tasty when they're young..

At least ground hogs are.
Seasoned flour, fried in skillet with some butter.
Makes me wish i had a place to hunt them again!

 

[K22]

I've heard they are tasty when they're young..

At least ground hogs are.
Seasoned flour, fried in skillet with some butter.
Makes me wish i had a place to hunt them again!

I've eaten them, a lot. Not have bad if you have a few beers before hand.

But seriously, when I live in western PA in the 70 and 80's, I would save the legs for an entire varmint hunting season in wife's freezer. When she would visit her mother in Philadelphia, I would invite the guys over for a hog roast. We'd eat hog legs and drink beer and tell wild tales. I had a good recipe if anyone is interested.

This was all good until my neighbor ventured over during one of the hog roasts. He was a non-hunter, non-gun guy, a tennis player but a nice guy. Anyway he wanted to know what we were eating. My bad buddy told him it was PA Chicken. I played along and offered him a few legs and a beer. He ate the legs and began to question us since obviously the taste was foreign to him. My buddy spilled the beans and told him it was ground hog.

The poor guy turned green and puked all over my porch. I think he equated the hogs to the road kills he had seen. Anyway, he told his wife and when mine returned from Philly his wife told my wife that I tried to poison her husband. That ended my hog roasts. When we move to eastern PA in the late 80's, wifey laid down the law, no more hog legs!

 

[dutch14]

You got farther than I got with it. My wife quit with the first fox squirrel.

 

[AckleymanII]

Guys wear out their barrels chasing groups without a wind flag...shooting in the Dark.

For years we shot Rock Chucks, p. dogs, ground squirrels and we learned that putting out this simply wind flag was worth it's weight in GOLD....this is no exaggeration.

Simple left and right wind switches give you confidence in placing the shot on the animal for very humane kills.

The wind flag is a 1/4" piece of steel rod, sharpened on one end with a bench grinder, then drilled on the other end to accept a sharpened Bicycle spoke. The first time you use one of these shooting groups or on the p. dog field, you will be in for a shock of your life at how "enlightening" it is to see how much the wind changes the impact from left to right using the same wind speed.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Guys wear out their barrels chasing groups without a wind flag...shooting in the Dark.

For years we shot Rock Chucks, p. dogs, ground squirrels and we learned that putting out this simply wind flag was worth it's weight in GOLD....this is no exaggeration.

Yup, we learned the same wind lessons long ago too. No matter if it's PD's, squirrels or chucks. If you expect any degree of successful shots for anything past 100 yards, it's one thing not to leave at home.

My crew and I on a rise overlooking a huge alfalfa field. The ever present wind flag doing its job. I'm using a set of three made by Russ Haydon for me when he was still in business.



Once a wind flag of any type is used, the hit percentage goes up very quickly, making a believer of anyone. I use my Kestrel wind meter to equate wind speed to flag positions, then commit to memory so just a glance at the flag gives a pretty good indication of both speed and direction....which changes at the drop of a hat.

 

[FJVance]

I tune and set zero on calm days so that I know what is possible and practice on windy days, so that when one goes out of the group I know its me.

 

[17cal Fan]

Great read! Lead post is spot on.
I have my own range that is just shy of 100 yards. Between me and friends, we've sent 1000's of rounds down range and not always on pleasant days. But we do tend to avoid wind and cold which we should not do. I do not shoot great groups on crappy days but I've started shooting reactive targets and it's great for confidence.

I save expired cans of soda and will take a couple of those down to the range with me. I changed scopes and guns around a lot this winter for coyote hunting at night. The guns and loads are all good but moving scopes around all I need to do is get point of impact back where it should be. Then I'll blast a can or two and the confidence is back and I'm ready to hunt with that gun.

Leaving in a month for a week out west to work on Prairie Dogs. Best year so far was about 1200 rounds. Worst year was down around 800 rounds. But I would not trade or have missed any of the trips because we always have a great time and it beats working by leaps and bounds.

 

[David Milisock]

Good weather is for sight in and load development. Bad weather seems all I get when time in the field picks me. Read the grass. Stalking and wind flags don't play well together.

 

[BlueWater]

However, I soon discovered, that there is value in range practice under less-than-ideal conditions ... So, ...

So, today came along, and I did just that. Took to the range during the afternoon gusty winds that I knew would be there.

For the most part, the vertical was pretty decent, particularly considering I'm breaking in a new barrel. But the windage control was, um, out of control. It'd gust so badly in one direction closer-in, only to reverse direction even stronger downrange. Made for some fairly interesting target spreads. Had one string of 5rds at 200yds that was within about +/- 1/4" of the "X" but spread about 3.5" from left to right around the "X." Deliberately attempted to gauge the gusts. And didn't, very well.

Yeah, well. At least it's looking like the load's fairly consistent. It's just my wind-reading skills that need a bit of polishing, in uglier conditions. About par for the course, it seems like.

 

[K22]

So, today came along, and I did just that. Took to the range during the afternoon gusty winds that I knew would be there.

For the most part, the vertical was pretty decent, particularly considering I'm breaking in a new barrel. But the windage control was, um, out of control. It'd gust so badly in one direction closer-in, only to reverse direction even stronger downrange. Made for some fairly interesting target spreads. Had one string of 5rds at 200yds that was within about +/- 1/4" of the "X" but spread about 3.5" from left to right around the "X." Deliberately attempted to gauge the gusts. And didn't, very well.

Yeah, well. At least it's looking like the load's fairly consistent. It's just my wind-reading skills that need a bit of polishing, in uglier conditions. About par for the course, it seems like.

Yea. I'm doing fairly well on mirage, but wind is a real challenge. When it's breezy/windy, I only take crawler shots on ground hogs which give me a little more latitude. I also try to adjust for the direction of the wind. Thus far, it's a trial-and-error process. When it gets really windy, like sustained above 20 mph I just opt out of shots over 150 yards.

 

[5spd]

I like going to the range when the weather keeps other shooters home.
Shooting in wind from 15 to 35mph at the range helps a ton when out hunting antelope or deer in the open pastures out here.
2 yrs back I dropped a nice goat at 468 yards in a 36mph wind, that range wind shooting paid off, 1 shot and down it went.

 

[David Milisock]

Yea. I'm doing fairly well on mirage, but wind is a real challenge. When it's breezy/windy, I only take crawler shots on ground hogs which give me a little more latitude. I also try to adjust for the direction of the wind. Thus far, it's a trial-and-error process. When it gets really windy, like sustained above 20 mph I just opt out of shots over 150 yards.

Two words, hyper velocity. I use a 223 Howa 1500 and a 6mm Remington 700 for varmints.

The 223 shot its best 300 yard groups, 1" at 3,200 FPS with very low to no wind with 52 or 55 grain projectiles but the velocity had a larger drop making ranging more critical and the time of flight spread the groups in the wind sometimes to 3 1/2" at 300 yards.

Dropping the 223 weight to 40 grain allowed me to push velocities to 3,900 FPS. In the best conditions the group at 300 yards was not as good now at 1 1/16" however the reduced time of flight helped contain the spread of the groups to 2 1/4".

On one calm day I took a chuck at just under 450 but that little 40 grain sheds velocity and on windy days I move to the 6MM.

Same conditions there, I can push a 75 grain at 3,900 FPS and at mediocre ranges the hyper velocity works out.

Facts are that as the ranges increase the better ballistic coefficient of heavier projectiles proves out but short and mid range performance in the wind can be improved. The cost is barrel life.