Shooting in the cold must be shitty...The Finns do it well of course, they had their shit wired tight in WWII for sure. Expert cold-weather snipers. I think it wold be cool to see snow-sizzle on a hot barrel ...However shooting in -20...Hmm, no fun probably. :)
Every time I go out to shoot long range I always do a cold-bore shot at 1000m and gather the data: temperature, wind, azimuth, MRAD elevation etc. (The DOPE). This is done so I know what my rifles do in a cold-bore situation. If I had to take a shot to kill something I need to know as the point of impact will vary so much depending on conditions.
Hot barrels make for loss of accuracy generally, or so I have found. It also destroys them fairly quickly. I tend not to let mine heat up too much as I don't always have $1500 laying around to buy a new one. :)
The ambient temperature has a huge effect of the FFS (field firing solution) though. I usedensity altitude (DA) in my ballistic calculations which is altitude, humidity and temperature combined into a single figure using an equation and is then factored into the overall calculation. Changes in temperature and humidity have an effect on the DA.
*A DA of 1000m and a range of 1000m requires 8.8MRAD of elevation. A DA of 250m at the same range requires 9.2MRAD of elevation...That's enough of a difference to make the shot miss.
The DA is a figure that indicates that one is shooting in the altitude in that figure. As above, 1000m and 250m above sea level for instance. The lower the altitude the more atmosphere exerts upon the bullet, and so more elevation is required. The higher the altitude the less it affects the bullet and so less elevation is required to arc the bullet into the target.
I find all this stuff incredibly interesting and so would love to shoot in snow to see what happens in a practical sense. Like I said in another comment, I can use StrelokPro to run the data, but it's not as fun.
*Data gathered from StrelokPro based around my 6.5mm Creedmoor with a Sierra 142gr projectile with an MV of 2839fps.
I'm actually familiar with DA. We used it when I was Drag Racing. We had a beautiful wood box with a precision thermometer and humidity gauge in it. We KNEW our altitude (every track is posted) so had a DA to run on a chart for clutch settings and fuel settings. We kept our own chart very secret. We had an incredibly weird guy that was our fuel genius-it gave us an advantage.
I've done a lot of 'cold bore' shooting. Some days hunting you get 1 shot. Some days you don't get any.
Snow is fun for a couple of minutes :) Actually, if the wind wasn't blowing and it was just a gentle snow I sort of liked it. There was a heat bubble around your barrel and the sizzle was another distraction to deal with. You wanted to make sure your hat was pulled down to keep the snowflakes off your glasses....
Ah yeah, I think we spoke about DA and drag racing a while back actually...My memory must be fading. Still, maybe the explanation helps someone that isn't quite as knowledgeable as out out huh? I need to think that otherwise it was a waste of time typing it. :)
I love the cold bore thing...But I'd not want to make a precision shot without knowing what the bullet may do first, not an attempted kill on an animal anyway. Centre-mass POA doesn't always mean it'll go there.
Here's me in the snow...
Ahahahaha. I just read a post from a woman that finds herself in New Hampshire from the Deep South. Her 10 year old had never seen snow so when they got it they were really excited to go out and play. It was a hilarious recitation of how little fun they had :) She's going to open a Cajun restaurant in a New Hampshire ski town. Should be interesting to follow along.
I really like snow. On Christmas cards. :)
Sounds like a good story. That's on hive? Tag her for me and I'll have a look.
Yeah, we went to The Remarkables ski fields in NZ last year.. Was great but...Snow is cold. Just saying. 🙂