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cold weather info (pic's)

4K views 12 replies 13 participants last post by  funclays 
#1 ·
I'm not sure the images I tried to post will show up, (it's my first time with pic's).

In south east Wisconsin, it gets COLD during the winter. "Teens" can be the norm during mid Dec. through Feb. "Off" sounding shells are not unusual. Is it just the weather? Or is it your components? Are Factory shells better?

I noticed the temps were going to be in the teens on my day off, Friday. So I took several of my loads, and some Federal Factory loads, and headed to the range to do a little chronographing. NOTE: All the shells I used sat outside in the 18 degrees for a full 2 hours.

When I was done I walked downrange to check out some of the wads. About a third of them had a crack in the powder cup, one was broke in half, and a bunch of them had pieces missing. Just for the record, I was shooting a Remington 1100 with a 2 3/4" chamber and a .729" bore. (I was shooting at a pistol range with a berm, so I was able to find all the wads I had shot. These are not pickups at a trap range).

Here's my data: (All are 1 1/8 oz. 7 1/2 shot)

#1: Federal Factory 3 dram Gold Medal Plastic: 1232, 1196, 1186, 1206, 1210. (1206 fps average)

#2: Federal Factory HCP Paper: 1214, 1207, 1188, 1203, 1222. (1207 fps average)

#3: Fed Paper Reload: (F209, 21.5 gr Green Dot, Fed 12S4 wad): 1109, 1108, 1151, 1106, 1139. (1122 fps average)

#4: Top Gun Reload: (F209, 21 gr. GD, CB Red 8 wad): 1113, 1069, 1081, 1099, 1084. ( 1089 fps average.)

#5: Gold Medal Plastic Reload: (F209, 21 gr. Green Dot, CB 12S3 wad): 1151, 1134, 1105, 1142, 1156. (1138 fps average).

As my reloads usually go around 1200 fps in warmer weather I'm going to be a little more careful about leaving them out side in COLD weather for any length of time.

If anyone is interested, I found a good way to get fairly consistent readings with the inexpensive chrono's. Clouds, bright sun, and sometimes the low angle of the sun during winter can give the chrono's light sensor problems. So I put mine in a box covered with some semi-transparent plastic (from a garbage bag). It seems to work pretty good. Hopefully, pic's will show up below. Good Luck, Randy






Tree Plant



 
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#2 ·
You undertook a large task in our recent cold spell. Very interesting to say the least. I often shoot the Sunday winter events and was taught years ago to place my cold shells on top of a warm radiator before I shoot, or at least warm them up inside the club house for awhile.

Cold weather seems to really affect a shells performance.
Nice job,
Steve Balistreri
Wauwatosa Wisconsin
 
#4 ·
I was at a shoot yesterday and a friend of mine always loads light for 16/s. His load is 700x 18 GN, winch 209 in a STS hull. It was 18* outside and I was scoring the squad he was shooting on. There was a HUGE noticable sound difference when he would shoot. It was like a dud every time...however, target broke so I guess all is well.
 
#7 ·
As an experiment last week when it was quite cold out a friend left his ammo out side ,,,
i brought it inside ,,I took two shells out of his box of factory two and three quarter dram loads ,,,I left one outside in the cold ,and put one in the club house (warm) after 45 minutes we conographed them ,The extrem cold one cono'ed at 761 fps,,,the warm one cono'ed at 1145 ,,,quite a differance,,MX8Dave
 
#9 ·
This past sunday we had lots of off sounding shells, factory and reloads alike. I shoot the pink top guns for 16's and Fed paper HCP 7.5's for HCP, the HCP loads seemed ok, but some of the top guns sounded and felt light. The temp was around 17-20 deg, I even had one each that didnt go off. Definetly need to keep shells inside and warm this time of year in SE WI.
 
#10 ·
Shooter,
Cool idea with the box for the chrony. I esp like the tri pod in the picture.
Nothing like a little home made engineering to get the job done.
Very interesting to see the things you read on the speedometer when conditions or load factors change.
Thanks for posting.
 
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