Wyoming wind and long shots

[pointblank]

I took my rifle out to a Wyoming ridge last month and the wind was a full-on teacher, it was a constant 15 to 25 mph gusts and mirage dancing like a heat shimmer. I dialed for wind, watched flag lines and made a few windage corrections off instinct. Practicing in real gusts taught me more than calm range days ever did. How do y'all read changing wind on a long shot?

 

[Wind River]

When it’s gusting wind quite honestly, I try to shoot game close. The problem is that the wind can be blowing hard where you’re standing and at a different speed, or even a different direction, down range. Most any long range target shooting facility will have wind flags every hundred yards or so just for that reason.
Shooting paper or steel targets at long range, (500 + yds), is great fun but I don’t believe in using game animals as risky targets.
Berger bullets has a ballistic calculator to show how wind affects bullet travel.
https://www.bergerbullets.com/ballistics/php/bb.php

 

[Bryan]

In that Wyoming wind? It is pure chaos! Y'all gotta read the mirage for direction, then use the flags to figure the speed and values at different points. It's a gamble, but a good shooter keeps that dope card ready and just sends it

 

[Brunoo]

@Wind River gets it right. If you've ever been on a Wyoming ridge in the wind, you know it's not some pretty picture.

 

[Wickham]

I was on a ridge in Wyoming battling 20 mph winds. After checking the flags and mirage and waiting a bit, I took a 900-yard shot and hit it! It showed me the importance of trusting small adjustments.

 

[Lupis]

Practice… lots know your limitations

Shooting prarie dogs with a 22 at 200 yds is a wonderful teaching tool..

Practice watching impacts, and quick second shots..

Practice… shoot lots… small targets in the field, in field conditions.. prone, hood of pickup, no bench’s..(unless you hunt with a bench rest)

I am humbled often by the wind..