Question about flag colors

[Tozguy]

My search did not turn up anything so here is a question I could use some help with. Wind flags are often green on one side and red on the other. Is there a consensus on which side they go on?
My new homemade flags are ready for paint and I would like to be as compatible as possible with the flags of other shooters.

 

[22XC Guy]

Tozguy,

The homemade flags I built, I used florescent yellow and orange on the tails.

Steve

 

[Greg110]

Got port and starbord right, just reversed "to" and "from".

 

[Tozguy]

I was aware of the inspiration from maritime navigation ie priority on the right but it was counterintuitive to apply it to the flags pointing up wind. I needed some input. Thanks.

Lawrence, thanks for the visuals. The arrow heads on the rudders seem redundant. Are they actually sold that way or is it photoshop work?

Also, thanks for the hockey puck trick that you provided in another thread. Your suggestion kickstarted me into making some flags using stuff laying about the shop. It has turned out quite well and the only thing I have to buy is some hi viz green paint.

 

[BoydAllen]

When you are at a short range benchrest match, you will see a variety of flags. If you stand behind each bench that a different kind of flags is arrayed in front of, you will soon notice that some styles are easier for you to keep track of than others. What works best is probably best determined this way. After seeing flags with arrows on their vanes I decided that I need to find a source, so that I can add them to mine. A line of flags, or a whole range full are often only glanced at, between shots that are being fired as rapidly as possible, as long as a condition holds. Having a design that your particular eye and brain can rapidly acquire information from is important, sometimes things that you think should work do not, and things that seem ridiculous do.

 

[Tozguy]

Boyd, your comments are food for thought. I can see why some arguements might develop at the range about whose flags to use and where they are put.
It seems to me that by standardizing colors (lets say wind from right =red; wind from left= green) it would be easy for anyone to determine direction from any flag on the course without arrows. I guess we are not there yet and its not that simple.
Would making the whole vane in the form of an arrow be an option as opposed to just having a sticker on it?

 

[22XC Guy]

Not to confuse the captains and pilots of color coding of this thread. When I attend matches, first thing I'm interested in, what direction is North...

Steve

 

[BoydAllen]

It's not that you cannot see which way the flags are pointing without the arrows. The arrows help with the instantaneous read, speeding the processing of the information.

 

[artbosco]

Question: Wind flags are often green on one side and red on the other. Is there a consensus on which side they go on?

Answer: The majority of wind flags at most short range BR matches tend to follow this paint arrangement: http://www.brflags.com/flags.html

 

[22XC Guy]

That's understandable, but for that spontaneous read, why think in a reverse direction, the ball maintains the head wind direction at all times, if one knows the shooting range direction or North....

Steve

 

[AlNyhus]

Here's mine, just for something else to ponder.

 

[22XC Guy]

Here's mine.... Let the good time roll......

 

[BoydAllen]

What is this North business? The only thing that matters is the angle and velocity of the wind relative to the line from the rifle to the point of aim.

 

[40X Guy]

I think he's talking about the Coriolis Effect, and how bullets are going to strike to the right if shooting due North at long range, just another effect to keep in mind along with our nemesis the wind.
Of course it doesn't matter what color your flags are if you use them on your own property, but I think the hi Vis orange colors are the way to go. We put our homemade flags out right next to out shooting shack, and flags at the 600 mark. The ones at 600 are extra large and one solid color, and can be seen easily thru my NF scopes I use. Makes for great practice and makes everyone a better shooter.


Frank