Shooting in the rain...

[sandman_sy]

We had a shoot last weekend.. at the morning.. we shot the CQB stages which were fun with the A4 size paper targets.. it was quite more challenging than the usuall classic target..

but when the afternoon came.. so did the rain.. and i mean RAIN!!! .. it was raining hard.. and we were cold(not as cold as winter there) but i could feel my usually hot barrel was cold.. and it got me thinking will its zero change?? I don't know if it was the Mental part or the Physical part.. but i could not hit dick squat with my AR... i was really dissapointed and wanted to confirm to what i heard and read that the zero changes when the temperature drops?? or just raining?? is this true?? anyone who can shed some light on this??

[joshua79109]

When I was in the military we use to see this from time to time.

Once we were shooting at the indoor rubber room and everyone was doing fine - we then exited that building and went outdoors to shoot more movement in the rain (about 40 degrees outside). We found that some of the shooters did not hold the weapon the same way in the rain/cold causing problems of course. We did train in bad weather regularly and it caused problems for some and not for others. A rds eliminates most of this issue.

This might not have anything to do with what you are describing since I think your looking for answers more along the lines of the temperature causing problems with the carbine, but I thought I'd share this experience in case it can help.

[Xfactor]

I have noticed no significant POI difference at 100yds even in pooring rain.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Xfactor

[RufDog]

You will not see any real effect under 400yds unless it is a DRAMATIC shift in temperature. Humidity does play a part but, again it wont be noticeable for most practical purposes.

[joshua79109]

When I was in the military we use to see this from time to time.

Once we were shooting at the indoor rubber room and everyone was doing fine - we then exited that building and went outdoors to shoot more movement in the rain (about 40 degrees outside). We found that some of the shooters did not hold the weapon the same way in the rain/cold causing problems of course. We did train in bad weather regularly and it caused problems for some and not for others. A rds eliminates most of this issue.

This might not have anything to do with what you are describing since I think your looking for answers more along the lines of the temperature causing problems with the carbine, but I thought I'd share this experience in case it can help.

The difference only showed up in some shooters, showing that it was shooter related and not carbine related (in our situation).

The difference (in our situation) came when the shooter did not hold the same cheek weld, grip, stance, trigger pull, movement, etc... due to the rain/cold.

To correct the issue we dropped what we were doing any time we had a chance to train in bad weather - some shooters needed more training (in bad weather). So this will - of course - not apply to everyone as some people still do their part properly even in bad weather.

We also had issues with some shooters when changing from one position to the next - their zero would change drastically as opposed to slightly like some others.

I read my original post and thought it could use some clarification.

Edited December 14, 2009 by joshua79109

[SinistralRifleman]

Shooting in the rain at ironman:

rifle portion starts at 0:50

I did have trouble seeing the dueling tree out there through my scope with the rain obscuring it, that was about it.

[AlamoShooter]

if you have a good scope and you find a rare time when the sun comes out and it is still raining. = When the bullet hits a drop and the sun light hits the mist . it looks very cool .

But even our 22 rim fire bullets at 90 yards did not seam to care.