Shooting in the wind!

[pacobillie]

I feel like the wind is my friend.

Where I shoot, the wind is typically from the West, quartering from the infield and behind the high house. On a typical day, the high house target has a tail wind and low house target has a headwind/crossswind.

This weekend, I shot skeet on both days. Saturday was a dead calm day. No wind whatsoever. It was as if the targets were flying in slow motion. I shot two rounds of respectively 20 and 21, which is mediocre for me. I had some unusual misses, such as 1 low and 2 low.

On Sunday, the wind was howling at 40 kph plus, from the northeast, which means it was blowing directly from the outfield, causing both HH and LH targets to slice towards the infield. When I arrived, the club manager told me that shooters were having a hard time hitting the targets, because of the high winds and tricky trajectories. Lo and behold, I shot a 25 for my first round. I have shot 4 straight rounds these past few months. Three out of the four straight rounds were shot in high wind conditions. The only explanation that I can see is that I am more alert/ less complacent when the conditions are difficult, and the targets are less predictable.

 

[BJP]

I also like shooting in the wind because I like a challenge. Windy conditions and a 410 make me smile. I also find that in the wind (or with a smaller gauge) I focus much more than I would with a 12 gauge. Our 5 stand course gets real interesting when you add wind.

 

[maynard]

The wind will blow the pattern into the target just as much as it will blow it away from the target. I have shot good scores and bad scores in windy condition. I have also shot good and bad scores in perfect conditions. I think to worst condition for shooting is when you start to over think. I am sure everyone at one time or another has missed one or both the high and low singles on station 2 and 6 but crushed the pair. I rack this up to over thinking it. What fun would it be if every target was perfect every time?

 

[Falconflyer]

Sometimes the tougher conditions make you subconsciously focus harder! Warm, sunny non windy days can make you a bit lazy and relaxed.

 

[stubblejumper]

Shooting doubles is fun when some targets from the high house bounce 10-20 feet from the low house. The wind really effects some people, yet others seem to adapt much better to targets that aren't where they are supposed to be.

 

[JIMMY 808]

Biggest thing most people do in adverse conditions is change how they shoot.

Typically works out very poorly.

 

[Toodoggone]

Our range has some regular wind influences. Targets will dive or climb randomly at times. I find that I often hit the wildest targets because I'm a better instinctive shooter. I have to focus more on the target and react to the targets movement. A steady diet of ducking and diving targets isn't ideal, but the occasional flyer makes it interesting.

 

[salter]

The wind will blow the pattern into the target just as much as it will blow it away from the target. I have shot good scores and bad scores in windy condition. I have also shot good and bad scores in perfect conditions. I think to worst condition for shooting is when you start to over think. I am sure everyone at one time or another has missed one or both the high and low singles on station 2 and 6 but crushed the pair. I rack this up to over thinking it. What fun would it be if every target was perfect every time?

While it is true that the wind will move pellets, the amount is negligible at skeet distances which seems to be what most of this thread is about. If you go back to your high school physics you can do a rough calculation of wind drift. Based on #8 lead pellets, 1200 fps loads and a 30mph, 90 degree cross wind, the drift at 20 yards is roughly 1.2". If you don't want to do the math, there is also considerable published wind drift data for pellet guns. If you use the pellet gun data and make some adjustments for round pellets instead of a regular oblong pellet and adjust for differences in muzzle velocity, you get a drift of 0.9" under the same conditions. Even if this data is out by a factor of 3, you are still only seeing about 3" of drift. The wind that is affecting the pellets is also affecting the clay target in the same direction. Given that the clay target has a different size, shape and density, it will be affected more by the wind than the pellets.