Humidity.......The rest of the story

sbindy

Steve B
For most people, the term "Humidity" should equate to how much water is in the air. In real practice, that's just not the case. Making tuning calculations based on Humidity can give you misleading results because Humidity only gives you a vague idea of how much water is in the air, and just how dense the air actually is.

I worked in Professional Drag Racing for 15 years, and each team had a weather station in their trailer that gave constant updates as to the changing conditions. One of the variables that we used every single run was the "Grains of Water per/lb.". That told just how much water was in the air, and we would adjust our timing advance to compensate, along with the blower overdrive, compression, and nitro percentage to adjust for the temp change and the density altitude.

http://www.wallaceracing.com/adi.php
This link will allow you to put in the Temperature, Pressure, and Humidity to give you a Density Altitude and Grains of Water measurement. The Grains will range from a Low of 0, and a High of 160. In all my years of racing, even under the best of conditions I dont think I ever saw it at less than 10, and only ever saw it over 160 once, and you didnt want to be anywhere outside when it was that bad out.

50% Humidity doesn't sound that bad, so put these numbers in.....29.02 pressure, 90 degrees, and 50% Humidity. Those were the conditions today at the race in Norwalk Ohio. Then put in 92 degrees, 28.98 pressure, and 63% Humidity and compare the numbers. In case you dont want to go to the site and figure it, here's the answers. The difference in Density Altitude between the 2 is just over 200ft., and the Grains of Water went from 141 to 148, which really isnt that much of a change, but most people would think a 13% change in Humidity is a sizeable amount. Thats why Humidity alone is misleading.

What these numbers will mean to the changes you make in the tune of your rifle, only you will be able to figure out by comparing the changes in conditions, the changes you make, and the results you get. However, once you get a handle on the trends and get repeatable results, you will be able to use them anywhere.
 
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Interestingly, I had a very similar conversation about temp/humidity/pressure/DA and drag racing with Mike Ratigan recently at the East/West in St. Louis. I've always found that temperature is much more important to the tune than humidity.
 
I doubt terms applied to racing apply directly to internal ballistics.
We don't include air, or it's water content, in our combustion.
We don't care about altitude, DA, RH, or pressure, separately, but about AIR DENSITY and TEMPERATURE of components.
In a stretch, RH and temperature affect MACH, which affects bullet stability. But I doubt anyone adjusts for stability from one competing condition to another.
 
The topic concerned External ballistics, but then you knew that....................
And with all the talk about Humidity and Altitude and how it can affect groups, it seems someone is concerned about it.
 
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sbindy I am extremely interested "In The Rest Of The Story" and I want to personally thank you for taking the time out of your day to share it if for no other than myself.

J.Louis
 
Good info....Thank You....... also.....powder will absorb some humidity.....this changes things when measuring by volume....
bill larson
 
"However, once you get a handle on the trends and get repeatable results, you will be able to use them anywhere."

which, I believe, will lead you to be able to predict where the powder measure or tuner needs to be before you fire a group.

Stanley
 
Thank you for the posting sbindy. It was a very interesting read. I shot this morning, just outside of New Orleans with some fellas. Normally it is humid there, but this was like being in a horror show! The gauge said 98%!
I had some left over loads I wanted to burn up (27.5grs of 133, 66 ultras). Now, I expect it to be different, but my goodness! Last week in N. Alabama that load shot in the teens. The 8 rounds I had left in New Orleans shot an inch! Embarrassed to say, and no it wasnt the Scotch from last night!
Anyway, thanks again.

Scotsman1
 
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