Damn Wind!

[Rockrivr1]

Maybe I've been lucky so far but this past Sunday was the first time there's been any "significant" wind blowing while shooting a 20 rnd offhand match.

There was virtually no wind during the 2 sighting rounds, but as soon as I locked n loaded my first scored round it really picked up. I was excited after my sighting rounds were an 8 and an X. I figured it was going to be my best outing yet.

Once the wind picked up I was being pushed all over the place and luckily ended up with a 150 out of 200. I figured it could of been worse and was for some of the other shooters.

I was figuring that maybe my dry firing practice should include a hurricane fan every once in a while. What does everyone else do to practice for this.

In another thread jc121 said "Never , ever give up on a shot. If its not right do NOT pull the trigger untill its right." Hell, if I did that then I would still be standing on the line. I'm just glad I got the score I did.

I'm attending a clinic all day Saturday at the Reading Rifle & Revolver club. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm hoping to learn a lot, especially what some of the guys (and gals) do during heavy wind.

 

[Steve Smith]

teeheehee! Don't consider it a problem, just consider it to be another chalenge to the game!

 

[jacks308]

It is disheartening to have your spotting scope blown to the fourth guy on your right . But not so bad when the skinny little guy that's whupped on yer score for the last six matches is caught away with the cattle and Dorothy's house The match must go on !

Jack

 

[M1911]

Try shooting in high wind at the 600 yard line. On the day when you don't have enough 72 gr. rounds for the entire match, so you have to change to 55 gr. military surplus 5.56. Weeeee......

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

thats fun (NOT!) but don't ever give up on a shot even in the wind.

shooting in the wind at any range either at 200 yards or 600 yards takes a strong will and you need to watch the conditions and shoot when you have a chance to get on the target where you want to be.

remember in the wind you WILL get caught by it and when it happens you have to move on as each shot is a match unto its self.

I like everyone I know does not like a heavy wind and I will not practice in it as you do not learn to much except at 600 and longer.

here is a few example's of what I do in a wind off hand and how I think during it.
#1 first thing is that I know most of the folks that shoot are going to give up as they already have the ideal that their score is going to be bad and they shoot when its anywhere close. and its nice to have the attitude that you know when the wind blows you are going to be on top. get the best attitude you can.

#2 I will widen my stance a little to get a better base to build on.

#3 I will move my rifle down into my shoulder a little more to and pull it back into my shoulder with my trigger hand a little more depending on the wind.

#4 I will set up my npa to be as close to the most consitant wind condition and change it if it changes. lets say the top gust is 15 mph and the consitant wind at 13 mph with drops on both sides of that. I now know that for a good part of the shot process I will have my sights close to the black.

#5 be quick on the trigger in the wind and I try to pop it when its moving ever so slightly into the black in the wind you may have to take faster shots when you have them and you are going to get caught but when you are done and nobody is within 6 or 7 points of you you know you have done it.

#6 the good thing about trying to adjust your shots to the same wind speed not only gets your sights closer to being on target but also the point of impact because if you shoot one shot at 3 mph and the next one at 15 mph even if you are in the x ring the wind will move your impact area one way or the other. so if you have a set npa and sight setting for lets say 11 mph and you only shoot most of your shots at close to that speed not only will your shots come easier but you have the rifle dialed in for that speed and do not be afraid to change it.

I shot a match sat. and when we got back to 600 yards the wind was between 10mph and 22mph coming from 3 o'clock across the target to switching to a 5 o'clock the wind was coming from.
by the time I fired my shots it was between 12mph and 25 mph in the same conditions.
I started with 5 moa on my rifle and was up to over 6 moa and down to 3 1/2 untill about the 15th shot and then it started to fishtail from right to left. and I had to change my game plan.

I shot every shot on the wind increase at what I thought was the max peak or building to it.
my score in those conditions was a 189-4x but the closest person to me was a 181. I was the last one to stop fireing and had one break of about 4 minutes that I did not shoot and brought my rifle down and took a round out of it twice to wait till I know what the conditions were close to.
like I said I started at 5 moa and my last shot I only had 3/4 moa on it and it should of been 1/4 as it was a 9 just out to the right.

I accepted the 3-8's I shot and moved on.

alot of folks only recourse in the wind is to shoot their shoots as fast as they can to get most everything in about the same condition and it can work in a steady wind but if its not that goes right out the window along with your score
like I said never ever give up on a shot and those are the reasons why.
good luck and keep shooting, jon

 

[Rockrivr1]

Thanks for the great advise. To be honest I've only been shooting Highpower now for about 2-3 months or so. It's mostly been 200yrd offhand but starting next week I'll be getting my first experience with 300yrd and 600yrd shooting. I've been practicing my sitting and prone stance following the great pictures that Steve put up on another post. I believe my wife thinks I'm nuts as I practice these things in my basement.

Jon, thanks for the explainations but to be honest messing with the sites still makes me somewhat nervous as I have pretty much no idea of what I'm doing. I've adjusted the elevation to make sure I'm hitting the black but that's about it. I'm really hoping they cover this in the clinic because I have no idea of where the site settings should be for a 600yrd shot.

Does anyone know a past thread on TFL or THR or even somewhere on the web that might be a good reference on this?

Thanks again.
Troy

 

[Steve Smith]

Ok, here's some help on sights.

For come ups from your 200 yard zero:
come up 3 minutes from 200 to 300
come up 9 minutes from 300 to 600.

Using the RRA upper, expect the rear sight to be 1/3 MOA elevation and 1/4 windage. These come-ups should get you in the black.

Run the rear sight all the way down to the last detent, but not beyond that (some have some movement beyond that point). Take a paint marker and make a line from above the drum, across the drum, and down below it in a straight line. That's your mechanical elevation zero (Mechanical Zero = MZ). Now, run your windage all the way in one direction, and count the clicks all the way to the other side (there will be a lot!) Divide that in half, and go that many clicks toward the center. This may or may not be perfectly on the mark the manufacturer made (let's hope so) but no matter...this is your mechanical windage zero. Mark it with a very fine tipped paint marker (fingernail polish will work too). Also, mark from the center of you windage wheel to the sight housing with the marker so that you can bring it to full zero easily. Use your MZ point as a reference forever. Always go back to MZ and if you find that after shooting a few matches that you are ALWAYS a few clicks one way or another, you can paint another line (different color) to reflect that, or just memorize it. You should always have and use your MZ marks though.

If this doesn't make sense I can post some pics of my sights.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Steve, if I understand this right, from my 200 yrd zero I would click up 9 times to add 3 minutes at 300 yrds and click up an additional 18 times for 600 yrds to reach the 9 minute mark. This would be a total of 27 clicks up from my 200 yrd zero to shoot at 600 yrds.

I'm assuming that with 1/3 MOA adjustments, 3 clicks equal 1 MOA. I'll have to test this with the 69gr ammo I'm using.

I also understand most of what you were saying in your response. But (you knew there had to be a "but" somewhere ) if it's not to much trouble, could you post a few pics anyway. I'd like to see how you marked the elevation portion of your sites.

Thanks,
Troy

 

[Steve Smith]

Sorry for the confusion...9 minutes between 300 and 600.

IOW, 9 clicks from 200 to get your 300 "in the black" zero, 27 clicks from your 300 to get your "in the black 600 zero. Eventually you will get a precise point where you almost always go to (+- a few clicks for lighting) and then you should be backing all the way down to MZ and back up to that point for each yard line.

1/3 minute sights sounds funny, but John Holliger told me he put a dial indicator on it and I did the same out of curosity and sho 'nuff it was. They might have changed thread pitches or drums since then, but I doubt it. RRA doesn't shoot HP so they could care less whether it is a true 1/4 minute sight or not. For them, close enough is. Hey, at least it is repeatable!

BTW, the proof in the pudding when you dial up 36 clicks from your 200 and you're in the black. With mine, I was in the 10 ring.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Actually that was my confusion. You explained it right, I just didn't read it right.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Steve Smith]

Dang it, didn't get the pics done last night. I'll get them tonight.

 

[Steve Smith]

GET YA HOT BUTTERED SIGHT PICS!!!

Left side of rear sight, detailing the elevation wheel mark.

 

[Steve Smith]

Rear of rear sight. John Holliger colored this one in. Every once in a while I have to re-do the one on the lower aperture because I cover it with sight black.

 

[Steve Smith]

Right side of rear sight, detailing the windage knob. Sorry, I couldn't get a good hold on the camera for this one. Shoulda used my spotting scope stand for a tripod. Oh well.

 

[Rockrivr1]

Thanks Steve! Seeing the pictures makes your explaination very clear. I'll do that before the clinic this weekend.

Thanks again.