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Do you shoot comps when in bad weather?


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Preparation is the key. It does rain more than occasionally in the Pacific Northwest so if I didn't shoot in the rain, I probably would shoot 3 matches a year. :roflol: The only thing I haven't figured out is how to keep the rain drops off the lens of my dot.

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Shot my first match of the year today. 40 degrees, rain and freezing rain and 25mph winds with gusts up to 40mph. Keeping targets, props and barricades in our zip code was more difficult than shooting with our numb hands.

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where I am now, short of highly degraded visibility (got be able to see the targets) or dangerous road/range conditions (as far as range condition I mean actual dangerous not "ooo it's muddy"), I am willing to shoot a match in just about any conditions that occur. But it seems that most of the local shooters are a bit more afraid of mud than I am and I swear that if it's rained within 3 days of a match we get cancelations!!

I haven't been able to shoot a match since October, because every time I am home the weekend of a match it gets canceled because someone doesn't wanna get their shoes damp. You'd think a group of shooters who mostly grew up in this area and know how the weather here works would have found a way to deal with it (better bay drainage?) and shoot. will say in fairness that at least at my local gun club some of the fault lies not with our club's USPSA group but with the group that designed and implemented the recent "berm improvement plan". Which had no eye toward improving or even maintaining proper drainage of the pistol bays, our largest bay which prior to this would be simply muddy a day or two after a rain, now can be visibly flooded 3-4 days afterward.

Sorry sore subject.

Edited by Detritus
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My first time as MD it rained so bad that we had to pull poppers from certain stages because the bays turned to mud. Stakes were coming out and we didn't want to have to reset them after each shooter. The worst part by far was the taping. The stuff literally fals right off and you can barely see anything behind the plastic. Will not do again :(

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I don't shoot in the rain and I also don't shoot in the FL summer heat. The upcoming A6 match is pretty much the end of my shooting season until September. Though this year we are going down to Jamaica in July to shoot the Jamaica Cup.

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I am made of sugar. Can't shoot in the rain, I'd melt.

Cold on the other hand...

As long as the wind isn't blowing too bad most of the usual suspects here in Idaho will still shoot down to the mid teens. Coldest match I shot this year was 17 degrees out.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Shot a 3 gun match in the rain last sunday. It started raining about 1030 or so. It kept going all day. Plenty of dry overhangs and I had rain gear. Worst part was I forgot my hat so I had rain and fog on my glasses which made the pistol harder.

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Our local matches sometimes get cancelled due to high winds, strong enough to blow over poppers and impossible to keep paper targets up. I've considered not going when temps hit 110+, but now I've got an umbrella attached to my cart and I'm looking into a personal misting thingy, so heat won't stop me either.

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Drove three hours last weekend for a match. When I woke up Sunday morning, it was raining/snowing, 31 degrees and the range appeared to be completely in the clouds. Drove three hours home.

Fortunately I was staying at my parents house and got to see a bunch of family that I haven't seen in years, so that made missing the match annoying but bearable. I have shot rifle comps in bad weather, even thunderstorms, but don't think I would anymore.

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It really sucks shooting in less than ideal conditions but you have to be prepared for all conditions. If you are going to a big match, they don't stop it or put it on hold for just inclement weather. It would have to be lightning and/or dangerous conditions to stop the match so shooting/practicing in all conditions is important. And it let's you know just how much of a "little girl" you are :)

Believe me, I've done my fair share of whining... :roflol:


PS Being an Open shooter, when I read the title, I was thinking, "Yeah, I shoot my Open gun with my comp in the rain, why not?" :cheers:

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Rain, not a big deal if it is 60 or warmer. Mud can be unsafe, as can lightning.

I hunt in sub-freezing weather several times a year and the cold does not bother me much. The only time I feel like my performance, compared to others, really suffers is when it is hot and humid. I am about to just nix shooting in those conditions.

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living in florida hot, humid, rain ... no issue; now drop the temperature below 60 and i start to think; below 50 and i'm not leaving the house ... just head to the garage for more dry fire ... :)

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Sure do. I shot probably 4 or 5 matches while it was snowing or with snow on the ground this winter. Lots of sub-freezing matches, quite a few rainy matches as well. Boy this was a fun winter in MD.

Edited by swearengen
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I am surprised by the amount of people who feel that 50° is cold. Unless it's real windy, I probably wouldn't even have a sweatshirt on at 50. Our first match this year started out around 25° and "warmed" up to around 38°. The 2nd match started around 38° and warmed all the way up to 55°. Both were dry though.

While I'm not a fan of shooting in the rain, it doesn't stop me. As long as I can feel my fingers, I can live with cold and wet.

Without shooting in inclement weather I don't think that I would be able to fully appreciate a 75° and sunny day at the range.

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I don't have many or any winter hobbies so I generally come out in inclement (cold, wet, snow, wind) weather for matches. I shot a tac rifle match in a foot of snow, incl going prone. I did a match this past winter in freezing rain and came close a couple of times to just calling it quits but stuck it out. I guess the good news is most matches are cancelled in the really gnarly stuff so I haven't had to brave the extreme elements too many times.

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I am surprised by the amount of people who feel that 50° is cold. Unless it's real windy, I probably wouldn't even have a sweatshirt on at 50. Our first match this year started out around 25° and "warmed" up to around 38°. The 2nd match started around 38° and warmed all the way up to 55°. Both were dry though.

While I'm not a fan of shooting in the rain, it doesn't stop me. As long as I can feel my fingers, I can live with cold and wet.

Without shooting in inclement weather I don't think that I would be able to fully appreciate a 75° and sunny day at the range.

I'm going to assume you don't live in a place where you can usually count the number of days on one hand in a year where it is below 50 during the day .... if you did you'd understand how terribly cold 50 deg really is .... :)

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I am surprised by the amount of people who feel that 50° is cold. Unless it's real windy, I probably wouldn't even have a sweatshirt on at 50. Our first match this year started out around 25° and "warmed" up to around 38°. The 2nd match started around 38° and warmed all the way up to 55°. Both were dry though.

While I'm not a fan of shooting in the rain, it doesn't stop me. As long as I can feel my fingers, I can live with cold and wet.

Without shooting in inclement weather I don't think that I would be able to fully appreciate a 75° and sunny day at the range.

I'm going to assume you don't live in a place where you can usually count the number of days on one hand in a year where it is below 50 during the day .... if you did you'd understand how terribly cold 50 deg really is .... :)

This winter was a little tougher than normal in northeast Ohio, but we had a couple weeks where the daytime high was barely over 0. The local matches run from March through October. I try to make it to all of them, regardless of weather.

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