Wind keeps you humble

[biliff]

We had our monthly club shoot Sunday. Had some gusty,unpredictable winds and boy did it show on the 100 yard OH targets. High score was a 33 on the standard NMLRA 100 yard target. Usually you need mid 40's to take 1st. The winner was the only one that managed to keep all 5 shots in the scoring rings.

Wind not only blows but it sucks, too.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

I shot in a match years ago you made me think of it that I actually won with a score of 5, think it was the standard target. I was the only one to put one in the scoring rings. Don't remember how many miles per hour but it was rough by the time we got around to shooting at the 100 yd target all the smart ones packed up and went home leaving just a couple of us dummies but what the heck seems like we shot for quite a while before I finally scored a hit and that was good enough match was over! Thank god. Builds character doesn't it?

 

[Bill Hall]

Sounds like watching a baseball game that is entering the 12th inning with a score of 0-0. It's like "Oh God, please let someone score!" :rotf: Bill

 

[MikeChapin]

We get a lot of that out here. A steady wind can be compensated for but the gusty stuff can play hob with scores.

One of the reasons that the shorter heavier barreled plains rifles were liked out here was because of the wind. A long rifle seems to catch the wind like a big sail. Not only do you have the wind pushing the ball around but you get it pushing the rifle too.

 

[BullRunBear]

I'm still trying to get to the point where wind effects my scores on the 100 yard targets shooting offhand. At least if it's windy there's a chance it will blow the ball ONTO the target. :thumbsup:

Jeff

 

[rafterob]

One of the very few matches I won was in that manner. Since the good shooters all tend to be pretty close at 25 and 50 yards I followed the advice of a seasoned vet "matches are won at 100 yards". Up to that point I had very little experience with wind but understood the concepts involved. On this particular day I was holding 6" off the left hand of the target and managed to score 5 out of 5 for a 37, which gave me a win by 2 points.

 

[hockeyref]

So who has a ballistics table for a .54 cal round ball?

 

[Richard Brinkman]

I have some how fast do you think that you are shooting? The ballistic Coefficiant of a .535 round ball is .075 That is extremely poor but better that a .445 ball. According to my Lyman BlackPowder Handbook at 1700 Fps the wind deflection at 100 yards is about 1" per mile per hour of wind. 30 mph = 30 inches of wind drift. A .45 cal rifle would have 36 inches of deflection in the same conditions. Thinking about my experiences that is a ball park figure. I would have guessed more deflection that, but it is difficult to judge hold-off measured in feet.

 

[rawhide]

ben there! last time I shot on a windy day I gave my buddy a realy good score! :haha: it blew all my shots on to his target.

 

[Tom Compton]

Texas Territorial at Arlington Sportsmen's Club S of DFW. Wind out of the South - STRONG. Half full 3 gal water cooler blown off the bench, spotting scopes strapped to posts and put blank target on back side of the celotex to keep wind from blowing thru the bullet holes and taking the score target off the frame. The range was a forrest of telephone poles holding up baffles (a house 1 1/2+ mi down range got punctured and they had to put in baffles). Caused some hellacious swirling,

As we say here - there was nothing between us and the Gulf but a 5 strand bobwire fence with 4 strands broke. Could smell sea air from Brownsville 500+ miles away.

I won the offhand agg with the lowest score ever to win an offhand territorial match - 121 IIRC.

 

[longbow1]

When ever possible I always shoot with the wind for maxium velocity and maxium range. :rotf: That's the ticket