[B yond]

I went shooting the other day at an unofficial range on a sandy riverbank. When I first got there I was shooting <2" groups @100yds.:) Soon the wind picked up and started a little sandstorm:( , but I kept on shooting whenever the visibility was good enough that I could see my target and shoot safely. During the sandstorm my groups enlarged to about 10" around the same center point.

My question is this: What affected my accuracy more?
1. Wind
2. Airborne sand
3. Sand in my rifle's action and barrel
4. Me flinching a little more from being pelted with sand.

I feel sorry for our troops trying to fight in conditions like that.

[nipprdog]

rifle?


caliber?


ammo?

[Dienekes]

#1 and #4. You can wear goggles for sand in the face and eyes. As for wind there are charts for shooting highpower (.223 and .30 cal) to calculate wind drift.

The rule of thumb for .30 caliber is wind velocity in 10 mph increments times range in hundreds of yards, divided by 9. That gives you the minutes of angle (1 MOA= 1" @ 100 yds) to compensate into the wind. Gusty wind makes things even more interesting. Supposedly when the wind gets over 20 mph you are wasting your time, but I have shot in winds higher than that.

[B yond]

rifle: sporterized mosin-nagant m44

caliber: 7.62 x 54 R

Ammo: yellow-tip surplus in green lacquered steel case.

Dienekes, are you saying the sand in the air doesn't have a significant effect on accuracy?

[30Cal]

Rain doesn't affect it. With that in mind, I would think that sand would be the same, but maybe not.

On the other hand, I've hit blades of grass halfway out to the target and have seen 3" fliers because of it though.

[Dienekes]

Can't say as I've ever heard about sandstorms degrading accuracy per se; most of the concerns are whether the rifle is even working at that point. Unless you are down to ten feet visibility because of dust and sand I think you are still principally dealing with the effects of wind.

The old Russian round is somewhat equivalent to the military .30-06 round. If you had a 30 mph side wind over a 100 yard range you would have the bullet pushed over 3.33", with or without accompanying sand and dust. (6.6" @ 200, 9.99 @ 300, etc.)

The most recent case of extreme sand/dust/wind was about a year ago when we had a combat rifle match in Wyoming--100 degrees, winds gusting 25-30 mph, and clouds of dust. The problem was just being able to see the earth-colored targets over iron sights with sand and dirt in the eyes. Mechanically, things were fine--the old M1A's action was making rasping noises but it kept running.

I sure would have second thoughts about being in a helicopter under those conditions!