oh my Mike,   Have you been to Etna Green yet? You really need to visit sometime. I don't know about other ranges but there we have 45 firing positions and  about 3/4 of the guys have flags, spinners, whirlygigs, wind probes, elephant condoms, and other wierd stuff. Most of us have 3 or 4 of them out there.   See, I think its a matter of the weather, most of us here in the upper midwest don't get to shoot much during the winter, other than guys who have indoor gallery leagues; so after the bullets are cast, stocks refinished etc etc there is time on our hands.  And you know what they say about idle hands, in this case the devil makes us concoct more and more elaborate wind sensing devices.
Come to think of it it might make a fun topic for an article in the Journal.

Now maybe somebody who knows what they are talking about will give you a serious fact filled answer.

at the far left scroll down to windmills and check it out

rafter-7

Mike, at our 600yd range, we use a 4 foot piece of surveyor's tape.  It's tied to a light piece of monofilament.  Then a loop is tied at the end of the mono, connected to the brass snap and raised up the poles at  0 - 300 and 600yds

When it's straight out, pull out your Bible and start praying!

Mike:

For long and mid range I  have settled on the whirlygig sold by Pioneer Products. It is the finest quality whirlygig I have ever seen and the folks at Pioneer are top shelf people.

Whirly gigs are not as responsive as simpler wind flag and less than ideal (IMO) for bench shooting. Howsomever, the real advantage to a WG in long range is that you can hear it. When you are prone and in the rifle you cannot see your flag but you can hear changes in wind speed.

Pioneer Products:  937-839-4363


Glenn Fewless

Mike,

    I have found that my best and most effective strategy is to go to a well attended match where a lot of folks have all kinds of high end and fancy wind measuring equipment and watch theirs surreptitiously!  
I particularly like to sit near someone with one (or more) of the "wind probes" mentioned by Dale, and a couple of the long tailed flags help as well.  Then again, the daisy wheels and the ones that look kinda like a box kite all have their place...preferably where I can see them easily!  

    All kidding aside, I find that it helps to look at the wind indicators, of whatever sort, at a variety of ranges, since the wind up close to you is not necessarily as that found 100 or 200 yds downrange.  I especially watch what is going on at irregularities in the ground, like that 100 yd berm I shoot over on my way to 200 yards!  

    Finally, I find that having a good selection of excuses prepared in advance saves time when I need to explain the occasional wide shot.  

HTH, Froggie

I prefer to use wind socks they are one dimensional and give you direction and wind speed with one look. Mine are made out of the cheapest clear white garbage bags money can buy which means they are light weight, possess the right wind sensitivity and are very inexpensive.  They are constructed with the use of scotch tape which holds up to the all the elements without any problems. They are fixed (scotch taped) to rings cut out of one gallon plastic paint cans which give you the perfect diameter and are thirty six inches in length. I use a stainless steel pin that runs all the way through the plastic ring that rides on a ball bearing located inside the top of my flag stand.

Keep in mind "NO" Electronic Wind Flags!!!!!!!!!!