Calculating mph rifle

Its good to make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.

I get the impression Sawdust gets it and has things worked out in a way that HE understands and relates to.

Different people process information differently, but as long as they get there and in this case it works for him, who is anyone to criticize?
Not really intended as criticism.

If you are getting hits, then you are doing it right enough for sure. My intention was more to add counterweight to the conversation.

Some have an innate tendency to get off into the weeds. This can sometimes overwhelm the beginner.

That is my only reason for bringing it up. I'm out.
 
Lol.

So if two people work at the same place everyday, one takes a straight shot and it takes him 10min and the other takes a 45mim route because “he understands it better” ...........yep, I’m gonna criticize that.

No different here. Just because someone gets to the same outcome doesn’t mean they are doing it “right.”
 
Lol.

So if two people work at the same place everyday, one takes a straight shot and it takes him 10min and the other takes a 45mim route because “he understands it better” ...........yep, I’m gonna criticize that.

No different here. Just because someone gets to the same outcome doesn’t mean they are doing it “right.”
I wouldn't view the presented approaches to the subject at hand in a light quite that extreme.
 
This all depends on getting an accurate wind reading, right? So if you use a kestrel for that, would you just use the kestrel hold-off numbers, or switch to the mph method?
 
What you are doing is perfectly viable of course, but unnecessarily complicated.

Same goes for the guys lining things up at 600 yards instead of 1k yards when they are shooting 6mph or 7mph guns.

If you have a 6mph or 7mph gun, lining it up at 1k yards only puts you off 0.05 mils at the closer ranges. It is an inconsequential amount of error in my opinion.

This stuff is hard enough without making it harder.
If I line up on 1000 yds, then adjust wind til the hold-off gets to 1.0(correctr?), then my 7mph gun becomes a 6mph gun. Is that expected?
 
If I line up on 1000 yds, then adjust wind til the hold-off gets to 1.0(correctr?), then my 7mph gun becomes a 6mph gun. Is that expected?
More like a 6.5mph gun, but we are splitting cunt hairs at this point. You would be off less than 0.1mils at all ranges anyway.

The almost universal tendency of shooters is to under estimate wind. So if given the choice, I would choose to use 6mph instead of 7mph.

That is just my thought process. You will have to decide for yourself.
 
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This all depends on getting an accurate wind reading, right? So if you use a kestrel for that, would you just use the kestrel hold-off numbers, or switch to the mph method?

The accurate wind reading comes from experience reading wind and this formula/method is so that you don’t have to rely on tech...which shooters shouldn’t need to do.

If you can’t look downrange, get a wind value/speed, and know what to dial/hold for the particular distance, you’re wrong and need to work on being able to do the ONLY “hard” part of the LR game. This method helps you remember the corrections so that you can apply the appropriate value to what you’re seeing without relying on tech.
 
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A lot of what Skookum says is dead on. No need to complicate things unnecessarily. Getting close enough has a lot to do with target size, wind speed, and distance. On bigger steel some of what I typed can be ignored. When the match director makes you shoot the targets from small to big and the small target is .75-1moa it can make a pretty big difference in your score on that stage if your wind call in mph is correct, but you simplified the math, and the hold is .1 mil off. It will make an even bigger difference if your call is off and your hold is off and the errors compound. Learning simplify things in order to accomplish the mental juggling act is important, but once you can do it there is no reason not to be more precise. There is also nothing wrong with simplifying things in the beginning, and I agree wholeheartedly that .1 mil error on 2 moa steel is inconsequential.
 
The almost universal tendency of shooters is to under estimate wind.

From my experience I find guys look at their wind meter but don't consider the terrain influencers, like tree lines and hills.

Classic mistake I once made... I'm a flat lander and shot a match in West Virginia into a head wind 900 yards across a valley... On flat land that means hold high, but the updraft into the rising land in front of me caused rounds to unexpectedly hit high... the exact opposite of how it works here at home. Made perfect sense after the fact... lesson learned.

Another range I've frequented has a tree line on the left and right with a predominantly left to right wind. If you are on the left side the wind is protected, but the right side gets all manner of funk including verticals as the wind bounces off impacting the tree line... so on the left you better downgrade the wind reading but middle right take all of it, and far right, ignore wind speed and keep a hard bead on mirage to make the call.

Another range tends to get wind from 11 o'clock with a hill behind the target butts... here the wind inside 300 is to be ignored regardless of what the wind meter says as the wind bounces right over the line of fire...

Guys need to zoom out more and visualize wind more like water flowing through a rocky river bouncing off and redirecting all the time.
 
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So when you are at a match:
Step 1
- Measure the true wind speed and angle. Example - the true wind is blowing at 20mph at 45 Degrees (1:30 o-clock right to left wind).
Step 2 - Turn the wind speed to a 90 deg full value. Example - Using a wind rose or trigonometry the portion of the wind vector that is at 90 Degrees to you is 14mph.
Step 3 - get your wind hold by using your MPH. Example - 600 yard target is 0.6 mils at 7mph, so at 14mph is it 0.6x2 = 1.2mils wind hold.

The beauty of using the mph method is the corresponding holds at other distances. For your 7mph gun here are your holds at 7mph in a corrected wind.
100 yds = .1
200 yds = .2
300 yds = .3
400 yds - .4
500 yds = .5
600 yds = .6
and so on. Around 800 or 900yds is might skip a extra tenth 800 = .9 and skip another at 1000 or 1100. You'll have to check your data to know when your gun will skip a tenth.

Match Example
Target at 400 yards
True wind = 10mph wind at 5PM (R to L)
Vector = 5mph wind (from wind rose)
Hold is .4 at 7mph - so hold at 5 mph = .3 (this is rough math that can be quickly done in the field)

Please note - when finding your gun mph you must use the Wind value only. No spin drift, no Coriolis, no alien voodoo. Just pure wind. If your shooting more than 1000 yards or more you can then add the voodoo stuff manually.

Cheers.
this was a great help
 
Just got into the whole mph gun thing, but as I live in Denmark and normally do my wind calls in meters per second, my plan was to convert it into a m/s gun number.

However as 1 m/s = 2,25 mph, it didn’t really work out very well, as I would have to deal with too many decimals when crunching the numbers on the fly, due to the lower resolution in m/s.
So despite my complete disbelief in the imperial system, I have now converted all my wind calls to mph! :LOL:

I’m shooting a .308 155 gr. Scenar L at 2830 fps, and it worked out to be 4 mph out to 600 m and 3 mph from 600 to 800 m which is max at my range.

I stole Jack Master’s brilliant wind rose from the wind angle topic, and made myself a little range card with dope, m/s to mph conversions and a little reminder on the calculation.

Have tested it a few times against Applied Ballistics, and it’s surprisingly fast and accurate.

Moved on to make a similar card for my .22 trainer, worked it out to be 8’ish mph, but at closer ranges.
With 8 mph I get below table.

50 m = .5 MIL
60 m = .6 MIL
70 m = .7 MIL
80 m = .8 MIL
90 m = .9 MIL
100 m = 1 MIL

It’s not as pefect as the .308 wind calls, but accurate enough for the shorter distances.
 

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Just got into the whole mph gun thing, but as I live in Denmark and normally do my wind calls in meters per second, my plan was to convert it into a m/s gun number.

However as 1 m/s = 2,25 mph, it didn’t really work out very well, as I would have to deal with too many decimals when crunching the numbers on the fly, due to the lower resolution in m/s.
So despite my complete disbelief in the imperial system, I have now converted all my wind calls to mph! :LOL:

I’m shooting a .308 155 gr. Scenar L at 2830 fps, and it worked out to be 4 mph out to 600 m and 3 mph from 600 to 800 m which is max at my range.

I stole Jack Master’s brilliant wind rose from the wind angle topic, and made myself a little range card with dope, m/s to mph conversions and a little reminder on the calculation.

Have tested it a few times against Applied Ballistics, and it’s surprisingly fast and accurate.

Moved on to make a similar card for my .22 trainer, worked it out to be 8’ish mph, but at closer ranges.
With 8 mph I get below table.

50 m = .5 MIL
60 m = .6 MIL
70 m = .7 MIL
80 m = .8 MIL
90 m = .9 MIL
100 m = 1 MIL

It’s not as pefect as the .308 wind calls, but accurate enough for the shorter distances.
The way I figure it, at sea level you would have a 1.6 m/s gun at 1k meters.

Or...a 6 kmph gun at 1k meters. I really don't see any good reason to make it harder than that.
 
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if guys at a match are telling each other what MPH wind call they were using I would think they just meant the number they plugged into their solver to get a hit. When you have a solver and time to use it, what the wind will do to to your bullet is not hard part to determine. Knowing what value to give to the wind is the big unknown.
 
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The way I figure it, at sea level you would have a 1.6 m/s gun at 1k meters.

Or...a 6 kmph gun at 1k meters. I really don't see any good reason to make it harder than that.

You still have to do the math regardless of what units the wind is measured in.

1,6 is a unwieldy number to crunch without a calculator, whereas 4 mph is easy to work with. You just take your wind call, divide it twice and multiply by the distance.

6 kmph would be usable, but as it's unusual to measure wind in kmph (I don't own a Kestrel, cannot get direct data in kmph from any reliable source and guys with Kestrels at my range measure m/s), it would have to be converted from m/s to kmph anyway. And as 1 m/s is 3.6 kmph, there is no direct link anyway. Heck I would say it's easier to convert m/s to mph and get a usable number, if done without a calculator, you can roughly just double the value.

Applied Ballistics also don't work with kmph, so in order to streamline all data, it was easier for me to move to mph.

I might change my mind later on, but for now the system seems pretty solid, even for a die hard metric guy.
 
You still have to do the math regardless of what units the wind is measured in.

1,6 is a unwieldy number to crunch without a calculator, whereas 4 mph is easy to work with. You just take your wind call, divide it twice and multiply by the distance.

6 kmph would be usable, but as it's unusual to measure wind in kmph (I don't own a Kestrel, cannot get direct data in kmph from any reliable source and guys with Kestrels at my range measure m/s), it would have to be converted from m/s to kmph anyway. And as 1 m/s is 3.6 kmph, there is no direct link anyway. Heck I would say it's easier to convert m/s to mph and get a usable number, if done without a calculator, you can roughly just double the value.

Applied Ballistics also don't work with kmph, so in order to streamline all data, it was easier for me to move to mph.

I might change my mind later on, but for now the system seems pretty solid, even for a die hard metric guy.
Far be it from me to deny someone the joy of using the US system!
 
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That is a method we talk about a lot






Go into the Everyday Sniper Podcast Section it's there a bunch

Basically you determine your 600 yard wind so it lines up to .6 Mils at 600

That is your MPH Gun, so you have

100 = .1
200 = .2
300 = .3
400 = .4
500 = .5
600 = .6

From there you only use multiples of that MPH

Thanks for making these videos, very helpful
 
For those worried about the speed/accuracy, it is very easy to look at, say .6 mils on the 600 yd target and say that is 7 mph so 4 mph is just over half of that. I visualize the reticle divided in mph instead of mils if that makes any sense. A guy can make really quick adjustments and be within .1 mils of what the Kestral would have spit out. I have actually timed out less since I started using the bc method, and I've hit a lot more targets.

Thank you for sharing this. Reading through this, I got the concept but was struggling with how this would make wind corrections faster because you are having to do quick math in your head but thinking of the reticle in mph makes sense enough for it to click for me. I'm going to start practicing this method.
 
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So when you are at a match:
Step 1
- Measure the true wind speed and angle. Example - the true wind is blowing at 20mph at 45 Degrees (1:30 o-clock right to left wind).
Step 2 - Turn the wind speed to a 90 deg full value. Example - Using a wind rose or trigonometry the portion of the wind vector that is at 90 Degrees to you is 14mph.
Step 3 - get your wind hold by using your MPH. Example - 600 yard target is 0.6 mils at 7mph, so at 14mph is it 0.6x2 = 1.2mils wind hold.

The beauty of using the mph method is the corresponding holds at other distances. For your 7mph gun here are your holds at 7mph in a corrected wind.
100 yds = .1
200 yds = .2
300 yds = .3
400 yds - .4
500 yds = .5
600 yds = .6
and so on. Around 800 or 900yds is might skip a extra tenth 800 = .9 and skip another at 1000 or 1100. You'll have to check your data to know when your gun will skip a tenth.

Match Example
Target at 400 yards
True wind = 10mph wind at 5PM (R to L)
Vector = 5mph wind (from wind rose)
Hold is .4 at 7mph - so hold at 5 mph = .3 (this is rough math that can be quickly done in the field)

Please note - when finding your gun mph you must use the Wind value only. No spin drift, no Coriolis, no alien voodoo. Just pure wind. If your shooting more than 1000 yards or more you can then add the voodoo stuff manually.

Cheers.
Great breakdown I appreciate you taking the time do it
 
If you have a chance to look through a spotting scope (or bring one) you can read the mirage at the target before the stage starts. You can do the same with a high power rifle scope, but in PRS, time often precludes doing this during the actual stage. With a little practice you can pretty quickly correlate the mirage with various wind conditions.

The mirage will give you a better idea of the average wind for the path that the bullet passes through, will let you observe how the wind is changing and also is relatively direction free as it will still appear to be boiling up when wind is blowing toward/away from you.

Even on a stage you can defocus your rifle scope ever so slightly and view the mirage if your scope power is set high enough. This can be a good strategy when the winds are light but shifting from right/left, as you may just need to make the correct favor/edge call to hit.
 
I've noticed the best guys are on glass most of the time reading the mirage and spotting other shooters hits and misses before they shoot.

The advantage of staying in tune with mirage all the time is that it reduces the last minute mental processing he has to do when he starts shooting.

Once you are on the clock, you just don't have the time to read mirage from scratch and correlate what you see to the changes unless you are already have a vision of what its worth. Staying on glass before hand just keeps you in the zone and reduces that processing time.

The only problem with this is eye fatigue. That's why the top shooters usually use binoculars rather than spotting scopes. Binoculars just provide less eye strain.
 
The only problem with this is eye fatigue. That's why the top shooters usually use binoculars rather than spotting scopes. Binoculars just provide less eye strain.
I agree eye fatigue can be an issue, but the problem with binoculars is that they typically don't give you enough power to read the mirage. You can best see the mirage starting at about 20x and it really shows up well in the 30-40x range, which unfortunately means you need a scope and tripod.
 
I agree eye fatigue can be an issue, but the problem with binoculars is that they typically don't give you enough power to read the mirage. You can best see the mirage starting at about 20x and it really shows up well in the 30-40x range, which unfortunately means you need a scope and tripod.

I thought the same until I shot with Dave Preston. He seemed to get along just fine with just binoculars considering that he won the match. I think they were 12X Swarovski or may have been the new UHD Vortex, cant remember.

I should add that he had them mounted on a tripod, just like you would with a spotting scope.

They do need to be good high res though.

The Unertyl scopes used by USMC snipers until fairly recently were only 10x as well, so clearly a guy can get it done in that magnification range.

I would suggest there is a benefit as well to spotting mirage behind the lines as close as possible to the same magnification level your scope will be set to during the stage.

Imagine the confusion when watching at 30X then shooting at 15X. It's just more information to process in a very short time frame.

One thing about really good glass is that you can see detail in the absence of a lot of zoom. Cheap glass with a lot of zoom is still not as sharp and good glass at lower zoom.
 
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It depends where you live with Mirage,

you can spot it easily in some places on 8x, you don't need a magnification, and out west here Mirage does you no good at all.

Mirage works best in winds under 10MPH, in fact, the lighter the wind the better mirage works. After 10MPH it just lays down and only gives you a direction not a speed anymore. A 12MPH looks just like a 16 MPH wind with Mirage.

It's also moisture content, sunlight, etc, so binos can work fine for most.

As well once you figure out the wind speed at the shooter, you can calibrate your senses to use other objects, that is where the lists of grass and leaves moving comes into play. You don't see a leave moving and say, that is 5 MPH, you read the wind and see what it does to objects around you, then apply that speed to other observations using the binos.

At the Team Safari, all we use is binos and it works great.

The Anti Bino crowd is a lot of the PRS guys because they feel you cannot spot hits with small light bullets well, so they don't want spotters using them, but for a shooter, they are a great tool, I carry a small pair everywhere because they work.
 
I agree eye fatigue can be an issue, but the problem with binoculars is that they typically don't give you enough power to read the mirage. You can best see the mirage starting at about 20x and it really shows up well in the 30-40x range, which unfortunately means you need a scope and tripod.

You just need good binos like Swarovski.
There are "good enough" glass, like a Vortex Razor 5k. You can see your impacts and usually where on the plate.
Then there are binos that will let you see all the little details like Mirage.. And lizards under the target.
 
Could someone explain to me how to make this work with 22lr. I really like this mph gun method but am unsure how to do it with my 22. I have made impacts at 400 yards with my 22 and my goal for the summer is to hit 500 consistently. This will really help me achieve that. Thanks for your help and if you dont want to post here feel free to pm me and explain it there. Cheers
 
Could someone explain to me how to make this work with 22lr. I really like this mph gun method but am unsure how to do it with my 22. I have made impacts at 400 yards with my 22 and my goal for the summer is to hit 500 consistently. This will really help me achieve that. Thanks for your help and if you dont want to post here feel free to pm me and explain it there. Cheers

Use your ballistic calculator and experiment with 10, 15, 20, and 25yd increments and with 3, 4, 5, 6mph winds.

One of them will line up.
 
Start with your zero range. As that theoretically should have “zero” wind.
Thanks man, I really appreciate the help. So my rifle is zeroed at 50 yards, I want to play with the wind speed until 50 is .1 and so on correct. Its been quite the learning curve since I started shooting orps and crps(canadas version of nrl22 and nrl22x). I think getting this figured out will help me greatly.
 
Thanks man, I really appreciate the help. So my rifle is zeroed at 50 yards, I want to play with the wind speed until 50 is .1 and so on correct. Its been quite the learning curve since I started shooting orps and crps(canadas version of nrl22 and nrl22x). I think getting this figured out will help me greatly.
Read post #62 above. He does it for a 22 there.
 
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Ok guys I think I got it. So i used 400 yards and to get 4 mil correction I was at 10.5mph
I used 400 because I shoot out past 300 as much as I can, I really want to hit 500 or better this summer with my 22. Now my wind was coming from 3 o'clock. How will I adjust for quartering to and away winds? When I first ran the numbers I did it at 100 and came up with a 9 mph value. Am I better to use the 100 yard or 400 yard info? Thanks for taking the time to help me get this all figured out.
 
Ok guys I think I got it. So i used 400 yards and to get 4 mil correction I was at 10.5mph
I used 400 because I shoot out past 300 as much as I can, I really want to hit 500 or better this summer with my 22. Now my wind was coming from 3 o'clock. How will I adjust for quartering to and away winds? When I first ran the numbers I did it at 100 and came up with a 9 mph value. Am I better to use the 100 yard or 400 yard info? Thanks for taking the time to help me get this all figured out.

You’re definitely getting it a bit mixed up.

You want to find that wind that repeatedly increases .1 per a fixed interval.

You adjust non 90deg wind the same way you would anything else. Via direction/percents of full value.

For example here is a 6mph wind with 20yd increments. Notice how it is almost 100% a .1 increment?

That’s with the equivalent of a 6mph full value. So if you have a 12mph wind from a direction that is 50% value.....you use the 6mph.
5D2C22E2-D952-4796-AE23-33EF5E41921E.jpeg
 
You’re definitely getting it a bit mixed up.

You want to find that wind that repeatedly increases .1 per a fixed interval.

You adjust non 90deg wind the same way you would anything else. Via direction/percents of full value.

For example here is a 6mph wind with 20yd increments. Notice how it is almost 100% a .1 increment?

That’s with the equivalent of a 6mph full value. So if you have a 12mph wind from a direction that is 50% value.....you use the 6mph.
View attachment 7366773
Ok i get what you are saying. Thanks i was for sure getting it wrong.
 
Also, you only use this for fast calculations for a practical setting.

If you’re shooting 4-500yds, you in elr range. You’ll have time and you’ll want to come up with a better solution than a quick wind formula.
 
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Also, you only use this for fast calculations for a practical setting.

If you’re shooting 4-500yds, you in elr range. You’ll have time and you’ll want to come up with a better solution than a quick wind formula.
400 is the farthest I have shot so far. I want to try for 500 by end of summer. I was shooting at 330 today with surprising consistency. The wind wasnt terrible, i was kind of bracketing from .2-.4 across the centre of the plate ad was 14.9 mil elevation. I.could see the mirage really well so when the wind changed it was an easy call. Last weekend at 385 I was struggling with a 10"×10" plate but the wind was my main issue. The mirage was pretty much laying flat and I had low, like 30% hit rate.
 
I don't shoot a lot of 22lr. But quickly played with my 22lr data to see what worked. I set my distance to 300yds and looked for a wind speed to get 3 mil hold. It was 8 mph. This made 200 to be 2 mils and 100 to be 1 mil. Scaling this wind system from being .1 per 100yds to 1 mil at each 100 yards worked really well. I have a 50yd zero in the program.

8mph wind.
50 yd =0.5 (zero distance)
100yd = 1.0
200yd = 2.0
300yd = 3.0.
400yd = 3.9. (Would round to 4.0.)
500yd = 4.9. ( Would round to 5.0)
600yd = 6.0
700 it started to grow. (7.15)

This is the system I would use. It lets you slide the decimal from the yardage to be the wind hold.
Example.
240 yard target is a 2.4 mil hold at 8mph wind.

Maybe this only worked for this one rifle I am shooting. Can anyone check thier data and see if it works for them?
 
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I don't shoot a lot of 22lr. But quickly played with my 22lr data to see what worked. I set my distance to 300yds and looked for a wind speed to get 3 mil hold. It was 8 mph. This made 200 to be 2 mils and 100 to be 1 mil. Scaling this wind system from being .1 per 100yds to 1 mil at each 100 yards worked really well. I have a 50yd zero in the program.

8mph wind.
50 yd =0.5 (zero distance)
100yd = 1.0
200yd = 2.0
300yd = 3.0.
400yd = 3.9. (Would round to 4.0.)
500yd = 4.9. ( Would round to 5.0)
600yd = 6.0
700 it started to grow. (7.15)

This is the system I would use. It lets you slide the decimal from the yardage to be the wind hold.
Example.
240 yard target is a 2.4 mil hold at 8mph wind.

Maybe this only worked for this one rifle I am shooting. Can anyone check thier data and see if it works for them?

This usually only works until about 200yds.

Then it’s typically not linear.
 
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Ok so I understand the MPH of my 308 is a 4mph gun and basically (to a point) each yardage is that many .mils at a 4mph cross wind. (@90 or 270 degrees). My question is using this method how do you determine the correct wind hold with a quartering wind. I’ve used the British wind method in the past and wanting to give this method a shot
 
Ok so I understand the MPH of my 308 is a 4mph gun and basically (to a point) each yardage is that many .mils at a 4mph cross wind. (@90 or 270 degrees). My question is using this method how do you determine the correct wind hold with a quartering wind. I’ve used the British wind method in the past and wanting to give this method a shot
Regardless you need to convert to a full value wind, once you have your full value wind then you use your MPH of your gun to figure your hold.
 
Ok so I understand the MPH of my 308 is a 4mph gun and basically (to a point) each yardage is that many .mils at a 4mph cross wind. (@90 or 270 degrees). My question is using this method how do you determine the correct wind hold with a quartering wind. I’ve used the British wind method in the past and wanting to give this method a shot

Read here.
The modern wind rose
 
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That is a method we talk about a lot






Go into the Everyday Sniper Podcast Section it's there a bunch

Basically you determine your 600 yard wind so it lines up to .6 Mils at 600

That is your MPH Gun, so you have

100 = .1
200 = .2
300 = .3
400 = .4
500 = .5
600 = .6

From there you only use multiples of that MPH



Somehow informative and hysterically funny at the same time.
 
Ok I am late to the party and I have skimmed through the highlights here. I am interested in simple wind calls for hunting. These seems like an awesome method if I can get my head around it.....

Below is my 20” 280AI set at an 7.5 mph crosswind. So am I right that I have an 7.5 mph gun/load? Or am I way off base?

Thanks!

E9C1C5AE-4DD3-4970-84A0-CE81D431C7DA.png