Wind flags

[GSPV]

You watch the angle of the flags and the angle of the tais for the condition that you want to shoot. There might be several conditions that show up in variable winds. Some of them are good to shoot, some not. Experience tells you which. At some ranges, you learn that the left to right is problematic. At another, it might be a wind with a headwind component that causes problems.

You watch the flags for that condition, shoot the sighter to verify POI in that condition and then move to the record targets. When the condition is there, you shoot. When the flags tell you that it is going away, you quit shooting and wait for it to come back.

 

[amlevin]

I have always thought that a flag was needed just in front of the muzzle blast, say 10 yards out... and that was the most important one. An old shooter friend of mine that has passed on explained it like this..."think of a bowling ally..now put a strong fan out close to the pins and roll the ball. It doesn't change much does it? Now put the same fan just in front of where the ball lands at the start of the lane...now your off a lot!" So I put my flags at about 10 and 30 yards because that's were the gremlins occur were the most damage can be done. Farther down range the bullet has gone to "sleep" and is flying true. Just my two cents.

And yet Rick Graham, who was mentioned earlier as a maker of great wind flags and holder of at least one or so records, explained to me one day the bullet is traveling it's fastest at near the muzzle and it's slowest near the target where it is more susceptible to the effects of a wind. In his words, there are always winds and it's important to watch them all the way to the target.

Whenever I look over at his targets I swear that most times he only fires one shot at the target even though I hear at least 3 or more. These are just his load development and practice sessions.

 

[Pietro panama]

Please advise flag sources/websites. Was told KSS in TX, but not enough to google.

 

[BoydAllen]

http://www.brflags.com/
http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/

 

[Tim Singleton]

We have a new 30x zoom digital still camera, that also takes high def. video, and with the 4 G memory chip that it came with, I can record almost a half of an hour of video. It might be fun to put up a rimfire score target at 100 yards and shoot in a variety of conditions, holding center for each shot, on a different target. I could call out the shot number before the next shot to make sure that I had the right target with the particular video clip, and perhaps pull a still off of the video (Can I don that?) at the instant of each shot. If I can manage to get all the flags in the shot, where they can be easily seen, there might be something to be learned. Now that I think about it, leaving it as a video gets the job done. All anyone that was watching would have to do is pause the scene just as he hears a shot.

Boyd
If you make a video I would like a link to where ever you post it. I'm sure it would be very helpful to us newbies

Tim

 

[rmist]

When I was shooting benchrest I always used Smiley Hensley wind flags and stands. These were the daisy wheel type. Why do think those types of flags are going away? I liked using that type!!! I still use them forcall my range outings if range isn't to busy to put them out.

 

[BoydAllen]

I think that the most important thing about flags is that they are the easiest for the shooter that is using them to read. Different shooters may like different flags. I have seen daisy wheels pretty much disappear at the Visalia, CA matches, but conditions vary from range to range. As to the why of their local disappearance, Visalia is cut down into flat ground, considerably below the level of the ground around it, with the excavated earth piled up, very steeply on three sides. I liken it to shooting in a bathtub. The result is that from mid morning, to the end of a day's shooting (at a match), the typical conditions cause much disagreement within a line of flags, and they switch fairly rapidly. It is not that often a range for runners, except for early in the day. This leaves one in the position of needing to remember complex flag patterns, and I believe that shooters have concluded that for that, simpler flags are better.

 

[butchlambert]

A couple problems with daisys. They are slow to start in a light wind and they are like a flywheel and tend to keep turning when the wind dies. They also slow the response to wind direction change.
Put an Ezell or BRT flag along side a daisy see what I am speaking of.

 

[cocopuff]

I have always thought that a flag was needed just in front of the muzzle blast, say 10 yards out... and that was the most important one. An old shooter friend of mine that has passed on explained it like this..."think of a bowling ally..now put a strong fan out close to the pins and roll the ball. It doesn't change much does it? Now put the same fan just in front of where the ball lands at the start of the lane...now your off a lot!" So I put my flags at about 10 and 30 yards because that's were the gremlins occur were the most damage can be done. Farther down range the bullet has gone to "sleep" and is flying true. Just my two cents.

Strange you say that.I had an old fellow tell me the same thing,only he said it's the first 100 or so yards that will mess you up..I am doing 90 percent of my shooting at 250 yards.The first 100 yards is open while the last part in in betweem the trees..In that ared is where I notice some wierd wind effects..Like the other guy ask.It seems like one would have to have an idea of the wind speed to get good at reading it..I use ribbon and it takes a very light winf to move it...anyway..I appreciate all the comment on here..Thank you all..

 

[GSPV]

The Aussie and Neon flag pinwheels are, as Butch says, a completely different breed of cat from daisies.

 

[diego-ted]

So the vanee flags might be great to practice with but you cannot use them during matches, correct? A shooter needs to be able to read the range flags so that 8s where the time is better spent, am I right?

 

[Codeman]

Depending on which discipline your shooting, setting your on flags may or may not be allowed.
In shortrange BR, shooters set up their own flags- as many as they want and of what ever type they want.

Not so much in Long range shooting.

 

[wmdron]

I'm just starting to learn about the wind, it's effect on accuracy and how to apply that knowledge to my varmint shooting. "The Wind book for rifle shooters" by Linda K. Miller is a good read with lots of info. I believe this book was featured on the daily bulletin on this website awhile back if I am not mistaken. Anyway, it is available from Amazon for anyone interested.