Very glad to hear she's up and getting out and about. Sounds like a perfect weekend to me! I may get out a bit too.. One of the last weekends of decent weather we are likely to have before the next winter cold snap. Another 3-4 inches of snow supposedly coming our way next Monday night.
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I've never shot in snow although competed in a long range practical competition in below zero conditions which was a challenge. It would be interesting to see how the cold affects the shots, my performance etc. Of course I can run ballistics on StrelokPro, but I think it wold be cool to test myself also.
I think you better get out there, once that snow hits you'll be slurping soup whilst sitting under a blanket in front of the fire...Same as me...But the opposite, the heat. That's why we're getting out this weekend. Shooting when it's 40+ is not fun.
I've never heated up a rifle with multiple rounds in really cold weather to see the effect the generated heat has on sighting, but I have stood on a trap line down to -20 (which works for C and F) and 50 rounds gives you an interesting sight plane. Snow sizzling on the barrel is interesting, too.
Because we had a huge regional tournament every winter. 8 weeks with over 50 trap clubs participating, the best 5 shooters at each club scored for the team every week. So you stood out there and took your lumps every Sunday.
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. 🙂