Hi Chris, I'm not so sure about being a "wise one" but I'll give it a crack.

It's fine to get a tip from a local on which flag is the most predictable to read or which is the predominant wind direction etc... and that will give you a starting point, but I believe that you have to trust your own instincts once you start on a target. To do that, you have to practice and get a good "feel" for how much a pick up on a certain flag is going to push your bullet. Trying to watch the flags, then trying to remember what someone told you about how to interpret which flag can get very confusing.

Hope this helps.

Maybe someone else has a different take on this.

Hi Chris,

I’m not an expert but I have had mixed results over the years. 

From my personal experience I have found that each range has there own unique characteristics. A example that comes to mind was last year at Canberra during Australia Day the conditions were what I thought were fair and readable, during the Nationals those exact conditions gave me hell making me question exactly what I was doing. A after thought during my drive home thinking how the preparation did not execute the way I had planned, this got me thinking about the time of year. So during Australia Day the conditions are of the summer period and in at Easter it was the autumn period March/April the whole atmosphere is different. The temperature is lower on a whole, the wind has a change and the atmosphere pressures are different. From your original post this had me watching different parts of the range then I had done a few months prior favouring a different condition completely.

This is definitely something I will be watching a lot more in the future. 

Without doubt, wind and condition reading are the hardest things to learn in benchrest shooting. You will only learn it by practice. There are a few basics such as knowing that should the closer in flags change then it will have a bigger impact on your target. A small movement at 25 yards can make a big difference at 100 and so on. Don't just look at one or two flags, rather pick a condition comprising of a group of flags. Quite often a 'condition' will keep reappearing during the 7 minutes that matter. Belmont range is a classic for this. Canberra being a big open range will usually have either a left or right condition happening - yeah sometimes it blows straight down range but rarely in my experience. Pick which one you want to shoot and then watch carefully. Don't fight a condition because you will never win. Mirage can be bad at Canberra, but it is your friend. Often the mirage pattern will shift before the flags do, and remember that mirage is blown around by the wind. If you are shooting with a left to right mirage running, and it stops, then you had better stop. Most times at 200 yards I don't pay much attention to the flags but read the mirage - especially at Canberra. Like I said earlier, it's all a matter of practice and recognising when to shoot and when to stop. The more you shoot the easier it will become to recognise the signs that matter.

Wind reading is a personal evaluation of what you see on the target. When you are considering what conditions have the most effect on your load then the shooter must fire a shot on the target and receive information back that he or she is reading the condition, there is no particular flag to read or row.

Mirage has a big part in short range shooting and to have your scope focused on the mirage causing you the most effect is challenging for new shooters. 

Conditions travel in and out of parameters like a sine wave it is up to the shooter to choose when to shoot and more importantly when to stop. You have to shoot with both eye's open and train your eyes to swap focus at will. 

To be able to consistently learn from wind and build skill set up you have to make sure your rifle and set up and your ability to get accurate shots off in whatever time you have identified as your condition stabilises for.

There are two main ways to shoot a condition - 

Pick the condition fire 1 or 2 shots evaluate then continue 

Run a condition time the condition on your timer if the condition looks consistent for 10- 12 seconds then this is how long you have to fire your string.

Being able to shoot in the wind relies heavily in how you set your rifle up and where you have your gear laid out on the bench for instance. I set my gear up exactly the same every time, string ammo in the holder sighters in the box on the left-hand side, timer on the left at the end of the bench so I can see the time clearly whilst aiming on the stock or firing. 

Even the way you crowed the rifle has an impact on your ability to view flags and thus gather condition information. 

Benchrest shooting is very very lucky with flags and where you place them is so important. 

good shooting to all 

Les