SmallCaliberCentral

This may be all in my head but I wanna get some opinions. I have read a lot on this site regarding wind drift at certain distances with various bullets. I have now killed 13 Ground Hogs since around April. I realize this is only a few in comparison to many but I have learned a lot so far. One thing I am not sure of is why I have had little issue with wind drift. I hunt open field and have killed them from 80 yards to 462 yards . I have killed them during very calm days with little to no wind and on blustery days when it is very windy. I have always held right on. Most shots were between 150 and 250 yards. I have used both 39 BK and 35 Berger’s. My question is why have I not been effected by wind drift ? My theory is that it is due to me shooting prone almost every time. It is every time when I have shot in the wind. The muzzle is only 8 inches to a foot off the ground when I shoot. I realize the bullet's path arcs but not much. Could this be why I have seen little effect? Am I below the wind? Am I just freaking lucky???? As for misses I have only two that I missed. One was on a windy the other was shot at too fast. I'll take any ideas or thoughts and add info as requested.

I have had to deal with windy days where I do most of my shooting, (its windy enough that several wind farms are set up here).

The bullet that has been my go-to for so long has been the Hornday 32 Grain V-Max so it does not have the greatest ballistics but I had good accuracy and loved the effect on varmints

Normally when the wind comes up I try to set up so most shots are going to be the same direction as the wind is blowing and/or I limit my shooting distances. I don't have a Kestrel or similar wind meter, or even Benchrest style wind flags set up, (nor do I have the experience to read them and adjust for windage).


I do recall one day 2 summers ago it was very windy and just for fun I decided to do some shots at about 300 yards. After plenty of shots, I found I was able to get a couple hits but had to allow for 10-12" of drift. Perhaps a shooter with more experience who knew the exact wind speed could have gotten first shot hits but not me. As seen below I just used a electric fence post and some surveying tape as a wind meter and set it at 300 yards, then waited for a steady session and took my shot. The small 20 cal bullet does not help much when looking for bullet strikes in the dirt to gauge where I was hitting.


When the wind comes up my ranges drop a lot, plus when it is really windy the targets go into thier burrows so often it means grab a book and wait till about 5-7 pm or pack up. This spring I got some Sierra 39 Gr SBK that should do a bit better in the wind but I have yet to try them out yet, I suspect that I will still have to just accept that when the wind is blowing its best to just hunker down with a book.

At the 150-250yd ranges I hold dead on groundhogs too. Once I get out to the 300 mark tho I start to dope it a little. My longest is 349yds in a steady 10-12mph direct cross wind. I held the vertical crosshair on the "edge of fur with a sliver of daylight" & the horizontal "between his eyes". I hit dead center of his neck. I was using a portable shooting bench with a good front bag & sand bags under the rear of the rifle. The 39gr BK went right where I wanted it to go. You could be on to something with your analogy. How was the wind on the 462yd'er??

Glen,

Dead still. Could have dropped powder and it would have feel straight down. Still does not account for the drift phenomenon due to the bullet spinning in flight. I held dead on the shoulder, was gonna get cocky and go for a head shot at that distance, and hit just low dead center. Most of the other ones were in wind though. Not always a hard blowing wind but some wind. Maybe it is like, "flying under the radar” I guess one way to find out would be to set up wind meters at the same distance but various distances off the gound. One at a foot high then in maybe one foot increments up to whatever height they typically are. I don't use any or I would try it. I choose a different method, I load a lot of ammo

It is enlightening to use the Hornady or other ballistics calculators to determine wind drift and drop with different velocity and bullet ballistic coefficients.

With a target the size of an average chuck, and at modest wind velocities, you probably do not need to allow for wind much at out to 200 or so yards. However, at 300 yards and more, you will have many misses with cartridges like the 204 and 223 if you do not crank in some windage.

For example, the 204, with 32 grain bullet at 4100 fps and a bullet with a BC of .250, and crosswind of 10 mph, you get around 8 inches of drift at 300 and 15 inches at 400. With a very large chuck, you may get away with no allowance at 300, but not at 400.