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I know this will be boring for most of you. That's OK. Some of you might share my enthusiasm for it.
My biggest enemy while shooting longrange is that [email protected] wind. I'm use to shooting across a canyon or the Utah/Wyoming deserts. The wind is comparatively consistent there. But add a lake, some rolling clearcuts, old growth timber and a quiet bay at the end and I don't know where to hold. This place is killing me. I have a quest..beat that wind. This last month I've been taking my windmeter with me hiking, boating and shooting just to practice guessing the wind. I been taking wind readings along a good flight path and go back to a suitable shooting spot and try one shot to see if my calculations are right. Yesterday I had a 15mph/9oclock at my shooting position, a 5mph/11 at the closest shore, a 8-12/9 in the middle of the lake and a 0mph/0 for the last 200 yards on the far shore. I took an average of the 15, 5 and 8-12 readings and dialed in my windage and drop.
I nestled into my prone position for the 1027yd target and took a shot. DING! I got it on the bottom of the target. At least my windage was correct! Awesome. I dialed up 1 MOA and fired a five-shot group. My vertical spread was about 8 inches which is pretty typical of my groups on windless days at 1000yds. But my horizontal spread was about 22+ inches which shows me the wind was changing at some point between shots.
I moved to the 1230yd target and waited for the wind to start rising. The wind speeds up slower than it dies down so my window to shoot is longer. I hit it the first two times on the upper left, adjusted my sights and missed twice. I went back to my original setting and hit it one more time. I was happy with the group and wondered what it would have been if I hadn't fussed with my scope settings.
This is the view from the target back to my shooting sight (above the boat motor).
My biggest enemy while shooting longrange is that [email protected] wind. I'm use to shooting across a canyon or the Utah/Wyoming deserts. The wind is comparatively consistent there. But add a lake, some rolling clearcuts, old growth timber and a quiet bay at the end and I don't know where to hold. This place is killing me. I have a quest..beat that wind. This last month I've been taking my windmeter with me hiking, boating and shooting just to practice guessing the wind. I been taking wind readings along a good flight path and go back to a suitable shooting spot and try one shot to see if my calculations are right. Yesterday I had a 15mph/9oclock at my shooting position, a 5mph/11 at the closest shore, a 8-12/9 in the middle of the lake and a 0mph/0 for the last 200 yards on the far shore. I took an average of the 15, 5 and 8-12 readings and dialed in my windage and drop.
I nestled into my prone position for the 1027yd target and took a shot. DING! I got it on the bottom of the target. At least my windage was correct! Awesome. I dialed up 1 MOA and fired a five-shot group. My vertical spread was about 8 inches which is pretty typical of my groups on windless days at 1000yds. But my horizontal spread was about 22+ inches which shows me the wind was changing at some point between shots.

I moved to the 1230yd target and waited for the wind to start rising. The wind speeds up slower than it dies down so my window to shoot is longer. I hit it the first two times on the upper left, adjusted my sights and missed twice. I went back to my original setting and hit it one more time. I was happy with the group and wondered what it would have been if I hadn't fussed with my scope settings.

This is the view from the target back to my shooting sight (above the boat motor).
