Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire wind drift?

rost495,

I don't understand the article yet, so I can't add anything for anything. The guy who gave me the article said it works once you understand it. He continued it took him awhile to figure out what the guy was trying to convey, but he eventually got it.

I guess I will have to get with him and have him explain it to me.

That is what the focus ring on a spotting scope is for IF, you can read the mirage.

Using Ballistic Explorer I duplicated the examples you posted and found that by 500 meters with a 13 mph cross wind the formula is off by 0.17 mils. At 500 meters a mil (milliradian) is half a meter so the error is 0.085 meters, which is 3.3 inches (about 10% of the actual drift). It appears that the longer the range the greater the error.

I think the Sniper article might be based on the Marine Corps Windage Formula as is this article.

As for the formula being easy to remember and do in your head, perhaps so when shooting at a stationary target, but with game in your sights the flood of adrenaline has a way of befuddling the mind.

Not to mention getting the range measured. If I had to do math formulas in my head in the field while keeping an eye on an animal (which might move any time and screw up the shot) I'd just go ahead and shoot myself.

Seriously, if you use the formula to figure out what to write on a card and it's accurate, that would be a good use of the formula. With so many good apps and free spreadsheet formulas for your computer, personally, I'd just get one of them and let it do the math for the card.