wind........
 

I'm expecting a call any day now from the national sailing association. Seems they want me to travel their circuit mith my ML since every time I reach for it the wind starts to blow. Thought I'd try my 6/6 on 6"@100 yesterday. When the wind wasn't blowing the powder out of my measure or the swabbing patches off the table if was really quite pleasant. The results however were disappointing. Not discouraging, just disappointing. Question: how strong does the wind have to be blowing for you to limit your practice to 50 yds? How much impact does the wind seem to have on your 100 yd groups and how much variation by bullet selection etc..?

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RE: wind........
 

Wind is a factor but I don't take it into as much consideration as I sometimes should. You were shooting Saber Tooth 270 grain I think it says. What kind of twist in your rifle? Also what kind of rest were you shooting from?

RE: wind........
 

Windy???? That sounds like hunting conditions to me. Sometimes we go to the range on purpose when the wind is blowing. What better way to know your firearm???? Tom.

RE: wind........
 

Maybe around10 mph or greater, cross wind. One day, shooting 385 GPs, in a steady heavy cross wind, I was getting group centers shifted by 4.5" at 50 yards. The groups were good, about 1.5", with open sights, owing to steadiness of wind. At one hundred yards, the POIs would have been totally off target holder. After returning from the range, i calculated a cross wind of 29 mph.
Windage effects on grouping is a function of wind speed fluctuation. Let's say you point at .5 MOA, thats very good pointing in my book, and lets also say the wind fluctuates by more than 1 mph at the times the shots were taken. Well in these kinds of conditions, with this kind of pointing, assuming perfect bullet stability,it is impossible to get a 1" grouping except by pointing worse than .5 MOA and accidentally getting the group.

Sounds kind of harsh but it is true. One can improve grouping in fluctating wind conditions by choosing heavier, ballistically superior bullets. These kinds of bullets simply are more resistant to wind deflection. Basically if one calculates a ratio of weight per bullet (total) surface area, he will have a number which relates the bullets resistance to wind deflection. I would consider the most wind resistant bullet available to be a 620 Bullshop. The 270 sabertooth, like the 270 BB ballet are on the lower end of the scale having little resistance to wind deflection. PRB is even worse. It is good to know how your rifle shoots in wind so that it can be strategized into your hunting.

RE: wind........
 

Cayugad - I'm pretty sure it's a 1:66, shooting barrel on sand bags, butt on elbow crease, both on concrete table, 4x scope, set trigger. Pretty solid. I'm going to try PRB at 100 next weekend...if the wind stops blowing. Howling out here on the river now and spitting snow.

RE: wind........
 

yeoman

One of the biggest and most un-accounted for outside force on ML projectiles is wind especially X-winds and/or up and down drafts... It really doesn't take much to move the projectile...

A 15 MPH X-wind can move a 460 grain bullet with a MV of 1500 fps 5" off target @ 100 yards.

RE: wind........
 

Cayugad and Sabotloader - you both have extensive archives of target results using various bullets and powder. Do either of you have examples of 100 yard results where you fired the same bullet/powder combo but one in windy conditions and one in calm that illustrate the effect?

RE: wind........
 

yeoman

This just an example... the U-Mag was sighted in the previous week in the same rock pit.. but this particular day there was a little bit of a crossing wind - I did not record it just called it light so i would say3 to5 mph right to left. I shot this group and never adjusted the scope because on the previous trip I was right on...

On a lot of my shooting trips - I'll never adjust the scope I am just interesed in the group with that particular bullet and powder combination. I know I felt with this particular target I was not to any thing because of the wind but i would check it again later, because it was going to be my deer load for that year....

RE: wind........
 

Thanks Sabotloader. I'm getting the feeling no one keeps the results when the wind's blowing 10-15 or at least isn't as foolish as I was to post them. :)

RE: wind........
 

Sabotloader, That is some fine shooting....
SHills

RE: wind........
 

Not from any of myML's but here is a target I shot Monday from a rifle that I drive nails with. It was 100yds 25F with a gusting 22mph cross wind, bullet speer 55gr sp, 3509 fps.

RE: wind........
 

This was interesting. Particularly the wind deflection charts from the links at the bottom of the page.

[link]http://www.blackpowderjournal.com/archives/vol2no5/articles/bpj25-3.htm[/link]

RE: wind........
 

This ballistics calculator allows you to change the wind speed and gives you an expected drift...

http://www.handloads.com/calc/index.html

RE: wind........
 

mljeep - after my last post last evening I went to a very similar ballistic program on the Hornady site. From my playing with the 270 Sabertooth there it suggested anything more than 6 mph wind the odds of getting 6/6 on a 6 inch circle would be near zero, unless by accident. Waiting for the calm...

RE: wind........
 

yeoman, best bet is to go out and shoot in no wind and then see what happens on a windy day for a given bullet/load. I wish I had more time to do that so I play around with these calculators. Mostof my hunting will be relatively close in, less than a 100 yards, so if the calculator seems to say that a bullet will drift less than 4 inches at 10 mile sper hour wind at 100 yards, it is something I will look at to test. If it proves out then I know I'm good to go, aim and shoot, to 100 yards regardless of the weather.

RE: wind........
 

That's the plan.