Why Perfect Looking Shots Are Still Misses | Biathlon University

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0:00 Intro
0:20 Consistency is key
0:55 Wind
1:25 Biathlonstocks.com
1:56 Advice 1
2:42 Advice 2
3:08 Advice 3
3:47 Final Tip
In the last video of the Biathlon U series we talked about how to zero your rifle for the day’s conditions. But the underlying theme of the video is consistent practice produces consistent results.
Now there are a lot of things that can contribute to a missed shot: Poor trigger squeeze, imperfect sight alignment, but assuming you executed a consistent performance there was probably some external factor that affected your shot.
These factors can range from anything from a malfunctioning target to a change in your rifle set-up as result of a fall for example.
But more often than not, the reason for the miss is as simple as a change in wind condition.
Now obviously if your rifle is being pushed to the side, it’s pretty obvious wind is the reason for the miss, but consider this:
When you first zero your rifle the wind flag is pushing your shots about two clicks to the left. So you make corrections 2 two the right, then during the race the wind shifts to be pushing to the right, and now you are out of the prone ring.
Now I can’t give you a definitive correlation between strength of wind and corrections needed but here are the main points I focus on when considering whether to take clicks.
So my advice when it comes to taking clicks.
Taking clicks for windage is always relative to where you zeroed. So make sure you take note of wind flags during zero. I’ve seen athletes need to take 4 clicks in zero, then end up taking 4 more clicks during the race because they figured “the flags are blowing, I must need clicks”. But the problem is the flags were no different than in zero and they clicked themselves off the target.
So whenever you take clicks, they should always be relative to what the flags were doing in zero. Especially on a day when the wind is gusty.
The wind will push your rifle more than the bullet, so I recommend using the closer wind flags as your source of information.
Also along these lines, the wind will affect left and right, more than up and down. A head wind or tail wind won't have much effect on the bullet, but a left to right wind can push your rifle off the target.
The third and final thing I’ll say about taking clicks in a race, is remember how far you’ve moved from your zero. In races that feature multiple shooting stages there is a possibility that you will need to take clicks in your first shooting, but not the second. If that’s the case you need to remember to go back to where you started before the first stage.
I'll leave you with one final tip that I tell all my athletes. But before I share this tip, I need you to like this video and subscribe for more biathlon content.
I tell all my athletes that when shooting, if you have two misses, something is wrong, and you need to reset. I tell them this for two reasons: First is if you have more than two misses in a stage, it's extremely hard to come back from 3+ misses. But second, if everything feels good and you’re still missing the target, something is wrong. Maybe the wind picked up, maybe your position is not right. It could even be as crazy as the target is malfunctioning. Regardless, the worst thing you can do is to waste shots by trying to force hits when something isn’t right. Maybe the wind picked up and you had a great group on the left side of the prone ring. A simple look at the wind flags and reset could’ve been the difference between 5 penalties and only 2.

[@blazerprophet]

What I like about these vids is that I'm a newbie fan (about 3 years) and I can understand what he's saying. And knowing some of this makes watching the races more enjoyable.

[@justinhansen1328]

I didn't think about the wind pushing your rifle. Thanks for the knowledge

[@justinhansen1328]

Hey Brian you should do a playthrough and analysis of Biathlon x5

[@wincyfn5406]

amazing vid!

[@johnnyckrock]

If the wind pushes the rifle, wouldn't you see that in your sight picture? I always thought the reason the closer wind flags matter more is because wind closer to the muzzle starts the bullet moving off course sooner?