How many of us shoot during bad weather at outdoor ranges?

Hi...
I am retired nearly three years and am 66 years old.
I don't go target shooting in the rain, the snow or when it is cold and windy.
I can go shooting any day I want but I want to enjoy my range time. Being wet and cold isn't my idea of enjoyable.

mcb said:

My first USPSA match was shot in 5 inches of snow. I can remember pistol and 3-gun matches where you asked your squad mates to watch were you dropped mags the mud was so deep you would lose them. I can remember service rifle matches where the water puddle were coming up over my shooting mat.

I love hunting is the coldest snowiest days possible, something I miss about living in Ohio. I don't mind hunting in the rain to but love the snow.

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Reminds me of one of my first DCM Matches. It just started pouring and was not letting up. M1 Garands, M14 (M1A) guns and only1 AR. Maybe 50 shooters. I had my m1A. To my surprise I placed Second and it was the AR that beat me. OK and came my first AR and another and an AR10(T). I really like those little matches, heck of a lot of fun. Usually a few hours ride out to the farm country but just plain fun and making new friends.

ron

If the suns out and no wind. Above 30 i'll go out.

375supermag said:

Hi...
I am retired nearly three years and am 66 years old.
I don't go target shooting in the rain, the snow or when it is cold and windy.
I can go shooting any day I want but I want to enjoy my range time. Being wet and cold isn't my idea of enjoyable.

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Exactly, been retired longer than that and I agree; I will bail on a registered sporting clay shoot if it's raining; I'd rather shoot while it's snowing before I'll shoot in the rain.

I have shot in the rain, in the past. Couple of IDPA Nationals in fringe of hurricanes, looking for the cleanest puddle to wash my muddy magazines in.
A PPC State with cylinder gap flash throwing up a bow wave in prone, drying our guns in the motel.
An F class rifle match, the bottom dropping out just in time for my relay. I think I was the only one to stick it out and shoot.

I don't do that any more. Indoor USPSA on Wednesday.

In college in the '70s, we used to walk through calf deep snow to shoot our Commission '88s in the local clay pits where everybody around Fulton, MO used to go to shoot.

I don't shoot pistol outdoors, and everybody I knew who shot rifle seriously moved away, so summer or winter, my outdoor shooting is about over.

Its kinda fun skipping .22s off of puddles into the berm, lol.

I said in that other thread about the weather that our "range" is a county gravel pit about 2 miles south of the house. It's full of snow right now, and if I drove my truck down into it, my truck would be there until spring.
Actually, there's a genuine public range near Downey, 10 or 12 miles south of here. But we don't go there this time of year either. I think the county road and bridge department probably plows the road into it, but unlike my younger years when I climbed Rainier, and almost climbed Denali, I no longer enjoy traipsing around in the snow and cold. For that matter, I usually beg off even when one of my buddies wants to go ice fishing these days.
So no, I don't go shooting at outdoor ranges when the weather is as "bad" as it is now. On the other hand, the wind is almost a constant in this part of Idaho, so I go shooting in it as long as it's not too awfully strong or gusty. And I don't mind a light drizzle of rain if I have some loads or a new gun I want to try out.

Yup. Rain or shine.

Last time I went to the range with it snowing, the range had a padlock and chain on the gate. I got in, there all by my lonesome, when it dawned on me. If that lock froze, I'd have to email somebody from the range, and expect them to bail me out. I know it takes a while for them to respond to a normal email. It isn't worth it. 40s is the lowest that I will go there now.

jonnyc said:

Every Sunday, unless there's an active blizzard. Just wouldn't be a complete week without it.

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Exactly how I feel

I went out and shot a jackpot shoot last Sunday. The first 50 I shot in -11F, the second in -7, the third I shot in a balmy -3F. Didn't match my summer scores, but I got out and shot, and the 2nd one I used my Model 12, which I shot as well as my Ljutic. I have shot in the middle of snowstorms, rain, sleet, and high wind. I have and will hunt in these conditions, so I practice in these conditions.

I have been off of shooting for a year. My wife is in a very high risk Covid group, and I didn't dare bring anything home to her. Pharmacy, grocery store, haircut, church via internet, home projects, and darn little else on the agenda.

BUT: We are both 6 days past our second Covid shot. Woohooo!!! I feel immunity coursing through my veins.

As soon as we get a nice day, 40 or above, I'm off to the range. Got some new 308 loads to chronograph, and an AR to sight in, and I may have time to shoot my NRA Sharpshooter targets. Can't wait.

AK Hunter said:

Do you think training during bad weather is all that necessary?

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I do, but it depends on the extremes of your environment and how you define "bad weather."

I live in a climate with about 9 months of winter. Winter days are short and nights are long. My climate offers a high probability of having to shoot in the dark and/or extreme cold.

Having now shot USPSA type leagues for 3-4 years, I've learned that operating in what most would call "bad weather" can be a serious challenge. Simple mechanics of reloading a revolver in single digit temps. Gloves mess everything up. (Mine get caught in the trigger guard and prevent full reward trigger travel which means the gun won't fire.) Cold fingers result in thumbs slipping off external hammers. Semi auto guns that don't function properly with the wrong kinds of lube in the winter. Layers of clothing interfere with draw strokes, holstering, and magazine storage and retrieval. Shooting in the dark, with a flashlight is one thing...doing it in the cold, so that your visible breath reflects the light back at you and creates a wall of steam through which you can not see the target. Glasses constantly fogging. Moving safely with a firearm on icy terrain. Shooting and training in what most would call bad weather has shown me a lot of challenges that I never knew existed.

Having said that, I stopped shooting in the really cold temps, which I define as below 10. It just got to the point that, to get around the challenges I just sucked up the cold and shot in single layer thermal shirt with no gloves. That gets uncomfortable pretty fast at 0 degrees.

I have a range behind my house and prefer shooting there. Last weekend I had a new pistol delivered to the closest FFL which also happens to be an indoor gun range. These are super nice folks. I had visited a couple of times prior to my gun purchase but never shot there. They gave me and hour of free range time for my FFL fee. I am 68 years old and had never shot at an indoor range. It was great. Sweeping my brass off of concrete verses digging it out of the snow was an improvement. With the weather outside as it is now I wouldn't have shot at all. But now, with a monthly renewable membership, I can shoot every weekend till the weather breaks. The are some minor minuses to an indoor gun range but it sure isn't as bad as not being to be able to not shooting at all.

I’ll go if I want to. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. It’s -4 right now. Tomorrow it will be 6. It’s a 30 minute drive on a good day to go shoot. With the 5” of snow and ice, it’s 45 minutes to an hour. If I’m going that far in crappy weather, I’m going to spend some time out there. So I’m much more likely to go chasing pigs through the woods and actually building up body heat than I am shooting off a cold bench or truck bed.

I am waiting for a day here when it is below 0*F to test some new load combinations. I do shoot in snow and whatever expected hunting conditions will be but not every week or month anymore. Too many aches and pains in these later years to do that unfortunately. I do have to remind myself often that I am not 20 anymore.

If it's THAT cold plus wind..nope, don't go up to the National Forest to shoot..no fun..and altho I get 'training' and a check on gun's reliability, for ME and my 2 sons, it's mostly for fun..cold, wet, windy..get 2, no go..IMHO, YMMV and all that.

I have shot in 100 and humid down to -17. Sometimes just to say I did and other times to function check my ccw in those extreme conditions. In super cold weather there is something about the rolling echo of rifle fire on a snow covered empty range in the woods that I love.

Even when I had my own 100 yard range, I did not see the point of shooting in bad weather unless like member High Plains, you were calibrating your rig for military or specific competition situations.

Otherwise, I'd just be shooting to hear the bang and feel the kick. After all, you wouldn't be firing for sighting purposes, or measuring group size. Let's face it, at riflery ranges, even a slight drizzle effectively increases the air density.

Now you could make the argument that your long range big bullets would not be affected by a little drizzle or a little wind, but if you're using that new little .22 military varmint cartridge, wind and drizzle might be a factor... although my experience is that in that kind of weather, the prairie dogs tend to stay indoors anyway,.

Terry, 230RN

I love heading to the range on rainy days, warm or down to about 45°, as I'll have most of the place to myself. Every shooting area is covered but people tend to use the pistol range when it's raining and avoid the rifle and rimfire ranges.

I wouldn't be opposed to going in the snow as I'm sure it's empty, but I don't particularly care for being in the cold when I'm barely moving, and I'm normally busy between working, clearing the driveway, and playing with the kids in the snow for an hour or two.

Paul R Zartman said:

Man its cold down here in florida..

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Ya, I know that's to get a laugh, but no kidding, the coldest night I ever spent in my life was one night in central Alabama, and I live in Wisconsin. It all depends on what you're prepared for. Sub-freezing temps in Alabama are way worse that sub-zero temps in Wisconsin.