Perfect wind indicator!

[broncman]

Snow! We were having a cold dry snow yesterday and I was on the porch watching it.
BINGO! Perfect indicator if wind and patterns. I got my scope out and watched.

Grabbed my new truck gun and went to the range. It is a covered range with good benches so I didnt have to lay on the ground..had a great time.

On the gravel road to the range I rolled my window down and was doing about 10 mph and the snow was tracking me perfectly...slammed in the breaks .......

So that is what a 10 mph wind is!!!

Ok, it wasnt mirage but was neat to see the wind move in columns, pick ups and letoffs. Will pay more attention next time it snows or rains...

 

[Cold Bore]

There was a thread recently about shooting in the rain.

Lots of us agreed that shooting in a light rain could make for some very nice results.

On those days where it is a soft gentle all-day rain with no wind, I love being behind a rifle. I can make myself look a lot better than I am. ;D

And if groundhogs get bored and venture out on a misty day like that, they turn into vapor balls when tagged by a high speed projectile! 8)

Just like your snow, it's like being able to "watch the air".

Even rookies can "read the wind" on those days.

Being able to graphically assign a MPH number like did was even more of a bonus.

 

[Immike]

In the Midwest we have cotton wood trees that put off a white fluff in the spring that makes the air alive with indicators. That time of year I am watching those more than the flags for a drift tendency.

 

[Ing. Michael W. Mayerl]

Perfect indicator if wind and patterns.

yellow black barrier tabe is also very usefull
It can be placed on a fence, tree, house or pale.

 

[Hombre0321]

Guys, here is a useful tip for learning a little about what the wind is really like. This wont work for shooting in a match, but is a great learning tool. One of the reasons Mirage is as good of an indicator that it is, is there is almost no mass at all to Mirage, the flags on the other hand do have mass and are much slower to react to changes.

Smoke also has almost no mass, and you will be amazed at how smoke behaves even on those relative good wind days. In my back yard I have a fire pit, last Thanksgiving my kids were having a little camp fire going back there. I was setting on the porch and could not believe how much reaction there was to the smoke. Next trip to the range I built a small little fire at the 200 yd line and just by watching the smoke I was able to increase the accuracy of my wind calls by a lot.

Later in a conversation with my shooting Mentor Bob Pastor ( the Viper rest guy) he informed me that this was a trick he has used for years. He has found a way to make it a little more user friendly by eliminating the fire building thing though. Bob uses those little smoke bombs you can buy at the fireworks stands and puts them inside of a 5 lb coffee can. Doing this you can put more than one down range and have at it.

Since here in Alabama you can buy fireworks year round i stopped by a place and bought 20 dozen of the things. This is a really cool idea. The smoke is a great tool...

Roland

 

[GrocMax]

We had a pretty good wind indicator here in TX last saturday- a train got blown off the tracks, I-35 corridor south of Gainesville.

No, I'm not kidding.

 

[LawrenceHanson]

My home range is located on a mountain side in Montana. During the winter we get the occasional good day conditions where dry powder snow is swirling to show the wind.

During the spring and fall we sometimes get a foggy morning where the clouds are on the ground. Those are very good conditions for "seeing" the wind.

And of course, during the summer we sometimes see a light mist.

All of these conditions have provided some of the best shooting I have ever done.

Those lazy summer days with bright sunlight and mirage have not produced as many good groups.

LE Hanson

 

[ebb]

I live in South Florida and never see snow, does that mean we don't have wind?