shootin' in the wind

[JamieC]

I was out at the range yesterday, got around to the AR which I had pretty well dialed in a few weeks ago with both the irons and a red dot. There was a pretty good wind blowing at us and coming from our left to our right. Once I got the targets out at 100 yards, (started closer, my wife and daughter shooting my new build for the first time), I was hitting to the right, expected with the wind blowing in that direction, also hitting high. Could the wind blowing into us cause the bullets to stay up?

 

[rcmodel]

No.

Wind has very little effect at 100 yards.
Maybe an 1" or 2" at 100 with a 15 MPH cross wind.
If its blowing harder then that, its hard to hold steady enough to tell!

There simply isn't time for it too move a bullet much in 1/10 of a second.

And bullets don't fly, in the sense they do not generate lift like an airplane wing.
They start dropping the instant they leave the muzzle.

So if it shot high?
Your scope adjustments moved.

rc

 

[Walkalong]

A wind in your face will move bullets down, one blowing away will move bullets up, but not much at 100 yards. A wind quartering away at 45 degrees will move bullets up and over. Etc, etc. But again, not by a lot.

Look at differences in how you were holding the gun. How tight, how soft, free hand, off the bench, hard in the shoulder, soft in the shoulder, etc, etc.

 

[taliv]

this is slightly complicated, but it is possible (but fairly rare) for a wind to be blowing up, which would push your bullets high.

a wind blowing directly at you will slow the bullets down, causing them to fall further as more time elapses until they hit the target. however, this is probably not measurable at 100 yards.

a "pretty good wind" is probably not going to move your impact more than 1" any direction at 100 yards.

I'd say your issue is 99% related to sight height over bore.

 

[JamieC]

No.

Wind has very little effect at 100 yards.
Maybe an 1" or 2" at 100 with a 15 MPH cross wind.
If its blowing harder then that, its hard to hold steady enough to tell!

There simply isn't time for it too move a bullet much in 1/10 of a second.

And bullets don't fly, in the sense they do not generate lift like an airplane wing.
They start dropping the instant they leave the muzzle.

So if it shot high?
Your scope adjustments moved.

rc

That was about how far off I was, to the right and also high, IDK. I guess I'll have to go back out to the range, shoot some more, LOL. I was trying to different loads, had my wife and daughter with me, not the best way to test, too many distractions. I had it pretty well dialed in at 100 yards, when I first shot it, I let the women try it out first, (my wife had shot it once before, new to my daughter), we started at 25yards, it was predictably low at that distance, didn't try it at 50 yards, went right out to 100, oh well...maybe I should zero it at 50, the red dot is 4"moa, kinda tough to hit a 2" bullseye at 100

 

[Sniper66]

Shooting in the wind is a hoot!! I love shooting p-dogs with a good steady wind when I can hold an inch or so off to one side and hit him dead center. Doesn't work every time of course, but fun when it does. I've shot p-dogs from my vehicle when the wind is blowing so hard that it shakes the truck. Was shooting one day and decided to take one last long shot and the cross wind was fierce, maybe 40 mph.. The critter was 200+ yards and I aimed my .204 a foot left and hit about 2 feet right. I gave up and went home.