Wind drift question


Ethan Givan

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Hey guys, I was shooting my deer rifle the other day to get it ready for next month. I shot it at 100 yards and it was hitting perfect. I moved out to 200 yards and I was hitting about 3.5 inches low, which I expected from looking at the ballistic charts. But at 200 yards I was also consistantly hitting about 1.5 to 2 inches right. The wind was blowing left to right at about 8-10 mph. Do you think it was me or the gun hitting off, or was the wind drifting me over that much??

I was shooting a .308 win with 150 grain winchester power points.

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Do you think it was me or the gun hitting off, or was the wind drifting me over that much??

it was you Ethan, it was all your fault...you don't even know how to shoot a gun... :rolleyes::D

jk bud!!! (and you was totally asking for it...ya know that right!)

okay...so i admit. it wasn't your fault. i agree with the others that it was the wind.

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Thanks guys. I was pretty sure it was the wind but I didnt know if it would drift it that much.

it was you Ethan, it was all your fault...you don't even know how to shoot a gun... :rolleyes::D

jk bud!!! (and you was totally asking for it...ya know that right!)

okay...so i admit. it wasn't your fault. i agree with the others that it was the wind.

Yeah I knew I had it coming...but I thought you would do a better job than that :D

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Thanks guys. I was pretty sure it was the wind but I didnt know if it would drift it that much.

Yeah I knew I had it coming...but I thought you would do a better job than that :D

I'm trying to be Christ-like and not say anything mean...it's not going to well...i slip up and say not so nice things like this everyonce in a while...oh, and i'm saving all my energy up for something really good!!!

besides, there's kids on this forum...i have to keep it PG ;)

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Thanks guys. I was pretty sure it was the wind but I didnt know if it would drift it that much.

Actually with a legitimate 8 - 10 mph crosswind I'd expect the drift to be more.

What you are describing is what a 6 - 7 mph crosswind would cause.

If the wind isn't perfectly left to right, in otherwords, angling towards you or away from you then the effect is that of a much slower wind. Angle is absolutely as important as speed! That's what makes shooting in wind so difficult.

Unless it's howling, at distances 200 yds and under, wind won't cause a miss on a game animal. Most of the time you can get away with ignoring it out to 300. I know lots of guys that missed shots barely over 200 because they over compensated. 300 and over? Nope, you can't ignore it. You better know.

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The shape of the bullet also affects the ability of the wind to blow it around. Try some round nose bullets, they really drift.(22 rimfire high velocity are terrible) The wind at your back or blowing in your face will affect impact height to a small degree too. Like what was said, shoot on a calm day. Then go shoot in the wind to see what happens. We shot lots of prarie dogs all year long when I lived in Colorado and got to be able to read wind pretty well.

Mark

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Actually with a legitimate 8 - 10 mph crosswind I'd expect the drift to be more.

What you are describing is what a 6 - 7 mph crosswind would cause.

If the wind isn't perfectly left to right, in otherwords, angling towards you or away from you then the effect is that of a much slower wind. Angle is absolutely as important as speed! That's what makes shooting in wind so difficult.

Unless it's howling, at distances 200 yds and under, wind won't cause a miss on a game animal. Most of the time you can get away with ignoring it out to 300. I know lots of guys that missed shots barely over 200 because they over compensated. 300 and over? Nope, you can't ignore it. You better know.

Well Im not guarenteeing you that it was 8-10 mph...Im just making a good educated guess based on what I saw on the weather earlier that day and what it felt like out there. It very well could been 6-7 mph. Id love to shoot the calm day, but good calm days without much wind doesnt happen real often here.

I wont be taking any shots at deer past 200 yards, so Im not too worried about it. If the wind is blowing pretty hard I just wont take a shot at that distance.

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While not having the exact numbers ,ie velocity& bullet BC it's hard to say but a 5 mph full value wind can move that bullet appx 1.75"at 200yds.

Anemometers or at the very least wind flags will help with gauging wind speed while on the range. Dealing and understanding wind is one of the harder things to learn in shooting, practicing in real world conditions is the only way to learn. Dont be afraid to shoot on windy days, you will learn by doing so.

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