[635 G]

Went to a local club today. The temp overnight dipped into the high 20's. The temp when I was shooting was about 40. All the targets were kept in an unheated environment overnight. Got the best breaks with 1 oz of #8 with 17 gr Claydot, TGT 12 & a Cheddite primer. We were shooting singles only. The question is would this load be OK for short caps if the temp was @ 32 during competition. I'll be shooting registered this Sat. & it is expected to be colder. I have some loaders that are the same but use 17.5 grs Clay Dot.

Lou

 

[Neil Winston]

They will be fine, Lou. When I shoot in cold weather, I just keep my shells in the house rather than my car before going to the event and transfer them to the clubhouse when I get there. If you do have a problem of even one off-sounding load, you might consider switching to Federal 209A primers for the winter months. All you are going to get is occasional funny sounds anyway; the breaks will be fine.

Neil

 

[Guest]

I've never had any problems with my reloads and cold temps. I've chono'd them in both hot and cold weather making sure that the shell was at ambient temp. The comparitive mean deviation was only 10fps and I attribute that to the air density.

I guess there is something to be said for the newer powders. I only reload Hodgdon powders (Titegroup, Titewad, Universal Clays (20ga), and Longshot). I generally use Winchester or Cheddite primers, but use Remingtons when they are available and not out of sight on price.

I've heard about shell performance degredation as the temps drop, but always thought it was some sort of wives tale. Maybe it just effects the old style powders on the market.

ec90t

 

[Shooting Coach]

I have been using the rather hot Rio primer for the last couple of years. I keep pressures at or near 9000 PSI, and have not had any issues with cold weather performance. My Brownings are overbored, but the Perazzis have tight bores. The Brownings have had no problems with off sounding shells. I stay in the clubhouse when it is very cold.

Remington, among many others, uses Cheddite primers in field loads. As long as your ammo is loaded to standard pressures, you should be fine.

 

[phirel]

All powders are sensitive to temperature. Some powders are more sensitive than others. The 10 ft/sec variation reported by ec90t above is less than others have discovered. I had some discount shells tested through a pressure gun and velocity was measured with an induction chronograph. The box was stamped with a velocity of 1200 ft/sec. At -20F, the mean measured velocity was 847 ft/sec. At 70F, velocity was 1166 ft/sec and at 120F the velocity was 1224 ft/sec.

Pat Ireland