Cold Weather Shooting

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Castaway
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Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:54 pm
Location: Dade City, Fl

Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Castaway »

Does cold weather significantly affect bullet point of impact? Headed to Colorado in October, camping, and will try and shoot an elk. Ammunition temperature will be what ever the local conditions are. A lot of questions can be answered by actual shooting, but living and shooting in Florida, I can’t simulate temps in the teens. Yes, I know upon arrival I can shoot and see what happens, but if temps are in 40’s-50’s when I get there and the next morning it’s somewhere between Siberia and Point Barrow, Alaska, what can I expect with original powder?
John Bly
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by John Bly »

I've shot in temps in the low 30's and I had to come up as much as 4 minutes from my normal settings with the same load in the summer.
"Perfection consists not so much in doing extraordinary things as in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well"
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Lumpy Grits
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Lumpy Grits »

Temperature and altitude with relative humidity all come into play.
That's why you check your 'zero' when you get there.
Gary
"Hav'n you along, is like loose'n two good men"
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desert deuce
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Location: Rio Rico, Arizona

Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by desert deuce »

I am from Florida, currently live in Southern Arizona and hunt elk on the North & South Rims of the Grand Canyon in December.

Have left home at 92F and woke up the next morning near Tusayan 3F, ten inches of snow on the ground and tires on truck frozen in the ruts. Have also successfully elk hunted Colorado & New Mexico. What have I learned?

#1.- ALWAYS, take a back up rifle. Like laminated stocks well bedded. Regular wood stocks OK if well bedded. Have had more trouble with scopes
going haywire than rifles changing zero, both times it was a different Leupold VX-III.

#2.- If possible, check rifle zero on target when arriving at the hunt area. Tape muzzle to keep out stuff from muzzle.

#3.- Expect to have an adjustment period for breathing when going essentially from sea level to 7,000+ feet elevation. Usually at least 3 days.

#4.- Good binocular and rangefinder worth their weight in gold.

The rest is pretty much academic.
Sometimes you get the chicken, and sometimes you get the feathers!
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kenny sd
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by kenny sd »

Cold??? what 's that. Venice FL.
my problem is the sweat running in my eyes while I'm trying to see the little black bouncing ball in front of the rifle.

every area has it's problems. Ken
Glen Ring
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Glen Ring »

We have very humid days here and our rifles stay pretty clean...but travel to Raton on a very low humidity day and things change. Jeanne's favorite 40-65 gets finicky and we need to clean it more often. My 45-70 doesn't seem to be as bad when we do the change, but our sight settings are different. In my mid 60's now I do feel the change in altitude and it takes me longer to acclimate .

i shot year round when younger...Now I don't like cold weather as much.
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BFD
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by BFD »

My sight settings from humid, even wet Wisconsin to dry Raton, from 700 ft elevation to 6500 ft elevation. All the way to 1000 yds. I just don't see much difference.
George Babits
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by George Babits »

If you are shooting smokless powder in a black powder cartridge, cold weather will really give you some surprises. I had a really nice load worked up using 3031 in my 45-70. Very good in warm weather, but made shotgun patterns below 25 degrees. Since most of my hunting is in colder weather, I went back to a duplex/black powder load. Much more tolerant of cold temperatures. Straight black powder is even better. With black powder cartridges I wouldn't be very concerned about things like humidity changes and altitude, because hunting isn't like long range shooting.

George
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trapper
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by trapper »

I live out on the plains in Montana 3000ft and hunt in the mountains 6000ft. I have shot at 100 degrees and at -10 degrees with my hunting load. There is very little POI at hunting ranges. I try not to take game any farther than about 200 yards.I shoot strictly blackpowder and pp loads.
Trapper
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desert deuce
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by desert deuce »

I presumed since Castaway did not specifically say he was shooting black powder cartridge rifle I answered for a smokeless powder rifle. Still not certain OP meant Black Powder.
Sometimes you get the chicken, and sometimes you get the feathers!
Castaway
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Castaway »

45-70, 68 grains of Olde Eynsford under a 560 grain bullet form a 30” barrel
Castaway
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Castaway »

My bad; I assumed since this was a Black Powder forum and the cryptic “original” powder reference in the initial post it would have been assumed I was talking about black powder. Clear communication is a difficult thing
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Don McDowell
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Don McDowell »

Mother nature always has her moments in October, but poi of your bullet will be the least of your worries.
I would suggest if you're hunting west of I 25 getting there 2 or 3 days early to get accustom to the lack of oxygen. Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake to avoid altitude sickness.
Bring clothing prepared for anything from 80 and sunny to below zero and white out conditions.
AKA Donny Ray Rockslinger :?
bobw
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by bobw »

Castaway wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:31 am My bad; I assumed since this was a Black Powder forum and the cryptic “original” powder reference in the initial post it would have been assumed I was talking about black powder. Clear communication is a difficult thing
I worked 35 years in the geo technical and civil engineering fields. The 1st thing engineers teach you is that assume means ASS U ME. That definition works pretty good in bp loading and shooting hobbies. Never assume anything especially so on this forum. Good luck and no I won't assume you will have it.
Bobw
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Castaway
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Re: Cold Weather Shooting

Post by Castaway »

There’s the apocryphal story from days gone by of how to bury radioactive waste and warn any one that found the barrels in the future to not open them. Someone suggested since in 20,000 years, English may be a dead language and any warnings on the barrels of waste wouldn’t be heeded. A bright person then suggested drawing a series cartoon characters showing a person finding a barrel, opening it and then showing a skeleton. Seemed to be a simple but effective way of getting a message across until the question was asked, “What if, in 20,000 years, they read from right to left?”
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