Applied Ballistics Wind Hack

Any long range shooter knows that wind is our ultimate nemesis. The best ways of overcoming wind
are to measure what we can and use computers to calculate deflection. The Applied Ballistics
Kestrel is a great tool for this. As good as our tools may be, we don't always have them at our
fingertips, or they break, batteries go dead, etc. In these cases, it's nice to have a simple way of
estimating wind based on known variables. There are numerous wind formulas of various complexity.
The AB Wind Hack is about the simplest way to get a rough wind solution. Here it is: You simply add
2 to the first digit of your G7 BC, and divide your drop by this number to get the 10 mph crosswind
deflection. For example, suppose you're shooting a .308 caliber 175 grain bullet with a G7 BC of
0.260 at 1000 yards, and your drop is 37 MOA. For a G7 BC of 0.260, your 'wind number' is 2+2=4.
So your 10 mph wind deflection is your drop (37 MOA) divided by your 'wind number' (4) = 9.25
MOA. This is really close to the actual 9.37 MOA calculated by the ballistic software.
Some caveats: Your drop number has to be from a 100 yard zero. This wind hack is most accurate
for supersonic flight. Within supersonic range, accuracy is typically better than +/-6". You can easily
scale the 10 mph crosswind deflection by the actual wind speed. Wind direction has to be scaled by
the cosine of the angle.
Give the AB wind hack a try to see how it works with your ballistics!