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Shooting At Near Freezing Temp


grandbagger

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A group of friends and I will be heading south to Schultz's this Sunday for the club match. Handwarmers, good gloves and layers will the uniform of the day. See ya there Tom :)

Edited by Rocket35
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Up here in NH and VT we have to shoot in the cold or we don't shoot for 6 months of the year. Thermal underwear, boots, coats, gloves, hand and feet warmers, whatever it takes. Keep warm between your stages and I take the gloves off when I am shooting as I like to be able to have skin on trigger.

At my club, Green Mt. Practical Shooters, we have a match in February and March in the snow and cold........nothing stops the matches. Our match directors just have to be smart in setting up the stages so the shooters are not put in a dangerous position. It all works if you understand, and prepare for, the conditions you are shooting in.

+1 Same here in Maine..

Only freezing rain stops matches here.

Get some of the hand pocket warmers (chemical activated) to keep the trigger hand warm between stages.

I grew up in Maine, but I tend to dislike the chore of snow removal! Arkansas does me just fine these days....it was 65*F yesterday, and today(although rainin'), it's still 45*F. Might get cold tonight, but it'll be warmin' up before the week is through.

Freezin' rain here shuts down the whole state...never mind a shootin' match!

Scott (keep the cold and snow) B

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Freezing..freezing? Oh yeah, I remember that from living in Wisconsin. I also remember why I moved to Florida. It was 77-degrees at the match in Jacksonville today. Funny, I didn't feel cold and my fingers weren't numb despite being in shorts. :P;)B)

Edited by XD Niner
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I used to complain about temps below 40. Even 45 was on the cold side. When I got to Korea last year, I found that 20 degrees was fairly nice and 32 was a smidge on the warm side. T-shirts! Woohoo! This year? The temp hasn't stayed cold enough long enough to cause me to get used to freezing weather. It's kept sneaking back up into the 40s. Supposed to be about 45 on Tuesday. Monday's low is predicted to be 19F. What happened to winter in Korea???

Liota

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Freezin' rain here shuts down the whole state...never mind a shootin' match!

Scott (keep the cold and snow) B

Funny thing is... our New Years Day match was in that situation.

All the roads where frozen.. no salt or sand, cars off the road everywhere.

Yet we still managed 10 shooters to the match.

Crazy Mainahs' :D

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Up here in NH and VT we have to shoot in the cold or we don't shoot for 6 months of the year. Thermal underwear, boots, coats, gloves, hand and feet warmers, whatever it takes. Keep warm between your stages and I take the gloves off when I am shooting as I like to be able to have skin on trigger.

At my club, Green Mt. Practical Shooters, we have a match in February and March in the snow and cold........nothing stops the matches. Our match directors just have to be smart in setting up the stages so the shooters are not put in a dangerous position. It all works if you understand, and prepare for, the conditions you are shooting in.

Glyn has a pair of big fuzzy slippers he wears on his hands. VERY FUNNY LOOKING

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Geez, here in Ontario, Can, we've just started to see 0 degree (celcius) weather (32 F) pretty much been in t-shirts and shorts up 'til now.

But for the cold weather warm hats and boots are very important. If you lose heat thruogh either you are in trouble. Hand warmers in your pockets will keep the fingers nimble up until it's time to go. and layers of clothes with a windbreaker shell or parka if needed when not shooting.

If they'll let you build a fire at the back of the range... even better.

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Up here in NH and VT we have to shoot in the cold or we don't shoot for 6 months of the year. Thermal underwear, boots, coats, gloves, hand and feet warmers, whatever it takes. Keep warm between your stages and I take the gloves off when I am shooting as I like to be able to have skin on trigger.

At my club, Green Mt. Practical Shooters, we have a match in February and March in the snow and cold........nothing stops the matches. Our match directors just have to be smart in setting up the stages so the shooters are not put in a dangerous position. It all works if you understand, and prepare for, the conditions you are shooting in.

Glyn has a pair of big fuzzy slippers he wears on his hands. VERY FUNNY LOOKING

Funny looking........maybe.

Warm.........yes!

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"Near Freezing" is actually fairly warm. That's like, 30 degrees above zero.

I'll be practicing tomorrow in 8" of snow and 10 degrees. The biggest pain is finding the brass. Much of it I will leave until spring. Then, it's like finding new brass I didn't know I had! :lol:

I work more on accuracy, longer distances, and steel plates when the range is buried. Running and gunning requires too much snow removal.

The weather is what it is. So, I like practicing in the cold. Because, I know that lots of other guys aren't.

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I haven't seen much about what to do with the gun when it's cold.

The gun don't seem to know it's cold out, but the lub you are using does. Use as little as posible!!

If people wouldn't shoot in the cold, half of the country wouldn't shoot for 4-5 months.

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The temperature today was just above freezing. My Glock 35 functioned flawlessly despite having not been cleaned during the last 2700 rounds. Plenty of guns were sluggish and choked. Heavy clothing caused a few problems too. One shooter suffered terribly when the sleeve of his jacket got caught between the slide and the beavertail during recoil. Though I did not have any ammo or temperature related issues I did suffer a very costly stoppage when my slide hung up on my jacket during recoil on a retention stage. Damned auto... that's why I always carry my 625 when there's any chance that the targets will shoot back.

Dave Sinko

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:wacko: You all are nuts! It's been "snowing" off and on out here in NM for the last couple weeks and we all cry like a bunch of babies. Monday the whole town, Interstates, Highways, etc. shut down cuz of an inch of snow! <_<

To make matters even worse, I only got 2 practice sessions in over the last 2 weeks cuz of the weather! :angry:

What do you think Kevin? Sounds like we need to buck up a bit eh? :lol:

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how do you guys deal with this? i cant feel the trigger coz its freezing and my hands are cold and shaking.. not to mention the first stage of a club match..

Wear gloves you can shoot with or wear gloves that are loose enough you can flip them off as you draw. I am a firearms instructor at my department and I like to run at least one qualification in the worst weather it shows the guys what works and what does not in the real world.

Pat

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