I'm finding this thread SPOT ON for my wind practice.
This year I've been practicing at 500yds and 750yds ... with
5.56(18) 77gr SMK
6.5G(18) 123gr ELD-M
7.62(22) 175gr SMK
all targets are IPSC(2/3) steel 12x18 on main body and 6x6 for the "face" on top.
Goals have been:
01 - Increase incidence of first round hits
02 - Successfully transition from shooting the whole target to only counting hits on the 6x6 face for 500yds
Results have been that first round hit incidence for 750yds has increased from about 30% to about 50%. Though primarily this is due to switching from Manfrotto tripods to RRS tripods.
For 500yds incidence of first round hits has increased from about 50% to about 80% including the transition to 6x6 face, which dd not seem to affect the results.
Primary issue is fore and aft wind. I might measure fore or aft wind at the FP, but along the bullet path, the effective wind direction shifts. Mirage, rain and snow can all be used to aid in judging the direction of down range wind ... as can be trees and water on the surface of a pond at 500yds FP.
But the mirage, rain or snow are only helpful a small percentage of the time.
The 500yd range is shooting downhill alone the line of a draw with the line of fire being to the NNW. Two tree lines may cover the bullet path to the West of the bullet path and these are along the center line of the draw which has a fair amount of water and hence that's where the trees are. This range is fairly predicatable.
The 750yd range is from near the top of a hill at 1309 ... down to the targets will around 1175 feet above SL elevation Also NNW. Our main creek crosses the bullet path from East to West and we are shooting thru the trees along the creek which are up to 60 feet high. This range is much tougher to predict. Wind can vary up to 60 degrees in direction along the bullet path from what I detect at the FP. So this one is still challenging. Though I realize that once I "crack the code" ... I will have to find other directions to shoot ... other places to put targets, etc.
I'm working on a 1050yd range which sort of shoots across both of the existing 500yd and 750yd ranges.
I'm in Kansas, in the Flint Hills area ... and enjoying wind practice!
I also do the 2 min lo, avg, high thingy ... I toss dirt, grass, leaves, etc. up in the air to judge direction, or I point my face in various directions until I can feel it. I use migrate, rain and snow to see the wind direction and they rarely even help est. the speed down range. I use the trees the sounds and the water surfaces when available. Indexing the sounds of the trees to the wind speed during the 2 min check is a key activity so I can adjust my holds to the sounds.
I'm been using Tremor3 reticles about 80% of the time. The wind dots means I can think in MPH period. No translation to mils I est in MPH and hold in MPH. I'm a wind dot bigot
I've read about 10 books on wind calling this year ... the summary of which could be stated "Get out there and figure it our yourself"
Though about half of the books dug deeply into a few specific ranges and how to call wind on those specific ranges. But I don't think the 5m cookbook wind calling recipe has been published yet
But it is fun and very satisfying when you actually get one of those 1st round hits. And I also think many of my misses are me "overthinking" the situation and discounting the data. I think if I improve being more methodical, the results will show it.
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Here is a terrible attempt at a "range card" for the 500yd and 750yd and soon to me 1050yd FP and target locations. And understand the firing points move around for each distance ... the targets are only in two locations (less berms to build).
