Cold and Warm weather ammo

B

bigredplane

New member
I think we all know that some ammo shoot's better in warm weather, and some will shoot better in colder weather. I've seen this in my own guns. What I'm wondering is does anybody now why or have a theory why? If a person is looking for colder temperature ammo is there a particular characteristics. Like faster slower, brand or what, or does it varies gun to gun. Any ideas or facts? As you my see I'm having trouble finding some ammo that shoot's in the colder temps like 60 and below.

Scott
 
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Do not know about 60 deg as that is a heat wave 1/2 the time. Mostly go to a higher velocity rated as the temps sink. The velocity tends to fall off as the temps go down. Might try Biathlon ( if I spelled that right) supposed to be less temp sensitive.
 
I shot on the last day of 2010.

I shot two 25 shot USBR cards using Blathalon EPS. Temp was about 40 deg.

First target was 13x's and second I had to fight and ended up w/ 8x's. The ammo sat out on the bench from just before starting the first target till finished. I have since wondered if I should have kept one box of ammo in an inside pocket thru the first target??

Have to try that sometime in Apr. Im not sure I can get into the range now-about 10" snow in the last 10 days. Temp has been low.
 
I remember reading a small document on rimfire ammo. It was posted on one of the rimfire forums. I will try to find that link. It talked about the humidity,temp, and ammo speed. If I can just find the article ......Ballard shooter Well ,I found a article from this forum. It is one by Bob Collins... Eley by the numbers. I will keep looking
 
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We shoot every Thursday at our Club and shoot from the bench. I have been shooting a particularly good lot of Eley Pistol Xtra but was getting an occasional low shot during the summer.

The first cold match (100 yards) I shot with this ammo I kept the ammo warm in a small ice chest using hand warmers - I got the same good results AND the same occasional low impact.

Next and subsequent matches I have just put the ammo out and let it do whatever it wanted to do temperature wise. The first match using this method was a 1600 point prone match outdoors. I shot a clean at 50 yards on 20x5 shot targets with NO low impacts. (When we went to 100 yards I switched to Tennex as I was still not sure of this ammo)

The next and subsequent matches have been all at 100 yards and still no occasional low shots when I let the ammo cool to ambient temperature sitting on the concrete bench.

So, I am thinking that letting the ammo cool to ambient temperature just may be a good thing. And that is my take on it and Eley Pistol Xtra EPS ammo. I am aware of the change in viscosity of the bullet lube and that it is the norm to see large swings in what works as the temperature cools (or warms). It just stands to reason that stiffer lube will affect the target results of the ammo. BUT this has been my experience and I thought I would throw it out to you guys that are way more experienced than I and are shooting a infinitely more technically demanding sport that I.

Good shooting and stay warm and dry,

George
 
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