Shooting in the Rain

[dragon798]

The gyroscopic stability of the bullet, provided it is properly stabilized, is enough to resist the over turning pressures created by supersonic flight. I find it hard to believe that a single drop of water would have the mass to affect the flight of a bullet by a significant amount. Any pitch or yaw that was introduced should easily be dampened by the gyroscopic effect. Would love to hear from Bryan Litz on this.

 

[Indian7953]

As I was considering this very issue stalking on a Dahl sheep in a steady rain, I couldn't decide how much to dial to compensate for the rain, so I dialed for the 485 yard distance and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit right where I was aiming, same as no rain. 7mm Rem. Mag. 154gr. SST.

 

[Laelkhunter]

This video talks about the electrical tape.

Thanks for taking the time to post that. I am familiar with everything discussed in the video. What I was referring to was post #3 at the beginning of all of this where Riflehunter1776 stated that he had two instances where tape on the barrel caused him problems. I had asked him if he could further explain the problems. Unless I missed it, he still hasn't described what problems he encountered. I would like to hear, because as I stated, I tape my muzzle.
Thanks for posting the video, contains some good info.

 

[Canhunter35]

Oh you guys that live where it rains enough that you need to hunt in it. Lol my son was 1.5years old before he saw rain and asked what it was?
I did shoot a match last year with rain squalls that blew in through out the day. A lot guys had pressure issues, lol.
I was the last guy to go on the last stage in a driving rain, I never made a hit between the wind and rain pelting my scope lenses

 

[Muddyboots]

I am curious on effect on caliber and bullet weight if this is truly a significant concern. Would a 200, 210, 215 grain whatever be impacted similarly or just keep chugging along? I happened to see the episode on cable and was trying to the recall bullet weight but I seem to think it was on light side IF that makes any difference in potential effect on a bullet. Just wondering if the length and weight of bullet is more of a stabilizing influence in environmental conditions such as rain or even snow. Conversely, high velocity "fragile" bullet in the rain?

Since I am told I won't melt in the rain and like to hunt in the rain, this is really interesting scenario.

 

[cohunt]

Does lab radar work in the rain? Just thought about this and wondered if the rain would give false reading to the radar

 

[Orange Dust]

Does lab radar work in the rain? Just thought about this and wondered if the rain would give false reading to the radar

It will sure limit a rangefinder. I don't have one but I would expect it to work at close range.

 

[greenejc]

I've shot a lot in the rain. Both in the army and outside the Army, I've qualified in rain and snow, zeroed in both, and hunted in both. It hasn't ever effected the trajectory of the 5.56 rounds we qualified with, at least to 300 meters. Also, if a bullet is moving at supersonic velocities, the droplets wouldn't impact the bullet, but they would only be hit by the shockwave which precedes the front of the projectile. The compression wave which is formed in front of the projectile would vaporize the droplets and deflect them as the projectile is traveling down range. To catch this on camera, you'd have to be able to film at around 300 frames a second, though. But rain droplets would hit the compression wave first, and not the projectile. As to keeping the muzzle dry, an old school trick is to put a condom over the barrel and tape it at the bottom. It will cover both the muzzle and any normal sized muzzle brake while being impermeable to water.

 

[emp1953]

In the jungle a condom over the crown of an M16 worked fine. I used finger cots for a long time on my hunting rifles, then I just started slinging my rifle barrel down.

 

[WildRose]

Thanks for taking the time to post that. I am familiar with everything discussed in the video. What I was referring to was post #3 at the beginning of all of this where Riflehunter1776 stated that he had two instances where tape on the barrel caused him problems. I had asked him if he could further explain the problems. Unless I missed it, he still hasn't described what problems he encountered. I would like to hear, because as I stated, I tape my muzzle.
Thanks for posting the video, contains some good info.

Unless he's using something heavy like gorilla tape I'm not convinced he's actually having trouble due to the tape.

I'd like to see him repeat the issue on a dry day.

The physics tells us that the small amount of blast getting out ahead of the bullet should rip a clean hole through the tape unless again, it's some kind of super fiber reinforced tape that isn't blowing away cleanly.

When in doubt use a little saran wrap or something similar, even multiple layers of it secured with tape.

A thick kids balloon will work very well too.

 

[WildRose]

I've shot a lot in the rain. Both in the army and outside the Army, I've qualified in rain and snow, zeroed in both, and hunted in both. It hasn't ever effected the trajectory of the 5.56 rounds we qualified with, at least to 300 meters. Also, if a bullet is moving at supersonic velocities, the droplets wouldn't impact the bullet, but they would only be hit by the shockwave which precedes the front of the projectile. The compression wave which is formed in front of the projectile would vaporize the droplets and deflect them as the projectile is traveling down range. To catch this on camera, you'd have to be able to film at around 300 frames a second, though. But rain droplets would hit the compression wave first, and not the projectile. As to keeping the muzzle dry, an old school trick is to put a condom over the barrel and tape it at the bottom. It will cover both the muzzle and any normal sized muzzle brake while being impermeable to water.

The highspeed video actually shows the bullet impacting rain drops.

The only time I've seen it be an obvious issue was in fairly heavy rain with super high velocity rounds like hot loaded .17 Rum's, .220 swift, and expecially .204 Ruger all of which were running upwards of 400fps.

With all three we've seen the bullets disintegrate before ever reaching even a hundred yard target. Typically we'd see one puff around fify yards where the lead/copper would separate and a bigger, more dispersed puff when it all disintegrated around the 75-90yds mark.

Bigger, slower rounds I never saw have issues but theoretically they could.

 

[WildRose]

Oh you guys that live where it rains enough that you need to hunt in it. Lol my son was 1.5years old before he saw rain and asked what it was?
I did shoot a match last year with rain squalls that blew in through out the day. A lot guys had pressure issues, lol.
I was the last guy to go on the last stage in a driving rain, I never made a hit between the wind and rain pelting my scope lenses

I've seen 20 year olds here in Texas that couldn't drive on snow or ice because they'd never seen it before.

Growing up in the Panhandle in the sixties and seventies we'd often get a hundred days a year or more practice on both.

 

[Orange Dust]

The highspeed video actually shows the bullet impacting rain drops.

The only time I've seen it be an obvious issue was in fairly heavy rain with super high velocity rounds like hot loaded .17 Rum's, .220 swift, and expecially .204 Ruger all of which were running upwards of 400fps.

With all three we've seen the bullets disintegrate before ever reaching even a hundred yard target. Typically we'd see one puff around fify yards where the lead/copper would separate and a bigger, more dispersed puff when it all disintegrated around the 75-90yds mark.

Bigger, slower rounds I never saw have issues but theoretically they could.

I agree because it duplicates my experience. I have a theory why this is so. I had a .204 for awhile. 32gr factory loads would not shoot through both sides of an empty heavy corrugated box I had a target taped to. Some Swift and .17Rem loads will do the same thing. This not only explains the super explosive effect on small varmints, it may also be the reason they blow up in the air in the rain. They are flying right on the edge of breaking up anyway, and a little extra added pressure from the atmosphere in the rain is enough to make them come apart. Big game bullets and match bullets are much tougher and flying slower, and are able to overcome the added resistance. Also, come to think of it, I've never seen a 50gr Blitz or SX come apart in the rain shot from a .222 or .223, so there may also be a velocity factor working in this too. It would be an interesting experiment to see how a heavier jacketed match bullet would group when started @41-4200, but I suspect it takes both a thin jacket and high velocity to make it happen. Fascinating sidenote is although these very HV bullets won't shoot through both sides of a cardboard box, they will blow through 1/2" steel AR plate like it is butter. Always blew my mind!!