Help - Learning to read wind

[Ice-Pick]

I had someone on the web site here tell me the best thing i could do to start learning about the effects of wind before getting into full bore long rang was to start shooting .22lr out around 200 yds.
I have a small collection of em, mostly oldies one newer 10/22 with access to a friends completely tricked out 10/22.
My question is in your opinion what would you use as a .22lr for training?
Semi, bolt. $50 special ? Do I need to buy a specific one?
And would a cheap Tasco with high Mag. be ok as a scope for it to learn on?

Gimme what ya got so I have an idea.

thanks

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

The wind that blows across your face is the same wind that blows the smell from the pig farm, and blows sailboats around. What part of the wind do you want to know about?

There are several wind plotting tools used in competitive shooting. On DCRA ranges, there are large nylon flags. When their behaviour is read against any number of proprietary tables or wheels, the number of minutes correction can be calculated. Some guys are good at gauging wind by the mirage or shimmer in hot air. It all takes time.

In between then and now, I've seen various sniper shooting books that describe reading the wind (usually called 'doping' by Americans). That might be a good start. There is a privately published book on DCRA shooting by a guy named Jackson. Paul Reibin in Kamloops sold it for a while.

As for .22 practising, any amount of trigger time is good practise. Be deliberate with your point of aim and you will begin to sense the amount the wind forces the bullet left or right. If your range permits, try setting up some small streamers in between the firing point and the target. By judging the force on the flags, you can see the effect on the bullet.

 

[maynard]

Reading up on how to read the wind is a good start, but actually shooting in the wind at long range is better. Shooting .22 at 100 will tell you what you need to know about the effects of wind at 1000 yards with a fullbore rifle. This will not give you the solution to what wind to put on the sight/scope but will make you pay attention to the wind. When shooting smallbore with iron sights (aperture sights) in fast switching or fishtale winds I usually just shade the sights. I would never do this shooting fullbore and would actually turn the knobs. I understand most scope shooters will just aim off in this situation.
Trigger time and a good spotting scope will help.
Now if someone could only tell me what to do when the flags are running one way, and the mirage is running the opposite direction, and you only have 45 seconds to fire the shot

 

[Trevor60]

Milcun has a great wind reading book "The Wind book"and they are canadian another good source is the book put out by Nancy Tompkins, "Precision and Long Range Rifle Shooting" both explain in detail how to read wind.

22lr are an invaluable shooting tool and can mimic shooting fullbore at much greater distances.
They are far cheaper to shoot vs. centre fire
They force you to hold your position longer to break clean shoots
You’re able to see the impact of the round hitting the target
They are very wind sensitive which requires you to concentrate on the wind conditions.
They can identify flinching

I have heard reports that the new Tasco’s are decent scopes the 6-24 seems popular (Don’t be surprise if you have to return it)


And to Maynards dilema it is a 50/50 propositon. Shoot the Mirage

 

[maynard]

And to Maynards dilema it is a 50/50 propositon. Shoot the Mirage

Trevor, When the flags go one way and the mirage runs the other, I have tried shooting the mirage and got burnt Then I tried shooting the flags, got burnt again Sometimes it is best to just crank the knobs to Zero and shoot. It works better then you think, but not always

 

[Ice-Pick]

Tasco

I have no doubt the tasco isn't going to have the quality or strengh of a big dollar scope, I don't need it to. I currently have a Bushnell 4200 Elite 6-24 on the 220 Swift and a Swarovski 10X on the 50 but for an old .22lr I figured I'd try maybe a 40X Tasco , something reasonably disposable.
Found a Marlin .22lr with a tube mag. in the locker here , might see if I can get a Scope stuck to the top of it and use it.
Also found my fathers first .22 from when he was 10 (1936) can't make out all the writing on it though. Someone and sons Inc. U.S.A. First letter almost looks like an R . Has an antique 4X mossberg scope on top only has glass on one end, laff. Who ever tried to mount it had numerous attempts at drilling it before they got it where they wanted it.

 

[Barks]

I shoot a Remington 541 Heavy barrel bolt action rimfire at a distance of 150 yards ( the distance of my range). I find this an invaluable tool to help learn the wind.

I have it topped with an Elite 10x with mil dots, which I also find an invaluable tool to help hold over and hold off. I set up a resettable target spinner with 3 inch square plates. You can indeed see the bullet impact and even with the 10 power can clearly see mirage. I will generally zeroe my scope for 150 yards. Approximately 14 minutes of drop for my target ammo. I then use the mil dots to aim into the wind. If I hold one mil into the wind just to hit the spinner plate, the bullet drifts 5.25 inches.

I have experienced in excess of a foot of drift in strong winds which really just turned into a exercise in frustration. But those were the conditions I chose to shoot in.

Very humbling.

 

[windborne11]

I had someone on the web site here tell me the best thing i could do to start learning about the effects of wind before getting into full bore long rang was to start shooting .22lr out around 200 yds.
I have a small collection of em, mostly oldies one newer 10/22 with access to a friends completely tricked out 10/22.
My question is in your opinion what would you use as a .22lr for training?
Semi, bolt. $50 special ? Do I need to buy a specific one?
And would a cheap Tasco with high Mag. be ok as a scope for it to learn on?

Gimme what ya got so I have an idea.

thanks

Without wind flags to accuratly display the wind direction and speed I dont see how shooting at short distances will help you. Plus the 22 that you shoot may be completely over whelmed accuracy wise at 200 yds, so how will you know if your shot flew away because of the wind, or rifle/ammo inaccuracy?
You live close to one of the best long ranges in Canada. Borden. So if you want to keep your costs down, and learn the LR game, buy a Savage 223, put a Tasco scope on it and go shooting. Join the ORA and start off at an intro day.
otherwise I forsee a bunch of shooting, with no conclusions drawn. You may become good at hitting the target, but you wont understand "why".
And you need to know the Y.

 

[Ice-Pick]

22 practice

windborne11 thanks for the input but I do intend to put out wind flags, that's kinda the whole purpose here is to learn what they tell me. I don't think i'll run out and buy the savage/ tasco package just yet I already have a Rugur M77 in 220 swift with a 4200 elite on top. I've already made the plans to attend the intro course at Bordon with the O.R.A on the 29th of this month. I'm doing this because a few of the more experienced shooters on this site (read gifted) have told me its the best thing for a learning experience with regard to how wind effects the bullets flight. I intend to set the sites up at 25M, try at 100m move to 150M then go to the other gun club i have access to and shoot at 200Yds. keeping notes as I go.
The actual question i had asked was what .22lr would you suggest for this exercise ?
I have actualy just bought one Thursday before i left for Knob Creek, it is a heavy barrelled VOSTOK with heavy duty round iron sites fully adjustable and already has scope mounts on it. Should suit the purpose nicely.
thanks for the advice guys, keep it comin

 

[maynard]

Ice-Pick,
Just use light weight streamers. You need to see what the little wisps of wind are doing. Your flags need to be along the length of the range about 25 yards apart about 1 foot above your targets. 100 yards is plenty for a .22. Make sure you use good ammo that groups well in a no wind condition.

 

[Leeper]

One of the most critical requirements to learn to shoot in the wing is to have a rifle which is capable of good accuracy. If your rifle/ammo combination is capable of shooting to 1 MOA, you will be unable to be certain of the effect of the wind to any less than twice that.
I suspect very experienced long range shooters do come much closer to being able to judge wind to nearly the capability of the rifle just by virtue of experience. In general though, to learn to read the wind to within 1MOA, you need to be able to shoot 1/2MOA in still air conditions.
When things are going very well (seldom for me) the shooting takes on an almost Zen-like quality and you just KNOW the bullet is going to hit center. On other days, if you are like me, you just won't have a clue. On these days, the bullet sometimes seems to veer upwind of it's own accord and avoids the "V" with depressing regularity. Regards, Bill.

 

[jkajfes]

Milcun has a great wind reading book "The Wind book"and they are canadian another good source is the book put out by Nancy Tompkins, "Precision and Long Range Rifle Shooting" both explain in detail how to read wind.

22lr are an invaluable shooting tool and can mimic shooting fullbore at much greater distances.
They are far cheaper to shoot vs. centre fire
They force you to hold your position longer to break clean shoots
You’re able to see the impact of the round hitting the target
They are very wind sensitive which requires you to concentrate on the wind conditions.
They can identify flinching

I have heard reports that the new Tasco’s are decent scopes the 6-24 seems popular (Don’t be surprise if you have to return it)


And to Maynards dilema it is a 50/50 propositon. Shoot the Mirage

Keith and Linda's book is excellent for anyone thinking about long range shooting. You should read the book if you are thinking about becoming serious about long range shooting... if you are a long range shooter it's a great way to brush up on some of the things you might not have been paying attention to or have forgotten.