cold weather shooting

[ifer]

Went hunting with my muzzle loader up here in North Dakota and my gun was shooting way high.I sighted it in around 40 degrees and during the season it was down to 0 or below I an shooting 70grains {weighed} of blackhorn 209 with a 295grn power belt bullet out of a cva wolf. Does the cold weather affect it this much?

 

[westcliffe01]

Did you sight it in at the same location (elevation) or at a different one ? It is always worth while to recheck zero prior to the hunt.

If your load data is from a substantially different temperature/elevation/relative humidity, you may want to verify the drop and not just the zero. Good data on ML bullets is rather hard to come by, so calculators are not much use until after you have all the field data down and then back calculate either MV, or BC to fit the measured drops in the known field conditions.

I have no idea of my MV for instance and if one chooses to believe the BC data on the bullet, well lets just say that could be a mistake. It is fairly well known that the BC's are overstated.

 

[SidecarFlip]

We are gonna find out tomorrow. I'll be up north on my property looking for a Bambi and it will be a balmy 15.

Can't wait to see how the H335 behaves, let alone the Lil Gun and the Unique.

Altitude adversely impacts my CVA with BH209 but I don't care for Powerbelts. I prefer Thor's or Barnes Spit Fire TMZ's.

 

[Red Sparky]

I have no idea. I usually am shooting in 90 degree weather at 5000 ft elevation. When I go hunting it might be 30-60 degrees and 8000 elevation and I see no difference. Possibly the temp is so cold the metal, either your barrel or scope mounts (you didn't say if you were scoped or open sights) might contract enough to effect your aim. Possibility sights got bumped? I have never had a temp change from 30-90 degrees effect my ML enough to be noticeable.

 

[westcliffe01]

One additional factor to consider is that you are probably wearing more in the way of clothing now than when it was sighted in. If you add elasticity between the stock and your body, it is likely to allow more muzzle rise before the bullet leaves the barrel. That should just require a zero correction and attention to holding the rifle in a consistent manner.

 

[codyjoe1128]

It was bout 10* here yesterday, i got bored just before shootin hours were up and had a noisy crow bout 120 yards from me and after the smoke cleared there was two pieces of crow 125 yards from me....i sighted in at 36*.....

300g powerbelt aerolight ,2 white hot pellets ,t7 primer, CVA Wolf.....

On edit, all my shootin happens between 1055' elevation on the highest hills to 710' on the lowest bottoms....not much change

 

[dogbuster0006]

Inside muzzle loading range temp won't effect you enough to need correction in my experience. We always shoot the wkend or night before we hunt to make absolute certain our guns are on. Usually weather is warm 60-70 degrees for our original shooting and sight in and down around 20 for actual hunting weather. We have killed several deer over the years with them, I shoot a cva with sabots and triple 7 pellets and dad usually runs loose powder and a round ball in an old flintlock. Just try and stay warm and focus on the fundamentals which are harder in the cold you'll be just fine.
Good luck and happy hunting

 

[codyjoe1128]

Im thinkin the temps not so much effecting the flight of the bullet as much as the burn rate of the powder/ primer.....