Shooting in the rain

[ovenpaa]

I have been shooting in the rain recently, a lot of rain in fact, a couple of times I could no longer see the frames at 600m. It is a plastic rifle (Accuracy International) so I am not so concerned with rain however add the wind and the sand flying around and on occasion the rifle looks like it has been in a sand pit. A couple of times I have had magazines that were hard to insert and this is usually the chance to stop and clean the magazine well, chamber and bolt and then shoot again.

Accuracy with AMA 7,62x51 has been typically under one MOA for the duration which given the conditions here is keeping me very happy indeed however I keep putting off shooting the S&L in such conditions. I just cannot bring myself to shoot it in torrential rain.

So my question is do you change anything when shooting in heavy rain, such as an extended tube on the front to stop the objective getting wet or put a towel over the 'scope and at what point do you say enough and stop shooting? I am interested in all comments including those with a professional interest, both with shooting plastic rifles and wood stocked things.

As an aside, Christel has some yellow tinted shooting glasses, now I am never a fan of such things but given the rain and wet chamber/ammunition have started to wear them and I am impressed with the difference they make, the frame is a visibly brighter white and the target which is 5" diameter seems to stand out more. In fact I am so impressed I may well hunt down a set for myself. At just under a tenner they are certainly an asset.

[Dougan]

I'm glad you've asked this, as I'm not sure my self , and was thinking of posting the same question weeks ago...

I was led to believe that there were 2 problems with shooting in the rain:

1, that water in the chamber can raise pressures. At best altering accuracy, and at worst being possibly dangerous - I have an Enfield conversion, and there has been some talk in the past that there have been several action failiers in wet conditions (possibly excasabated by hot home loads). For this reason I don't shoot it in the wet, so am trading it in for a Swing - I want to shoot in the Imperial at some point, and if it rains you just have to bear it.....

2, that for TR type rifles, with free-floating barrels, it is bad for the beddings.

I too would be grateful for advice on this issue for both TR and plastic rifles - as I was considering getting something 'plasic' ( even though it's wrong :P ) for wet-weather shooting...which seems to be becoming a more common event for British summers....

[Gun Pimp]

If you live in the UK and you enter comps., you will shoot in the rain - regularly!

The top F Class guys have got it off to a 'T' with either a towel thrown over the scope, action and magazine or a piece of clear plastic doing the same job. I use a towel.

However, in last year's F Class Europeans at Bisley, my detail suffered a downpour at 800 yds. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping everything dry but I still blew a primer - which I showed to the RO - hinting that we should stand down. We didn't. Neither were my shots adversely affected.

Pressure can clearly be raised by water in the chamber but by how much, I don't know. Could it become more dangerous than simply blowing a primer? Most rifles will stand the odd blown primer but after how many 'overloads' could it become dangerous. Primers are not usually blown in proof-testing (though it's not uncommon!) so a blown primer could indicate a serious overload.

The other problem is of course the effect on your shots - I know that a droplet of water in the end of a barrel can throw a shot wildly (a good excuse for using a muzzle-brake if you can). Also, at the World Benchrest Championships, my 200m relay suffered an absolute downpour - the proverbial 'stair-rods'.

It didn't affect me but one of the top American shooters had a half-inch group go out to 1.5 inches with a 'rainstrike'. No one knows exactly what happens - does the bullet hit a raindrop or a raindrop hit the bullet?

There were only a couple of other groups badly affected and it seems inconceivable that out of 140 bullets fired, only about three managed to collide with all those raindrops.

An interesting subject for study?

Vince

[johngarnett]

As one who is used to shooting on Bodmin Moor which must have all the rain God can send on any one range day!...........
Scopes - use washing up bottles to make rain shades and secure with rubber bands. TR foresights need some protection especially if Eagle Eyes are used.
Rifles - keep ammo dry, cover chamber/sights with chamois or microfibre cloths. Wood stocks can be taped around the stock /action area to stop water ingress. Use a rubber band on the barrel to act as a drip stop to prevent water running back the underside of the barrel to the bedding.
Yourself - there is nothing worse than lying in a pool of water on a waterproof mat! Wear wader type overtrousers. Rain around 'that' area can lower your score quicker than anything!
When you get home let everything dry slowly. Take rifle out of stock to dry for few hours but replace to avoid any chance of warping (I've never seen that) If you use a glove try to make sure it is dry. If it's damp next time it's like putting wet swimming trunks on!
Have fun sorting, you can't have a dry run at this!!!!!
JohnG
Ovenpaa, The eye is most sensitive to yellow light. Yellow lenses give increased contrast by cutting out blue light, so the black often appears more distinct, particularly in poor conditions. My suggestion is don't use in sunshine as sunspecs. Make sure they're polycarb - just for safety's sake.

[ovenpaa]

I am sure a mathematical equation would give a theoretical answer.

I have seen virtually no over pressure signs over the last few days apart from some factory Norma 180's that were piercing primers and on one occasion one primer was popped out, that was in the dry so I put it down to lousy ammunition. Today the wind was gusting to 25mph and luckily was directly behind me, I seldom strayed more than one click of wind from zero. I simply pulled my hood up to protect my head and keep the rain out of the rear of the 'scope, however it did get wet and then you have that age old problem of how to clean the glass in rain because everything instantly gets wet the moment it comes out of your pocket/range bag.

[ovenpaa]

As one who is used to shooting on Bodmin Moor which must have all the rain God can send on any one range day!...........
Scopes - use washing up bottles to make rain shades and secure with rubber bands. TR foresights need some protection especially if Eagle Eyes are used.
Rifles - keep ammo dry, cover chamber/sights with chamois or microfibre cloths. Wood stocks can be taped around the stock /action area to stop water ingress. Use a rubber band on the barrel to act as a drip stop to prevent water running back the underside of the barrel to the bedding.
Yourself - there is nothing worse than lying in a pool of water on a waterproof mat! Wear wader type overtrousers. Rain around 'that' area can lower your score quicker than anything!
When you get home let everything dry slowly. Take rifle out of stock to dry for few hours but replace to avoid any chance of warping (I've never seen that) If you use a glove try to make sure it is dry. If it's damp next time it's like putting wet swimming trunks on!
Have fun sorting, you can't have a dry run at this!!!!!
JohnG
Ovenpaa, The eye is most sensitive to yellow light. Yellow lenses give increased contrast by cutting out blue light, so the black often appears more distinct, particularly in poor conditions. My suggestion is don't use in sunshine as sunspecs. Make sure they're polycarb - just for safety's sake.

Some great tips John. Can you post this again in a new thread and I will ask Christel to make it a sticky for those new to shooting.

I strongly agree with the water around 'that' region, I remember once after a shooting a comp in less than waterproof trousers having to wait ages for everyone to go so I could strip off all of my wet gear. I ended up standing stark nekid in the car park of a well known shooting range whilst changing to dry gear (Much to my wife's amusement)

[Christel]

:lol: :lol:

[Steve]

Im an amateur compared to you guys,but since i favour old military rifles which are usually quite robust rain wont do them any harm.Couple months back it rained briefly quite hard at Barton road and other than feeling a tad moist i was still shooting s*** so no change there. :lol:

[Dougan]

Some great advice as usual

I know it's a stupid question....but...can you confirm that it's ok to take a TR action and barrel out of the stock to dry it for a bit without damaging the beddings? - l take all my other rifles apart, but got it into my head that you shouldn't with a TR :?

It's interesting that rain seems to have less effect on accuracy than you would expect :-P

[Christel]

Im an amateur compared to you guys,but since i favour old military rifles which are usually quite robust rain wont do them any harm.Couple months back it rained briefly quite hard at Barton road and other than feeling a tad moist i was still shooting s*** so no change there. :lol:

Lovely approach!
:lol: