A long time ago I realized that I had choices to make and those choices would follow me for the rest of my life. I have applied the best knowledge and understanding that I gained from experience and others. Never has it been the intent of MTC to copy any existing design as our focus is, and has always been on the evolution of performance and improvement. There are always betters way and it takes strong desire, determination, and persecute to accomplish just a few of these goals, but the effort is worth it and rewarding. Just when we think something can’t be improved, it can. For those that offer copies of wind flags and do not explore every situation are doing a disservice to the sport. We will not understand the capability until it is challenged. I’ve made a few mistakes over the years, but I never stopped trying to correct them.
I don’t have answers to all the questions that arise from attempting to analyze and understand the operation of wind flags. It appears there are several obvious, reasonable, simple logical areas that can be and should be investigated. MTC is attempting to understand each in an effort to make our wind flags, bubble levels, stand levelers and measuring tools perform better. What is amazing to me is that there are so many variations of the same things. Perhaps it’s just evolution. Some even claim that theirs are copied, but they all look similar to me. I guess it’s a tribute to the ingenuity of people looking for that better mousetrap. It does, however, provide us with the opportunity to make personal choices and perhaps history has stolen all our ideas anyway.
Target shooting is an expensive and potentially rewarding sport, but any compromise will eventually result in disappointment and the potential abandonment of the sport. Considering the time, cost of equipment and preparation, entry fees, travel, and potential loss disappointment, winning will make it all worth it.
MTC has endeavored to place performance and quality above the cost and time required for manufacturing. When comparing the cost of wind reading tools to other expense they are a minor one-time investment. Everything acquired to obtain maximum accuracy performance is related to perfection and control. Not addressing the wind’s impact upon your personal success is destined for disappointment. A good wind flag cost less than filling up my Chevy Diesel One Ton and that lasts about a week and a half. Hopefully, your MTC products will last much longer.
Just my Opinion:
If you are expecting a wind flag to identify every wind condition, it cannot due to the basic design. Upward and downward wind energy is not available as is crossing wind impact. All of these are equally important as direction. But the wind flag is the first essential tool we have for understanding the wind. Several tools are available for those situations that the wind flag is incapable of, but none can replace the basic wind flag.
Daisy Wheels are not offered or recommended. They have a tendency to be distracting and only indicate when the wind changes with no displayed or calibrated intensity. Large, heavy Daisy Wheels perform as flywheels or gyro’s attempting to resist direction change and attempting to stabilize the position of the flag. They are slow to start and slow to stop. An unbalanced Daisy Wheel will cause the flag to shake and jitter. Amazon has a 12″ Daisy Wheel ( looks a lot like the ones used on several wind flags ) and they advertise it “Vibrates”. I believe Daisy Wheels offer some comfort if they are moving. But a streamer is much more sensitive and can also be deceiving as the wind lifts it and gravity pulls it down. A streamer may display wind movement, but what about the crossing wind energy? If a streamer is reacting to the wind and not moving in a direct line with the flag, something else is going on. Sailcloth is slower to react and has a neutralizing effect on twitching. If this is true than the Sailcloth streamer has much control of the flag.
Some think a Daisy Wheel or propeller can take a hit and still work. And others think a broken Daisy Wheel can be rebalanced or continued to be used by removing a blade from the opposite side. I don’t understand this approach. An unbalanced Wind Flag will shake and create energy directly opposing its accuracy ability to react to the true wind energy. If we are to expect a Wind Flag to provide accurate information, we must give it every opportunity.
Propellers or Pin Wheels offer similar traits as Daisy Wheels, but usually much lighter. They react quicker, but all disturb clean air from reaching the tail. This rotary action stirs up and swirls the wind before it can get to the tail. Perhaps also contributing to the shaking of a very sensitivity and lightweight flag. If they are used they should be balanced. If you really need a Daisy Wheel or propeller, there are usually several neighbors using them. Those are also good indicators of “Whats Comming”.
You should not be surprised by these actions, observe carefully how the different types of wind flags react. Many have unique characteristics and there are reasons for all of them. It is to your advantage to understand what your wind flag is most comfortable doing and if it is what you need.
Extensive testing related to a streamer of differing lengths and placement resulted in major fluences on the performance of the flag. Usually, the streamer had some negative effects on accuracy, such as the inability to maintain balance, creating overly searching activity, shaking and having more control than the tail. The placement of the streamer was also a minor factor, high or low attachment caused twisting energy to be placed on the tail. The longer, wider or heavier streamer had more impact. This type of streamer requires more time to change directions, relaying useful information only after it has already passed. If a streamer is used it performed better when attached at the center or in line with the main shaft of the flag. Our best results were when the streamer was attached away from the tail allowing the tail to respond independently and directly to the wind without being influenced by the streamer. Our independent streamer attachment will react quicker than any Daisy Wheel, Propeller or pinwheel.
We must have some indicator to display wind activity. A flag left still with the Daisy Wheel, propeller or streamer not moving opens up several questions. Is the flag just at rest pointing toward its last active direction or its unbalanced comfortable position or is it in between movement, could the wind be so soft the flag can’t react? Some think these things are not important, but MTC does and equally as much as that .001 of an inch at a match. I may be picking fly popo out of pepper, but how long has the bench rest records lasted?
Efforts to determine the winds energy and impact on any projectile by attempting to estimate the angle or size shape of the tail is difficult and not very precise. The intensity of the wind originating from an angle other than directly across the target requires a lot of guessing. Some call it applying percentages, but the wind intensity is all-important to any calculation. MTC offers tools specifically designed for determining horizontal-cross and verticle up-down wind movement. What is important is how much energy is being placed on the bullet and where it’s coming from within a very short moment of time. Our Cross Wind Tracker displays numbers instead of dots as MTC believes they are more precise and easier to interpret and remember. Miles per hour indicator are irrelevant as they provide nothing more than what a reference number can.
Everything related to reacting and understand the wind should be balanced and unrestricted. Unkown or inconsistent setups will immediately result in “Guessing”. For a sport that requires absolute control of every aspect, this should not be acceptable.
After making a few and later purchasing a dual tailed wind flag I was not able to find any significant advantage. Usually one of the tails shielded the other tail from receiving any wind. Attempts to reduce the weight resulted in overly active actions (they went crazy and unable to decipher). Only a streamer would slow it down. Perhaps the streamer was more in control than the dual tails. Excessive movement and extreme sensitivity are not always the most desirable or easy to interpret. Changing the pivot point and balance had a negative effect. I was only able to achieve overreaction with a lot of searching movement. I prefer accurate performance and controlled, understandable the flags sensitivity. Our testing resulted in a well designed single-tailed wind flag will perform equally and in most cases better than a dual tailed wind flag. Perhaps that is why they are not the predominant type used today.
Please consider reviewing the sub-menus listed below this section as they are some of the reasons for the design concepts of MTC products
I take full credit for my comments and opinions, realizing everyone may not agree with me, but understand it is my attempt to make MTC products better for all of us. These thoughts and analysis are the results of over twenty-four (24) years of competitive target shooting. If I have provided a little insight into the understanding and questions you should be asking when procuring or using them I have accomplished my objective. I hope you will review the “Offering” section and perhaps appreciate the extra thoughts and manufacturing effort put into each.