On windy days I have shot 100 rounds at a card to get to the last bull. I have shot as little as 26 total rounds on other days to hit that last bull. Shoot as many as it takes to figure out the wind. Your 20 is probably light on a windy day. Keep at it, there is no rhyme or reason as to what the wind will do, and how many shots it takes.

 

Do a Google search for "wind shooting diagrams". Those will give you and IDEA where to hold. How far off is the key and that you need to learn with sighters. And given all the other variables those charts are a place to start. Sighters are the key to determine the shot.

 

20 sighters is not a crazy amount if you are fighting tough conditions. Switching winds makes that even worse. But you can usually find a condition that repeats several times. Before the match starts, watch your flags as your setting up. Keep in mind the most prevalent conditions so you can try them when the match starts.

Next part is what I struggle with the most. Stick with shooting that one condition. Even if that means waiting minutes.

I usually have a backup plan or backup condition to shoot. Even if that means holding bull to bull for the remaining targets left at the one minute mark.

But don’t get tied up trying several different things once you already have a decent condition and hold. Just wait for it. I could not tell you how many times I dropped 2 or three shots rushing a shot just on the edge of my condition changing. Just to finish the card 3 min early and watch my prevalent condition present it self 4 more times.

 

That’s the part I am fighting with patience I don’t have much. Thanks for all the great replies. My brain has been this way all my life no patience. Just like today had a light sw wind we shoot north at our club. Was holding at about 7 oclock pounding 10s and a bunch of xs, wind layed and I held deal center should have been perfect well it was not, so I waited on the wind and low and behold x. Live and learn.

 

No sighters.

Have learn to both understand the cartridge being shot at that moment and how to read the wind. I shoot PRS so you get no sighters during events.

 

Try no sighters on a windy day at a ARA Unlimited match and see where you end up. Since this was posted in the rimfire benchrest section and the op mentioned they're new to benchrest why would you think what you do in a PRS match is relevant? It's not

 

If you feel my reply was out of place, please feel free to remove the post along with this one too. TIA.

 

I say use as many sighters as you need, just be aware of your time limits. I always run several on a clean barrel just to get it to tighten up before I get serious about my sighters on the target. I use an extra target so I don’t accidentally put a first round flier in a record bull.

After the first target, it usually only takes about 2- 3 to confirm poi and start shooting record bulls, the ones provided on the match target work fine, if there is a delay, I will shoot a sighter or two to make sure I’m not getting a cold bore shift in the record bulls. The other day it was low wind and I shot 18 to acclimate and confirm a solid zero for my condition. My total round count on a 100 shot match was 145. If I get a bad shot. I will go back to the nearest sighter until I get a 10 or X.

I have shot 225 rounds in a very windy 75 shot match. I always make sure to have plenty of ammo from the same lot for whatever happens.

My friend shot 2 250- 15x targets the other day in a match, ran out of that lot of ammo, changed lots on the 3 rd target shot a 245-12x, found a partial box of his best competition ammo in the truck and finished with another 250-15x. If he hadn’t changed to a different lot, he would have likely won the match, as it was he was 2 nd by one point.

It’s always best to eliminate as many of these variables as possible prior to a match. Thats why I usually try to practice and work through these issues before the match. Often on the same range as the actual match to help foresee any setup variables or unique range conditions.

 

It largely depends upon three things: the rifle I'm using, the cartridge I'm using and the conditions. I've pretty much settled on two rifles. I use my Anschutz 1913A BR-50 in our Thursday "Cheap Ammo" match and my Suhl 150 in our Saturday matches. At the moment I'm using SK Semi-Auto cartridges in the Anschutz and Lapua Center-X in the Suhl.

Prior to the match we shoot practice targets. In most cases I shoot 5 or 10 practice shots as both rifles put cold bore shots very close to point of aim and after the first shot they pile them into the same hole. If conditions require changing my scope settings, that's when I will shoot 10 shots rather than 5. When the match begins, I normally fire 5 sighters and then go to my scoring bulls. Very rarely I may shoot 10 sighters before beginning my scoring bulls. Below is one of the rarer 10 sighter shots targets. It was very windy that day as I recall and my X count is low.

 

You need to let the conditions during each target determine how many sighters you shoot. If you don't know where your shot will go you should be shooting more sighters to get it figured out. I struggle with the same thing on our home range (NTSA) when the wind is coming from the 12:00 (south) and/or 6:00. It's hard to figure out where to hold when the flags are all doing their own thing and it's changing rapidly. When that happens I try to focus on my first two flags and my wind probe and do the best I can. All the other shooters are dealing with the same thing. So all I can do is try to deal with it better than the others

 

It's hard to figure out where to hold when the flags are all doing their own thing and it's changing rapidly. When that happens I try to focus on my first two flags and my wind probe and do the best I can.

I also concentrate on the first two flags; i.e., those closest to my bench. The wind there will have the most influence on the flight of the bullet and successive flags will have diminishing effects although the strength of the wind at each location must also be considered. Reading the wind is essential and that is a skill learned only with experience.

 

I tend to base my hold on the first three flags and will shoot if the last three are quiet or compliant. But if the last three are looking goofy I'm not pulling the trigger regardless how good the first three look,

One previous poster mentioned wind diagrams and it occurs to me to say I found them most useful in understanding what was going on when trying to figure out misses. Not so much to give me a hold but to give me an idea of what sort of a condition change would have pushed out a hold that had been working.

Lots of great posts around here this morning ... must be the coffee.

 

I tend to base my hold on the first three flags and will shoot if the last three are quiet or compliant. But if the last three are looking goofy I'm not pulling the trigger regardless how good the first three look,

In my area you could get by with a brick of ammo a year waiting on that deal. If I can get my 2 flags to both point the same direction and hold for 3 shots I am good.

 

Yeah I shoot with shooters that operate on 2 different schools of thought.

One group knows where to hold and the other knows when to pull the trigger. I haven’t been at it long enough to do the first, I go with option 2 and rarely finish with more than 5 minutes left even in good conditions.

On a particularly windy match last month, my last round had to go at the 20 minute timer. Figured a guess was better than a zero.

 

My next practice session I am going to try a idea I someone post on this forum the other day and try hanging my target on its left side having all those little sighter bulls to use. I hope I don't have to, I really prefer sticking to one or two flag conditions but that is a work in progress.

My first Factory 2500 was shot with one sighter and my wind flags were fiberglass poles with a bit of surveyors tape. I had a very prevalent condition and I had a perfect hold from the previous card. The one sighter is a 100 kissing the dot I shot because the rules say you have to

You don't get many days like that , when I do I run em.

 

I usually shoot 8 or 10 sighters before I go for score.. once i start shooting for score i very seldom go back to the sighters.. I just watch where each shot lands if I get 2 or 3 trending one way or another I start compensating for it.. to me every shot sent down range is a sighter .. even though their for score.. but im not a professional benchrest shooter.. and only shoot in local matches..

 

I'm interested in your opinions on this idea. Can flags be too sensitive? I have six flags out and can't really watch them all at once. I know my home made flags are laughably primitive compared to what I see most of you using but I think one advantage they may have is that they don't show every tiny shift. The conditions I want to shoot in are conditions that hold for a while and my slow to react flags have time to stabilize/line up. The down side is that I have to really be on my toes to detect the let up.

Just throwing that out to see what discussion it stimulates. Regardless I think most will agree that flag choice is largely personal and a person really wants to learn their flags.

 

I want to see every tiny shift, especially in the odd times I'm shooting when it's relatively calm like during the last couple cards at the match last Saturday evening. Those tiny changes seemed to make a big difference

 

I hear ya Pat. I keep very close watch of my time and really try to pace my shots so as to use all the time and not be squeezing several into the last seconds. So last night it is going alluringly calm on me and I don't want to shoot. Maybe more sensitive flags would have detected what I wasn't seeing but every time I gave in and shot in the 'calm' I was dangerously high .... which now brings up the possibility of an optical affect ... all of which makes a good case for sighters.

Getting back to the thread topic should get me some points with the resident mod.

 

Would shoot more sighters with sensitive flags or flags that are less sensitive?