Lag time, wind drift and drop . . .
 

Ever wonder why you don't shoot your Parker very good in the wind? Wonder why you don't get good breaks on clay birds with your tight-choked Parker at long range? Do you scratch your head wondering how you missed that duck with your Swamp Angel even though you felt you had the proper lead? . . . could have something to do with lag time, wind drift and drop.

Destry and I saw this work in Ontario when he tried to swat a bird in strong wind and the shot hit way off to one side of a true blue sitting duck. It was pretty impressive.

I suspect the actual drift for us duck hunters is less than shown, given that we are shooting larger shot than the #8 in the chart

There probably would be less drift, but would there be more drop?

My old high school physics is now suspect, but I think the answer is "No, or very minimal" Perhaps drop would be influenced by aerodynamics, but I don't know which shot size would be worse.

Higher maintained velocity would result in less lag time and less drop for large shot. Wind drift would be less because of pellet weight and higher maintained velocity. I don't know why anyone would use #8 shot in an experiment at up to extreme yardage.

And it also depends on what kind of shot you're shooting. In a high wind, steel shot is blown around much more than something heavier. I've seen that fully illustrated, it's bizarre but true.

DLH

Makes me feel better about my Mad Jack scores at Hausmanns

When I shoot steel, I shoot heavy loads of #2 and BB in ten gauge guns. I'm not too concerned with wind drift up to 50 yards, or up to more if the wind isn't blowing too much.

Remember well that the chart starts at "30mph crosswind. That's one heck of a continuous cross wind (unless you live in Wyoming). In most circumstances the wind will not be directly a cross wind. That seldom happens simply based on the law of averages. If your out there in 40-50mph winds, you've got other things to worry about