Wind Flags

[bench]

I need to start to learn how to read the wind better but only can shoot 500yds.
This is for learning the wind better for next year F/TR class 1000yrd shooting.
So can only 500yds help me read the wind??
Also can a guy make his wind flags,how large should they be,how high off the ground should they be,also should they be placed every 100yd.

Thanks
Bench

 

[brxbrad]

I think you'll find that the only way to get good a your wind reading skills at 1000 yrds is to shoot 1000 yrds. Yes 500 will help but everything changes at twice the distance. I shoot a lot of 600 yd matches and have relative good luck in pretty much all types of wind but when I shot a 1000 it really tries my patients. Trajectory is different, speed throughout the distance is different etc. etc. Then you go to a different range and shoot another match and again everything changes like topography, direction of shooting, direction of wind, etc, etc. You really need to be on your A game to be good. I snagged my HM card at midrange without a lot of trouble but have only achieved my master card in long range. Shoot all you can and at as many places as you can, It can't do anything but help. Remember, flags lie.....LOL

2 cents

 

[Terry]

It all helps. My first wind flags were dowel rods and surveyor tape.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I wouldn't recommend too many flags. At the most, do one at 200 yards from the shooting line, and another 100 yards from the targets. The reason is that when you go to shoot 1000 yards, you'll find that there will almost always be fewer flags than expected. At our local 1k range, there is one flag ~300 yards from the line that doesn't work (it's in a tree) and 2 of the remaining 3 flags are ~200 and 300 from the targets. The last one is on the far left side of the berm.

Dealing with the uncertainty of the conditions is a large part of long range shooting.

If you really want to test your skills, try a lower BC bullet and launch it at a slower velocity (find a good low-node). The combination will make it much more wind sensitive. It still won't be like 1k, but it will be more similar than a full match load with a high BC bullet will be. In my case, I can launch a 155 AMAX at ~2900fps for 600 yards to simulate the wind drift of my 1K match load at full distance. The down side is that there is still less uncertainty in the conditions.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Per the NRA High Power/Fulbore Rulebook, which F-Class falls under:

Found here:

http://www.nrahq.org/compete/RuleBooks/HPR/hpr-book.pdf

6. RANGE STANDARDS

6.9.1 Wind Flag—

Wind flags should be displayed at various distances between the firing line and the targets.
It is recommended that the flags be placed at 200, 500 and 700 yards. It is further recommended that the flag be 48 inches by 18 inches at tip and 12 feet in length.
This flag will be of two colors, red and yellow.

 

[Immike]

Go to walmart and buy canary yellow bed sheet material then get a big table and layout lines and cut. Then find a lady to sew up the edges . This is practice not the nationals.

 

[eww1350]

Don't forget...read the mirage..wind and mirage go hand in hand...watch the speed of the mirage and it will help with hold off as well..

 

[fredhorace77]

Am I wrong in this thinking...but i was always under the assumption that having a flag at about 25 yrds. for ur first flag as being the most important...I was once told by a shooter that the wind condition that affects your bullet the most is the condition that is present the instant your bullet leaves the barrel...made sense to me. he told me to pay more attention to my 25yrd flag than any of the others. he claims that when the wind starts to move your bullet even a few thousandths at the muzzle that that will equal a huge movement at longer distances...someone tell me if ive been wrong in believing this.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Am I wrong in this thinking...but i was always under the assumption that having a flag at about 25 yrds. for ur first flag as being the most important...I was once told by a shooter that the wind condition that affects your bullet the most is the condition that is present the instant your bullet leaves the barrel...made sense to me. he told me to pay more attention to my 25yrd flag than any of the others. he claims that when the wind starts to move your bullet even a few thousandths at the muzzle that that will equal a huge movement at longer distances...someone tell me if ive been wrong in believing this.

The discussion of which flag is most important is one that can go on and on. But bullet movement is something else. If the bullet is displaced a few thou. at any distance, that's how far off it will be when it hits the target. It doesn't get blown into some kind of arching flight. When the force of the wind stops working on it, it continues on it's new path, STRAIGHT to it's new POI. BRC forums have lots of good reading on the subject, but point being, when the lateral influence stops acting on the bullet, there is nothing to make it keep moving laterally. It will have a new course though. I hope that makes sense.

 

[wapiti25]

You are correct in that close to the firing line starts the hole thing of drift. Once a bullet is pushed off course it stays there untill it is acted on by another force (wind). Find books on shooting and read about wind and mirage. I feel shooting in the wind /mirage is good practice, shooting on nice days is not going to help you learn. 500 yds will be good to help you but going to different shooting ranges (location) are also good as they can all be different as mentioned..

 

[DaveWhite]

Get a copy of "the wind book" by Miller and Cunningham (available via Amazon for about $18.)

Then read it, and read it again. shooting in the wind is the only real way to understand it, and it can test one's mettle.

just remember that everyone on the line shoots in more or less the same conditions (however it does not seem to blow as much, or change directions as much when I am in the target butts... )

 

[bench]

Thanks Guys,
All the info helps but I got a better idea.I will just find the best one of you wind shooters and let you squeez the trigger-LOL

Bench