Another post got me thinking about reading the wind for long range shooting.
Using a Kestral wind meter I follow my below cheat sheet reference is in MOA .

I also have a Gunwerks G7 with all my profiles loaded in it. The G7 will determine my come up for the shot.
This works for me.

Once I learned this chart, my first round hits increased dramatically. You need to know the speed of the wind, then take the percentage off from the wind angle.

For example, take a simple 6.5 Creedmoor shooting a 140 ELDM at 2700 fps, with a G7 BC of .326. Say you have a 700 yard shot with a 8 mph wind coming from the 1:30 position. The range card below I listed in MOA and mils, and in 1 mph wind value. For MOA, you multiple the 8 mph times the wind value of .48, which is 3.84 MOA. Then multiple the angle factor of .71, and the amount the bullet will drift is 2.72 MOA. You will need to hold into the wind or dial into the wind 2.72 (or 2.75 moa).

To do the same thing in MILS, 8 mph times .14, which is 1.12 mils, times the wind angle of .71, and your bullet will drift .79 mils (or .8 mils) for holding or dialing. This is exactly how I calculate all my wind.


Range Elev Wind
(yards) (moa) (moa)
0 --- ---
100 0 0.05
200 -1.82 0.1
300 -4.3 0.16
400 -7.11 0.22
500 -10.21 0.28
600 -13.59 0.34
700 -17.28 0.41
800 -21.3 0.48

Range Elev Wind
(yards) (mil) (mil)
0 --- ---
100 0 0.01
200 -0.54 0.03
300 -1.27 0.05
400 -2.11 0.06
500 -3.03 0.08
600 -4.03 0.1
700 -5.12 0.12
800 -6.31 0.14

The tools will give you a good starting point but what it is doing down range that matters most. Shot of 500 yards the bullet will ne affected more in the last 100 yards than the first 100 yards. A tree line/outcropping/roll of the land.... can be a lot different a few hundred yards away than what it is where you are at and has too be taken into consideration and that comes from time behind the rifle and sending lead down range. Having a good spotter working with you can be very educational as well.

Some big open areas the tools work great but in varied contour and trees or brush can make a difference. I have seen it in the mountains and breaks where the wind was almost the opposite at the target than what it was at the shooters location.

Just saying pay attention to the all the conditions not necessarily the conditions at the shooters location, which comes through experience gained by doing it. Don't just go practice shooting when the winds are calm but when conditions are less than perfect as that is what we run into often as hunters.

Please show example, I'm hard headed.

I usually dope wind wrong, that’s how I do it.


I think the chart above is the percentages you give for wind at different angles. That’s percentage of the full value 90 degree wind.

For example, if the wind is 5 mph and is blowing from 5:00 angle, you would multiply 5 times 0.5 to get 2.5 mph and you would adjust for that much wind. If you have a 5 mph wind blowing from 8:00, it would be 5 x 0.86 = 4.3 mph. If you have 5 mph blowing from 3:00 it would be 5 x 1.0 = 5 mph. If the wind is from 12:00 or 6:00, don't adjust for wind.

Right.

I use my eyes to tell me my wind hold. Grass, weeds, trees and mirage. Play with the focus knob to get a better mirage read, then refocus to shoot. And this is where Mile make it easier, because reading the wind indicators is the most difficult skill in long range shooting. It's like practicing medicine. We are practicing because we haven't perfected it yet.

5 mph, 3 or 9 o'clock. 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08, and many others.

200 yards .1
300 yards .2
400 yards .3
500 yards .4
600 yards .5
700 yards .6
800 yards .7
900 yards .8
1000 yards .9

Wind holds will change based on bullet weight, BC, MV. But the pattern will remain pretty linear, when using Mils.
2-3 mph, cut those holds in half. 7-8 mph add 50% to those holds. 10 mph double those holds.

Kevin is exactly right that terrain and foliage will change the wind hold. My range proves this weekly. Wind meters are just noise. Mark-1 eyeballs are the best tools. Nothing replaces time on the range. On calm days, I rarely go shoot for practice. When the wind is blowing 15-30 mph, that's when I want to go shoot. Anybody can hit stuff when it's calm. It takes skill and practice to do it in high winds.

I edited my original post for you to show examples. I run ALL my wind charts in 1 mph. The wind never blows in factors of 5 or 10 mph. And I find the value for 1 mph is much easier to work with in my head. Once I learned the wind angle chart and calculated my wind to within 1 mph, my first round hits were much more successful. Use the Kestrel to get your wind speeds, and then factor in wind angles and calculate it.

Tag

How do you determine wind value of .48? Don't see it on the chart.

Sorry, I used the 800 yard wind value, not the 700 yard. So for a 700 yard shot, with 8 mph coming from the 1:30 position, I multiple 8 mph times .41 (wind value), which equals 3.28 moa (which is full value wind). To compensate for the 1:30 wind angle, multiple 3.28 times .71, and your bullet will drift 2.32 MOA at 700 yards. You would need to hold or dial either 2.25 or 2.5 MOA into the wind.

For the 700 yard wind value, your bullet will drift .41 MOA for every 1 mph of full value wind (3 and 9 o'clock wind). This has worked for me for years and I have made many long range cold bore shots with this wind calculation method. The next thing I would recommend is to go MILS!!! But that's another thread!

Just the math in this thread makes my head hurt. Is it really that complicated to compute wind holds?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Not in Mils it isn't.

Here's one that I saw on Snipershide.com. It takes Chad's wind clock and does that math for you, but only for wind speed. Still leaves some estimation for the shooter. Basically you determine the current wind speed, find that at the 12:00 position (or 3, 6, 9) and rotate around the clock to the direction it's blowing from. So Chad's example of 8 mph from 1:30 would be treated like a 6 mph full value wind. Use your ballistic solver for what the correction is for that wind speed and squeeze the trigger.

blowing over 10 I'm out

At ‘normal’ hunting distances, no. Well beyond that and trying to shoot small, yes: at the last 500 yard shoot the wind was approx. 10-12 mph one direction and the mirage was moving the opposite direction the last 100 yards or so (there is a small valley in between). It had most of us shaking our heads.

Didnt bother Bailey one bit..........SHE's a great YOUNG shooter

She is at that. I wish more kids were interested in the sport in general.

Nothing beats rounds down range for wind.

'Used to be a ridge on a deer lease north of Sisterdale named "Artillery Ridge" after me.

(The place sold for 17M a few years ago and is being split up. )

Please provide sample of calculated Mil's wind call so we can see difference, all I know is MOA.

I already did, on page 1

I'm about half way through a book called The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters. This thread is a good summary of about the first third of the book.

This wind shooting thing is tough.

The hard part about reading the wind is the slight changes in the wind when you are sending rounds down range. I try to get the average wind speed and use that as my main wind call. Then see how hard the wind is blowing during the peaks and the lulls. I'll have a "window" I'll plan to hold for my wind calls and hold my main or average wind call, then adjust more or less depending on the peak and lull.

Do y’all always hold for wind and only sometimes dial for elevation?