And please explain it in simple terms.  I’m new at this.  Is wind drift simply a function of time in flight?  And because heavier bullets (of the same caliber) bleed velocity faster, they end up taking less time to get to the target?  Ie, if a 40 grain .224 and 88 grain .224 TAKE THE EXACT SAME TIME TO GET THERE (because of a difference in muzzle velocity), will they drift the same?

Or are there others factors in play?

Never mind

Seriously?

Physics class, ever taken one?

Why is it harder for a breeze to blow a 16 pound bowling ball down the street than a three ounce foam mannequin head used for modelling hats?  They're about the same size and have about the same wind resistance.

momentum = mass × velocity

If Bob and Alice are moving in a straight line at the same speed, Bob's velocity will be less affected by outside forces (assuming Bob weighs more).

mo·men·tum
/mōˈmen(t)əm,məˈmen(t)əm/

noun

1. PHYSICS
the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity.

2. the impetus gained by a moving object.
"the vehicle gained momentum as the road dipped"

.

im·pe·tus
/ˈimpədəs/

noun

the force or energy with which a body moves.
"hit the booster coil before the flywheel loses all its impetus"

the force that makes something happen or happen more quickly.
"the crisis of the 1860s provided the original impetus for the settlements"

Wind drift is a function of the difference in time of flight if the bullet were not to slow down.

Consider a bullet going 3000 ft/s and in a vacuum.  It would take one second for it to travel 3000 ft or 1000 yards.  But, with air, the bullet will slow down and take more time, say 2.5 seconds.  It is this 1.5 second difference that the wind acts on the bullet for calculation purposes.

Better ballistic shapes and usually heavier bullets slow down less, and thus have less wind deflection.

Note:  That 2.5 seconds was pulled from my ass, and may not reflect a real bullet time of flight.  It was just for putting some numbers to the example.

Physics

https://www.accurateshooter.com/ballistics/heavy-bullets-for-long-range/

Force = mass x acceleration

Or rearranged,  acceleration = force / mass.

More mass results in less acceleration for a given force.

heavier IE longer bullets have a better drag coefficient and bleed off speed slower than shorter lighter bullets. I loaded up some 6mmBR bullets when starting reloading, 70 grain and 105 grain bullets with the same powder. the 70 grain hit FEET lower than the 105.

Had to go back and refresh my reading of Litz. The fundamental component of the wind drift equation is somthing called Lag time. Lag time is the difference between time of flight (TOF) to the target and TOF to the target in a vacuum. Those two components of Lag Time have a driver of muzzle velocity (for TOFv) and ballistic coefficient (for TOF).

In your example, the two are launched at different muzzle velocity, so the TOF in a vacuum will be different.

Fundamentally, regardless of size, shape or weight, bullets with the same BC, will have the same TOF if they are launched at the same muzzle velocity. They will also have the same wind drift.

If you like this stuff and are enough of a ballistics nerd that you like to plug in numbers to formulas, you should get a copy of Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting 3rd Edition(2015) by Bryan Litz.

HTH,

B

Forgot to add the formula and definitions:

Full Value Wind Deflection = Tlag * 1.467 feet/sec. * wind velocity in fps * 12 (unit conversion to inches)

tof..............time of flight
tofv............vacuum time of flight (seconds)
Tlag...........lag time in seconds
mv.............muzzle velocity
Wd.............wind deflection (feet)
Ws.............wind speed (fps)

1 mile 5280'
1 mph5280feet/hour1.467feet/second17.6inches/second

Min./hour60
Sec./min60
Sec./hour3600

tof from ballistics program
Tlagtof - tofv
tofvRange in feet/mv

Answer: Because the heavier bullet usually has the better BC. The actual weight matters not one bit... only the BC matters.

Bullet initial velocity, air density altitude, and BC are the ONLY things that matter for drop and drift, all else being equal. Bullet weight, caliber, sectional density, temperature, humidity, altitude, ... none of those really matters at all by themselves. If the big 3 are the same, the results are the same.