Author Topic: So, you think you have shot in the wind? (Read 1443 times)

GeoNLR · « **on:** February 18, 2005, 08:38:53 AM »

Last weekend Nomad from this board was gracious enough to host a few of us Arkansas shooters one a mini silhouette marathon in TX. I thought I had shot in the wind before, however when we stepped out of the truck at the Collage range Sunday morning, I quickly realized that I had not been born yet. As I got my zeros I sat back in the sure amazement of seeing a new playground. Im a new shooter to the sport, at our range we have to shoot turkeys and rams ½ scale, this was only my second time to shoot the full course. I stood up from the bench to take the second ram I shoot at off the rail, promptly put my rifle up until the matchLOL.

During the match the conditions amazed me. Heck, I was more into the excitement of the challenge than getting wrapped up in NPA, Score, Stance, etc. I was just having a ball! One of the most impressive things I noticed was during spotting. At times it felt as though I was having to hang onto the spotting scope and lean into the wind, Ha-ha. Leaning into the wind all day make for a wore out shooter, I can attest to that. After turning a chicken 180* on the rail w/ out falling off, I ended up w/ a 12/40. My personal high as a B shooter in high power. I though ah, not bad for these conditions. When I found out that if my chicken would have went I would have tied for 2nd out of 15 rifles, I appreciated the conditions that much more.

After the match one of the locals (all of whom were great folks!) came over and said you boys can now go home and say you have shot in the wind and that about summed it up for me. The intriguing part is that if I understand it correctly, this was a mild day for the course, Ha-ha!

God Bless Texas!

Chicken George

genphideaux · « **Reply #1 on:** February 18, 2005, 08:49:35 AM »

They say beano helps

dawg

Arizona Jake · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2005, 12:08:44 PM »

You should try shooting out here in Tucson some time, or in Yuma, where their friedly motto is "A few flyin' rocks never hurt nobody"...

longgun · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2005, 09:57:42 AM »

Shooting in Coolidge is good practice for shooting in Phoenix. If there is such a thing as good practice for shooting in the wind. When I shoot in hard gusting winds the usually results is trigger jerking for me, trying to get the shot off while still on target. Have to do lots of practice afterward to get rid of the jerk. Phoenix is the only place that I know of that is as bad as Coolidge........ On occasion Raton is pretty bad too. Don

shootingpaul · « **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2005, 05:30:14 PM »

sorry buddy , but I dont think it was a wind........ and a reason why is because you could shoot 12/40 I think, well ........ whats about shooting winning score of 14/40 and being a Master shooter?? in small bore,
yes this happened once to me in Melfort, SK, wind was about 30 mph gusting more than that, winning score was 14/40, and second place had 9/40!. that is shooting in the wind. lets refraze it . WIND
just wanted to share this experience with you felllows,
have a good one at the range! after all is not how high you scored, but how good the beer tasted!

Troy G · « **Reply #5 on:** February 20, 2005, 07:48:15 AM »

Pawel, the idea is to shoot first and then drink the beer.

shootingpaul · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2005, 01:58:41 PM »

Quote from: Troy G

Pawel, the idea is to shoot first and then drink the beer.

yes but my score will not be so high........

nomad · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2005, 06:29:25 PM »

Actually, George misspoke.

Coolidge wind at the last match was what we refer to as flat calm. (Never got very far out of the upper twenties...except in the gusts.)

A few matches ago, there were NO hits and we lost 4 shooters due to bullets being blown back onto the firing line. Several people said that was 'almost' the worst wind they'd seen there.

At most Coolidge matches, the wind never gets into the area that Texans consider really difficult -- but we do halt the contest when it gets 'breezy' out of the northwest; since that blows the rams right at the firing line and some of them come so fast that there's almost no time to duck...

(We use to have an informal match cancellation rule a few years ago -- if the bullets couldn't travel upwind as far as the chicken line, we called the shoot off. Had to stop doing that...we started hearing local shooters refer to us as wussies!)

OK -- let's hear more BS about 'wind' in Canada and Arizona! :-D

longgun · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:15:43 AM »

Ernie, Way back when I just started shooting, They had silhouette matches in Arlington,TX. Don't remember if it was the first match for me but that was where I got initiated to shooting in the wind, as I remember we were using 14 moa windage in that match? At least the "dust bowl" effect had already ended otherwise we couldn't have seen the targets in the dust! It's bad enough when you can't hold the gun, but even worse when you can't see the targets. This may be why Phoenix uses heavy targets on the ram line, to keep the targets from blowing off. And to make things worse , there were Rattlesnakes down there so that the target sitters couldn't get to the targets to reset them, they had to call for someone to come down and remove the snakes....... Don

Arizona Jake · « **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2005, 03:41:13 AM »

Beats me! It's hard to top THAT big pile, Ernie... :-D

Steel killer · « **Reply #10 on:** February 21, 2005, 04:37:10 AM »

It's not blowing hard unless it takes the blueing off the rifle.
Just suck it up and take your best shot.

Steel killer

ajj · « **Reply #11 on:** February 21, 2005, 04:48:07 AM »

Was listening to some of the Big Boys BS'ing my first trip to Zwolle, lo, these many years ago. Subject was a smallbore match somewhere in Texas. "Six targets were hit the whole match," says the narrator. "A six won it?" "No, a three won it. Somebody hit two and another hit one. It was REALLY windy!"

GeoNLR · « **Reply #12 on:** February 21, 2005, 05:18:59 AM »

I thought this might happen to this topic! Exactly what I was looking for.

First one never has a chance...

Chicken George

Troy G · « **Reply #13 on:** February 21, 2005, 10:02:18 AM »

Oh Yeah!

It is windy in Saskatchewan when you cannot keep the animals sitting on the rails. On my personal range I made my rams from 3/4" salvaged steel and they weigh in the neighborhood of 100 pounds. There have been days when the animals will just not stay standing and prefer to lay on the ground.

This one time . . . I got a call from the neighbor two miles away and he said that he had seen a pig shaped object (UFP) flying through the air over his yard.

In Saskatchewan the wind blows and pigs fly

jbeckley · « **Reply #14 on:** February 21, 2005, 10:27:31 AM »

Ok, here goes! One time we were shooting in Mesa and the wind was blowing so hard that one of our shooters ended up in Wisconsin, as a matter of fact it dragged his whole family up there. If you think my tale is tall ask Az Jake he saw it all!

Accurateone · « **Reply #15 on:** February 21, 2005, 11:30:45 AM »

I can bear witness. I was in Wisconsin when AZ Jake landed! But a Noreaster came down out of Canada and blew me to Amarillo! Now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere without a place to shoot silhouettes. Closest matches are in Raton...

nomad · « **Reply #16 on:** February 21, 2005, 11:55:02 AM »

Troy,

I know you're from Cana-duh so here's a hint:
Weld FEET on the bottom of their legs... :roll:

nomad · « **Reply #17 on:** February 21, 2005, 11:57:32 AM »

OOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPS!
Shoulda been more specific:

You don't have to make little hooves -- plain 4" squares work fine! (Big part down!) :-D

Troy G · « **Reply #18 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:13:59 PM »

What? You mean the animals have to have bases. I will fire up the welder and let my brother know that he no longer has to hold the animals up. :-D

nomad · « **Reply #19 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:23:55 PM »

How many borthers did you have BEFORE you started shooting silhouette? :eek:

Arizona Jake · « **Reply #20 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:24:21 PM »

To Accurateone:

Mikeeeeeee!!!!

Nice to hear you're alive !!! Hope you are doin' OK in "Amrillaw" and you can make it to the Nationals in Phoenix. Im still using the fur hat here in Tuson, when the temperature dips belo 40 deg. F. Brrrr!!!

nomad · « **Reply #21 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:26:34 PM »

Dang! I kin spel bruthers -- ah wuz jes laffin so hard ah fergot ta prufreed!

Troy G · « **Reply #22 on:** February 21, 2005, 12:50:28 PM »

Nomad, I have read some Highpower Rifle Shooting forums and I thought that was what was meant by having a pit crew to pull, mark, or hold targets. Maybe this explains why silhouette is a dying sport.

Accurateone · « **Reply #23 on:** February 21, 2005, 07:31:03 PM »

Jake,

Get me out somewhere to classify in centerfire and I'll come to Phoenix and shoot it all!

... I'm thinking of starting a forum for grumpy, displaced match directors who don't get to shoot enough anymore.

Back to the wind thing, remember the '01 WI state championship when the wind blew so hard that the rain was coming in sideways? We moved the firing line back up inside the clubhouse and everyone still got wet!

dwl · « **Reply #24 on:** February 22, 2005, 05:59:41 AM »

As they say in Utah, I think you're up in the night and bumped your heads! Even so if you've got an excess of wind could you direct a bit up here. We haven't got any and it's so cold at night the air freezes and falls to the bottom of the valley.

This makes it somewhat difficult to see the targets, on the small bore range. We've resorted to counting heads to make sure all the shooters have returned to the line after resettin. We've also had to resort to using more elevation as the air thickens with the cold.

shootingpaul · « **Reply #25 on:** February 23, 2005, 02:14:45 PM »

hey that's nothing,
one time it was so windy at the match that I had to tie me down to the concrete bench and I stood there that wind blew all my hair away from my sculp and since then I am bold.......... that was windy!