How to read the wind?

[Vulcan50bmg]

I was looking at wind meters and there are so many diff. ones out there i was wondering what you guys use I would like one to go one my truck so can use it for other purposes.

[neolithic hunter]

read left to right, after all this is America. when reading don't ship any words as that will change the meaning of the sentence. :)

[DaRkWoLf]

Vulcan,

For your own sake, please don't start with wind meters; and if you're using a 50, get an affordable .308 or .223 LTR to practice with.

Wind has many variables, and you can have to account with more than one. With a 50, reaching out to 1200-1800, you may be encountering over 6 different winds in a comparatively good field setting. Intense wind close to the shooter has a large effect on the bullets downrange flight, as do medium and strong winds further away where your velocity in going through them is low, though those don't affect shots before you hit them. Some winds can even make your bullet rise or plummet. These decisions usually need to be made in less than 3 seconds or the wind changes or you miss your shot window.

A wind meter will also only give you the wind at the gun, which won't help a long range shooter that much; its just a piece of the puzzle, and inside 300 you can have a hurricane at your barrel and you should still hit your target anyway.

The key points of the observation method are:
Ÿ+ Under 3 mph - The wind can hardly be felt on the face. The
presence of a slight wind can be detected by drifting smoke.
Ÿ+ 3-5 mph - Winds can be felt lightly on the face.
Ÿ+ 5-8 mph - Winds keep leaves in a constant motion.
Ÿ+ 8-12 mph - Winds raise dust and loose paper.
Ÿ+ 12-15 mph - Winds cause small trees to sway.
Ÿ+ 20-25 mph - Winds cause large trees to sway.

A good way to practice the feel of wind at the gun is to drive in your truck on an isolated road and get a feel for how certain mph feels on your hand outside your window. If you need a wind meter for other purposes, you can carry it around, guess the wind with your hand or a visual cue, and confirm with your wind meter. FWIW, I have a Kestrel 4500; it is very good and I can recommend it.

[neolithic hunter]

DW your getting quit well informed in your old age. what dw said is pretty much correct, reading wind is a difficult thing to teach, without you doing it yourself. if your are really wanting to get good at it keep a conditions book, log the conditions for that shooting session and your impression of the conditions effects on your shooting. log what happened at the beginning and how you corrected for it to make your hits. the reason i haven't given you anything specifics is that shooters become 3 kinds of wind mechanics. you either learn to scope correct for wind and mirage, you learn to hold off for conditions wind and mirage, or you learn to shoot through conditions wind and mirage. i have seen all methods work for long range shooters. one of the best ways to learn to correct for conditions is the single bullet method. it takes a while to start with, but you will learn a lot about your rifle and the ammo you are using. site you rifle in on a good calm day, then when conditions kick up, fire 1 round, log your aiming point and log where the round hit for you. make logged corrections and bullet impacts doing it over and over. in a short time you'll start to see a correlation between what works for you and what doesn't work so well.