Dialing Windage

rbutcher

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  • Nov 18, 2019
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    In what situation would dialing windage make sense? I always hold windage, but someone I shoot with tends to dial all windage past 200m.

    I never dial because wind often changes, and I don't want to waste any time checking to see what windage is currently dialed/forgetting what windage is dialed and then making an error. Is this just me, or does it not make sense to dial?
     
    I'm not a pro but I seldom dial windage either. Pretty much the same reasons as you.
    If I'm consistently hitting left or right I might dial some wind.
    I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in.
     
    I hold wind also.

    I worry that if I have a 10 mph wind dialed on and wind dies to 3-5 mph I would forget the dialed on component.

    watching for a different perspective and insight
     
    I think @lowlight has said our eye subconsciously will drift to a definitive aiming point like the bold crosshairs so given time and opportunity the psychological component would favor dialing the wind.
     
    Only time I've dialed wond in a match was in a particular unsupported sitting stage.

    As mentioned above your eye likes to look at the centre of an object, so when dealing with a bunch of other factor due to a wobbly as hell position it was nice not thinking about holding off.

    Some folk dial wind frequently but many do not, it could make sense to dial a major wind hold and just hold the difference in gusts, which is a somewhat common tactic which may or may not work for you.

    Personally it seems easier to just hold for wind than dial it, thus that's what I do in all but the above situation.
     
    I'm a recreational shooter who likes the challenge of shooting small targets and even small moving targets like splitting playing cards while they are moving.

    I always dial the avg call then watch the flags.
    Of course I have all the time in the world to prepare.
    For this type of shooting as stated above it really helps to have a solid reference point. Holding off and trying to aim at edge of card at quarter mile is a lot to take on.
     
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    We advise you to dial wind on known moving target shots, this way you are only dealing with lead. It's also a good idea to dial on the dominant wind value when holds start to exceed 3.5 to 4 mils. People don't like to hold so far off the target, plus you start to get out of the optical center, which has it's own issues.
     
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    I hadn’t thought about the mover aspect, as thats something that I haven’t done a lot. Even when hunting, pretty much all my non close shots have been stationary.
     
    I hadn’t thought about the mover aspect, as thats something that I haven’t done a lot. Even when hunting, pretty much all my non close shots have been stationary.
    Dialling wind for movers is (imo) mostly for match applications and deliberate mover training. I can't think of too many real life situations where a target will be moving at a set pace back and forth, left and right. If I were to engage a mover in real life/field conditions,I'd just add/subtract my wind hold from my mover lead and then correct after the first round.
     
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    I posted above about shooting playing card movers.
    Again, being a recreational shooter I do it for fun but this video may be of interest as it kinda shows the process.

    It touches on the scope settings and the shot configuration.
    With shooting I think it's best to just use the way that is natural for you.

     
    While I normally hold wind, its not uncommon to get days where the wind never goes below 20mph in NoDak. On those days, I will usually dial in the low end of the range, so that way I am back to a 5-10 mph hold on the gust.