How much windage do you feel comfortable dialing in to shoot at a game target? Obviously, 8 MOA at 200 yards is a lot different than 8 MOA at 500 yards, so keep your answers in inches at various ranges. For example, 10 inches at 500 yards, 4 inches at 700, etc. And state what percentage of the time you can hit within 5 inches of your aiming point. First shot.

I never dial wind with my target guns. I use the TMR reticle for accurate hold-off.

That being said, last weekend at the SRM we had 25 mph wind measured on my Kestrel. On the practice range I held-off 2 Mils to make a hit at 690 yards which is about 50"

I remember qualifying on our 1000 yard range with my coyote rifle in 20 mph crosswind and guessing what 84" looked like by estimation of the 60" target

Trust your data

Okay, I have a Nightforce scope in which I use the reticle. But mils or MOA both get larger as the range gets longer; that is why I asked in inches. So let's rephrase the question:

If you were shooting at a 10 inch target at that 690 yard range, what wind do you think you can shoot in and make 90% hits?

I wouldn't shoot at a big game animal at range in significant wind. The precise distance and precise wind speed are not fixed but have an inversely proportional relationship.

Say a 10mph cross wind blows my 150gr 308 bullet an inch at a hundred yards, at 200 it's about 5 inches and at 300 around 12".

Now this isn't a very long way away and I'm possibly holding off hair to the front of the animal or on it's gut.

Ten mph also isn't a very strong wind.

I have and trust my data, confirmed from target shooting, but my personal limit on windage is holding off hair or on the back ham. It just feels wrong for some reason. Strangely I have much less of a problem with holdover in that regard, possibly because the vertical tends to be more of a kill/miss situation that the horizontal plane.

On varmints however, possibly because a hit in the guts or ass will still kill it fairly quickly, or targets I will hold off wherever I fell necessary and think in terms similar to Rick's hit or miss mentality on the plates. To shoot my hunting rifle in 30.06 at 1000 yards at bisley with the wing flags at half furl, you need to put the intersection of the thick and thin vertical stadia of the 7x50 meopta on the level of the target numbers above the berm and three targets across....

So tough to say because of the variable nature of the wind, accurately reading it at all distances from the shooting position to the target, etc.

I guess if you have a "given" that the wind is "X" and is consistent, the speed doesn't matter. Trust your data and you will make hits no matter how many rounds you shoot in theory.

I have pics of a 650 yard plate that I put 6 hits on with the same hold. 2 3-shot groups with 1" of vertical but on the 9" wide plate spanned it. Wind had a slight change between groups, but I used the same hold any way

quote:

If you were shooting at a 10 inch target at that 690 yard range, what wind do you think you can shoot in and make 90% hits?

In say ten separate hunting situations over the course of a season or a ten shot string after two sighters and all the time in the world to bugger about with the wind voodoo kit?

In the case of the former, either dead calm or just barely detectable with a lighter flame ( more sensitive than most wind meters); in the case of the latter the worst wind I've shot at 600 yards was gusting from 10-40 mph. It was the gusts that buggered us. Give me a rock solid 60 mph cross wind and i'll shoot you a group half that size with 90 confidence using my hunting rifle. Absolutely steady at 60mph mind, no deviation either way!

Ghubert:

In that light I would rather have a straight 10 mph crosswind than one that swirls from behind at 5 oclock then 7 oclock at 2 mph.

Both you and Rick hit on one of my favorite subjects: you ability to hit a target at long range at some point depends on your ability to read the wind. I doubt seriously anyone can read the effective wind out to 690 yards every time within 1 mph. Now, if you are shooting a .75 BC bullet at 2900 fps, a 1mph error gives you a 2 inch latitude. If you can shoot 4 inch groups at 690 yards, you have six inches of "freeboard" or allowable windage error. But since your bullet drifts 2 inches per 1 mph of wind, you must estimate it within 2 mph.

Now, make that range 1000 yards. Our bullet now drifts 4.86 inches per mile of wind speed. To hit a 10 inch target every time would require a rifle that can shoot groups of .28 inches (not MOA) at 1000 yards. Of course, maybe you shoot for Best of the West and have a magic anemometer that measures precisely out to 1000 yards, without error.

As Rick pointed out earlier, wind is the limiting factor. At some point, it becomes mathematically impossible to snare a 90% first shot hit rate at a 10 inch target.

quote:

Originally posted by rcamuglia:
I never dial wind with my target guns. I use the TMR reticle for accurate hold-off.

That being said, last weekend at the SRM we had 25 mph wind measured on my Kestrel. On the practice range I held-off 2 Mils to make a hit at 690 yards which is about 50"

I remember qualifying on our 1000 yard range with my coyote rifle in 20 mph crosswind and guessing what 84" looked like by estimation of the 60" target

Trust your data

I tend to agree with rcumgila, unless the wind is very steady I woulf rather hold off much easier for me if the wind varies. If you are changing your turrets, then you are not in the scope ready to shoot.

I took an Antelope at 777 in a 10 MPH quartering wind. I fired 1 shot and drill it right through the shoulders

You're right AZ.

I'll tell you this and I don't know if it has any meaning whatsoever.

At the SRM the longest target is the 875 yard plate Waaaay up on the side of a mountain. There's no sighters as you know, one shot per target, one shot hits are what the whole thing is all about just like hunting.

Since the last shoot of 2009, all of the shoots in 2010, and all of the shoots so far this year (3), I have not missed that target! I've read the wind on it right!

quote:

I tend to agree with rcumgila, unless the wind is very steady I woulf rather hold off much easier for me if the wind varies. If you are changing your turrets, then you are not in the scope ready to shoot.

I don't know of too many at the SRM who dial windage. Of the very few I've shot with who do, none have had good success. I don't think you ever want to screw with the windage knob 60 times a match along with the elevation knob. Too much to go wrong!

Now on a hunting scope that may not be set up in mil or MOA, I would and have dialed wind (in practice) and it's much better than guessing!

quote:

Originally posted by rcamuglia:

quote:

I tend to agree with rcumgila, unless the wind is very steady I woulf rather hold off much easier for me if the wind varies. If you are changing your turrets, then you are not in the scope ready to shoot.

I don't know of too many at the SRM who dial windage. Of the very few I've shot with who do, none have had good success. I don't think you ever want to screw with the windage knob 60 times a match along with the elevation knob. Too much to go wrong!

Now on a hunting scope that may not be set up in mil or MOA, I would and have dialed wind (in practice) and it's much better than guessing!

It takes too much time to dial IMHO & E many times. When I stopped tring to dial and just started holding off my wind shooting improved

I won't shoot at a deer if my estimated wind drift is more than about 10 inches. That way I can be off by a fairly large percentage and still hit the vital area.

I never "dial-in" windage.
Have a mildot on my LRR - I just use the dots.

Too many things can go wrong dialing it in. For example: Wind changes then try to refigure an adjustment after you have already made an adjustment??? Or did I set it back or not??? Sounds like a good way to get a headache!

I also just hold off, and don't mess with my windage adjustment. I use the NP-R1 reticle in my Nightforce (6.5x284), and the mil-dot in my Viper (243 Win).

I'll hold off as far as I "think" the shot needs. But I'm shooting at prairie dogs, not deer or elk. If I miss, I miss clean, and if I connect, the target is killed.

I went out to the desert this morning for some long range shooting. Took my 7 STW and a .300 RUM; both have custom stocks and barrels.

Took one shot at 750 yards with the STW and hit my 3 inch aiming circle. Got out the .300 RUM. Shot at 700 yards. Hit the first 3 inch cirlce, then shot again, this time obliterating another 3 inch circle.

All three shots were fired from the sitting bipod position w/sling, but alas, the wind was calm to a trace. Not sure I can do that again anytime soon.