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Shooting in the snow


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In my region of the U.S snow isn't really something we get , like seriously it's not uncommon to see folks walking around in n shorts and t-shirts around Christmas but for some reason it's been snowing for the last few days.  And in the south when it snows eveything just locks down . So since I can't really go anywhere decided to break out the .22 and have some target practice in the yard since I've never really shot in the snow. Well I gotta say it sucked ??

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I've slept top of a tank in -1 night in the desert and gotta say this is worse lol 19degrees F and 90% humidity create more of a solid sheet if ice with a little layer of power than legit snow. And it's a wet cold that sticks to you not like a dry cold ? Anyhow after about 30min of freezing   managed to get two groups before I completely lost feeling in digits. Tried shooting out to 100yd but just couldn't get the wind down before I ran outta light

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Just some little 30rd groups with bulk ammo nothing fancy. Anyhow figured I'd share as I'm sure somone will get a laugh outta this ??

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Put your skiis in a V shape let yourself fall forward while keeping the muzzle a little high so you dont get snow in it, then you hit the snow you are hopefully in a shooting position and can fire on the target hold your elobows and knees firmly in the snow to get a firm position. If you get snow in your rifle the barrel may blow up or jam the mechanics.

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Beastly snow.  Down this far south we hardly get any and if we do get a bit, it's generally gone in a couple of hours.  It snowed for about 2 days the other week but it fell as sort of sleet slush stuff and didn't make much more than about half an inch. I can't say that I've ever gone out rifle testing laying down in the snow but been out foxing in the snow. I've found that it is pretty much a waste of time trying to shoot in the snow with a lamp when the snow is falling.  Different thing with a shotgun such as roosting ect. I was surprised at the narrowness of a shotgun pattern when a rabbit shown in the snow.  Roll on global warming.

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16 hours ago, Wolfdog91 said:

In my region of the U.S snow isn't really something we get , like seriously it's not uncommon to see folks walking around in n shorts and t-shirts around Christmas but for some reason it's been snowing for the last few days.  And in the south when it snows eveything just locks down . So since I can't really go anywhere decided to break out the .22 and have some target practice in the yard since I've never really shot in the snow. Well I gotta say it sucked ??

FB_IMG_1613527330448.jpg.29c65a3a2a00bb0b31307ddd20db4923.jpg

I've slept top of a tank in -1 night in the desert and gotta say this is worse lol 19degrees F and 90% humidity create more of a solid sheet if ice with a little layer of power than legit snow. And it's a wet cold that sticks to you not like a dry cold ? Anyhow after about 30min of freezing   managed to get two groups before I completely lost feeling in digits. Tried shooting out to 100yd but just couldn't get the wind down before I ran outta light

IMG_20210216_202144857.jpg.e159ff1e0ab56cf9329041b91bde2eea.jpg

Just some little 30rd groups with bulk ammo nothing fancy. Anyhow figured I'd share as I'm sure somone will get a laugh outta this ??

Those groups are tighter than the other previous groups. I used to use targets like those but I  changed over to using simple orange target dots about an inch in diameter on the back of old plain wallpaper. I drove two stakes into the ground and cut pieces off about 2 feet long and stapled the paper to the stakes.   These wallpaper targets could be written on and taken along to many days of tests and the results compared on the one shèet.  I stopped using those targets with all the box grid lines   because the lines get confused with the bullet holes.  The Orange dot was the target and at 100 paces I  could see the holes through the spotting scope.  It doesn't matter how far out you are or how big the group is because the objective was to produce bullets that would all land on the Orange dot. The loads were adjusted to get the five shots on the dot at 100 paces.  This had to be set in conjunction with a good velocity to be effective.  For my 223 load I used a #1390 Sierra gamking bthp driven by H4895 to a velocity of 3450 fps.  This load was hot and hard, but it could be relied on to be reliably accurate and terminally effective out to 300 paces.

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16 minutes ago, Meece said:

Those groups are tighter than the other previous groups. I used to use targets like those but I  changed over to using simple orange target dots about an inch in diameter on the back of old plain wallpaper. I drove two stakes into the ground and cut pieces off about 2 feet long and stapled the paper to the stakes.   These wallpaper targets could be written on and taken along to many days of tests and the results compared on the one shèet.  I stopped using those targets with all the box grid lines   because the lines get confused with the bullet holes.  The Orange dot was the target and at 100 paces I  could see the holes through the spotting scope.  It doesn't matter how far out you are or how big the group is because the objective was to produce bullets that would all land on the Orange dot. The loads were adjusted to get the five shots on the dot at 100 paces.  This had to be set in conjunction with a good velocity to be effective.  For my 223 load I used a #1390 Sierra gamking bthp driven by H4895 to a velocity of 3450 fps.  This load was hot and hard, but it could be relied on to be reliably accurate and terminally effective out to 300 paces.

Ahhhr 4895 ?

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We never get snow, although it has snowed lots, living 200 yards off the Atlantic, it never settles. Even @-12c last week, just too much salt, animal water butt's were 4" thick of ice though, couldn't make it up ? 

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52 minutes ago, Gav said:

We never get snow, although it has snowed lots, living 200 yards off the Atlantic, it never settles. Even @-12c last week, just too much salt, animal water butt's were 4" thick of ice though, couldn't make it up ? 

I wonder  now what temp sea water does freeze?

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1 hour ago, Sausagedog said:

Ahhhr 4895 ?

4895, 4895, 4895, 4895, 4895, 4895. Oh how we loved it.  How we miss it's  passing.  Still I've got a bit laid by.  I ain't got my back against the wall but 4895 developed a high energy which isn't  matched by comparable burn speeds.  H4895 has a very high specific energy rating for a single-base powder, at 4,060 KJ / Kg which isn't matched by comparable burn speed powders.  Still I  built this load so I'm sure I can assemble another match given time, money and effort.  I think Wilson does Lovex  powders which might be similar.

sea water freezes at about -2○C  ...Google.?

Edited by Meece
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2 hours ago, Sausagedog said:

I wonder  now what temp sea water does freeze?

I'm pretty sure it's bloody cold, I've not seen any icebergs, and I've seen air temp as low as - 25c here, but then again I'm not the lookout on the titanic......... Am I? ?

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2 hours ago, Meece said:

4895, 4895, 4895, 4895, 4895, 4895. Oh how we loved it.  How we miss it's  passing.  Still I've got a bit laid by.  I ain't got my back against the wall but 4895 developed a high energy which isn't  matched by comparable burn speeds.  H4895 has a very high specific energy rating for a single-base powder, at 4,060 KJ / Kg which isn't matched by comparable burn speed powders.  Still I  built this load so I'm sure I can assemble another match given time, money and effort.  I think Wilson does Lovex  powders which might be similar.

sea water freezes at about -2○C  ...Google.?

4895 was a wonderful powder indeed. 

Sea temp here varies between 8c and 6c all year, a big body of water rarely varies, I use a floatation suit when out, puts my survial rate up from 15 mins to 2 hours if I end up overboard, canny swim so is a bonus too ? 

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