22lr match ammo temp sensitivity?

[bm11]

I have heard that .22's are sensitive to temperature, in that when it gets cold they shoot worse.

I'm working up a new rifle and it has been shooting decent in the 20-35 degree range. Today it was COLD, just above zero. First couple groups after getting setup were decent, but after that, they went to complete shit. Like, a rifle/ammo/shooter combination that normally shoots on average in the high .3 range at 50 all of a sudden went to 1+ inch and worse.

Is it the ammo? I was firing the gun at a decent clip and I think the bore would have been warm, but the ammo would have cold soaked relatively quick.

Interested in hearing what other experiences you guys have to share.

 

[reeljob]

Re: 22lr match ammo temp sensitivity?

I have found that when the temps are cold out you are better to save your ammo. I have found consistancy hard to attain in cold temps.

 

[sinister]

Re: 22lr match ammo temp sensitivity?

Below freezing you want ammunition loaded specifically for low temperatures.

Try Lapua Polar Biathlon or Fiocchi Exacta.

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: 22lr match ammo temp sensitivity?

Lapua...Polar....Biathlon.
This should fix your problem until temps warm. I have typically seen problems start with usually great ammo at about 45deg F.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: 22lr match ammo temp sensitivity?

Effects of ammo temperature itself - not air temp

...never did get to do this in reverse: hot day using the air conditioner to cool the ammo. "note to self this summer"

 

[Tango down]

Hi everyone
I was at the range on a cold day (for Vegas), Temp was around 29 F. An older Comp shooter told me to keep my Wolf ammo Match Target in my pocket before shooting it, as it would be affected by the cold. He was talking about the coat over the Wolf ammo getting harder due to the below freezing temperature and that it would affect the accuracy. Does this check?
I am shooting Wolf Match Target, out of an Anschutz MPR 64.
Thanks for your answers.
Good shooting.
Ombre noire

 

[hatidua]

Does anyone here have a link to that video (I think it was Scandinavian) where the same ammo was shot in the same indoor range at two vastly different temperatures? I should have bookmarked it the last time I saw it but failed to do so.

 

[jbell]

Does anyone here have a link to that video (I think it was Scandinavian) where the same ammo was shot in the same indoor range at two vastly different temperatures? I should have bookmarked it the last time I saw it but failed to do so.

That would be interesting to see. Post it up if you find it...

 

[hatidua]

That would be interesting to see. Post it up if you find it...

It wasn't on Youtube but someone on a gun forum posted the video a while back and it the camera focused simply on the target (50m if I recall) and the difference that temperature made was rather amazing.

 

[shooterman_zero17]

I keep my boxes in my pack until I'm set up and ready to shoot, and then, really they aren't that drastically hot or cold soaked when loaded. The thing I fight with is walking the line between subsonic and supersonic; on hot days, I'll definitely get ALOT of hot shooting rounds...Not so hot days, say 50s on up to mid-70s everything just shoots more consistently...another thing to play around with (which I honestly don't approach in a purely scholarly fashion) is the Stability of the projo...

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi

I've played around with it when looking at the weather prior to a rangeday and planning, and most of the time, it's reasonably useable for .22LR.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[TimK]

I shoot Eley Target (yellow box), and I was curious about the same thing. I set up a chrono in my shop and shot 10 rounds of room temp ammo and 10 of ammo I'd had in the freezer overnight. There was no measurable difference in velocity. Maybe the lube gets goofy and screws with accuracy, but the powder in that ammo seemed to be insensitive to temperature.