effects of high winds on handgun calibers

[spacemanspiff]

so for the last couple days anchorage has had really intense winds. steady winds at 40+ mph and gusting to i dont know what, but seemed like at least double the steady. roofs are flying off, greenhouses are bouncing around, shingles are turned into deadly projectiles, trees are crashing down, windows are busted from flying debris....
so suppose i've got to take a shot into the wind. is velocity noticeably affected by high winds? what about range? and i assume accuracy at more than 20 yards is going to be iffy, right?

 

[griz]

The wind has a good bit more effect on slow bullets (handgun) than fast ones (rifle). The saving grace with handguns is the range is usually too short for it to matter much. Shooting with or into the wind has very little effect, straight from the side is the worst.

For me, the effect on the shooter is very noticable. I feel like a weather vane when shooting in gusty conditions.

 

[foghornl]

In the 'up close and personal' handgun defense range, 20' or less, probably not a great deal. I would like a definitive answer from Fed/Rem/Win, etc, but I suspect that even a .45ACP at 20' in a 40MPH wind straight crossing would not be deflected more than 2 inches.

Just my humble opinion, not proven scientific fact.


Hmmmm.......something else to blame on poor shooting..."The Rangemanster started the fans.....Rangemaster stopped the fans...Rangemaster kept switching speeds on the fans....Rangmaster kept changing the angle of the fans.....Rangemaster shot the fans...."

 

[10-Ring]

Not scientific, but I blame the winds (inside & out!) when I shoot poorly In all seriousness, I'd think the elements in general would have some effect on bullet trajectory and on the shooter as well.

 

[WESHOOT2]

TESTING REQUIRED

(Bianchi Cup?)

The wind can blow a handgun bullet farther than one might think

 

[Mikul]

According to an online ballistic calculator, the drift at 25 yards with a 30mph cross wind is:

90gr 9mm: 2.73
124gr 9mm: 2.37
150gr .40: 2.42
165gr .45: 2.62
185gr .45: 2.35
150gr .308: 1.57

 

[Blackhawk]

Now you're getting into the more interesting calculus and trigonometry problems -- if you're interested in calculus and trig....

I'd rather "have an intrinsic understanding of wndage" gained at the range.

 

[coonan357]

Now does passing wind affect trajectory on the range???

 

[Justin]

Now you're getting into the more interesting calculus and trigonometry problems -- if you're interested in calculus and trig....

See! If they'd have put it in terms like this, maybe I would have paid more attention in class.
I mean, really, who cares about the vectors of a sailboat on a lake?

 

[V-fib]

All I can say is that when I sight in my 30.06 for hunting I try to pick a calm day. Usually windy when I actually hunt


I agree that with handguns the short range doesn't make much difference.

Saw on Headline News that they said winds were 100+ mph up your way. Man that's a Hurricane!

 

[spacemanspiff]

kind of weird, walking to work noticed there was a group of trees and at the base of the trunk theres a half inch gap all the way around at dirt level. this is frozen ground that the trees shifted from the wind. if the base of the trunk is moving a full inch, how much is the top of the tree swaying if the tree is 45 feet high?

 

[Navy joe]

Not enough to worry about at handgun normal ranges, but you may understand how a timely 80mph gust could start some UL about a .45 hit to the thumb knocking a man clean off his feet.

 

[Nick96]

Back in the days when I flew a Piper Cub, there was such a thing as dead reconing navigation. Basically draw a line from point A to point B - determine wind velosity and direction - calculate deviation from the straight line based on the velosity of the aircraft - then adjust compas heading toward the direction of the wind to arrive at point B. This was helpful when flying an 80 MPH airplane over 100 miles with a cross wind. However, at 3,000 feet going 20 miles (within visual range of the destination), it didn't matter much.

The long and short of all this is - with a modern handgun cartridge at a range of 25 yards it doesn't matter much. However, if you are using a .50 caliber black power round traveling at around 500 FPS, a stiff wind may cause a deviation of 1/2 inch or so.

Now driving golf balls is an entirely different matter. The common laws of physics and mathmatics just don't seem to apply to those suckers.

 

[mete]

I do remember a metallic silhouette match that was very windy so that the 200m rams had to be hit by aiming at the next ram ! You had to aim about 4-5 ft over . They cancelled the match.