Good shooting weather.

[sprithitler]

When do you go to the range? on a nice afternoon with the sun in your back, a soft breeze and a nice 25 Celsius in the air? or in a blizzard when its 30degrees below?
The time when you actually need to use your gun, wether it is for defending yourself from a knifeman att poinblank range, picking off a new years celebration massmurderer in the city square or shooting a goodsized white tail doe for the larder it may be anything from perfect shootingweather. Do you train accordingly? In civilian clothes i have never went shooting under anything but good conditions, in the military it has been quite different circumstances more than a few times.
Let me tell you that operating an assault rifle at -30 celcius is not childs play, the Gun must not be oiled, if it is, it may not cycle, if you touch the cold gun with bare skin it may actually freeze to the gun. Shooting accurattely with heavy gloves, quite a challenging undertaking. Not to mention that when you get the deepfrozen gun inside the humidity in the air will condense on it and it will need to be stripped down, dried out and oiled, and then dried up from oil again before it is again taken outside into the arctic.
I have never shot in desert conditions, but shooting on a windless day with +30 in the shadow and a baking sun is quite a challenge, wether you shoot a .22 unique or a 7.62 H&K G3, Sweat stinging your eyes, Hands slick from sweat trying to grip the gun.
Targetshooting in car headlights poses different challenges from shoooting at noon on a lightly overcast day, or from shooting towards a low sun.

My point is, do you train hard, and in all available conditions, so that you can fight easy?
Or do you only go to the range on lightly overcast +25 Celsius windless days?

 

[brighamr]

I shoot in my backyard. Anything from 85F to -20F. (I admit, when it's that cold I don't shoot for too long

In the past, I've shot in AZ at 100+F, and in Utah we shot in 5 feet of snow.


Keep in mind though, i'm just an enthusiast. Not a service member. (My shooting sessions only last a few hours at a time) From hearing the stories of training in Alaska, it sounds pretty bad.

 

[10X]

If it is raining or snowing so hard I cannot see the target clearly I won't go shooting. If it so windy I cannot hold a handgun steady I won't go to shoot handguns, just rifles.

Otherwise, I'm going to the range.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only poor choices in clothing.

 

[Rokyudai]

Good question. We certainly can't request an ideal temperature for when we need to defend!

I was hunting when we hit -46C and found -28C to be fairly operable (only for a few hours) ...was I training? No. I was trying to keep warm! You bring up a good point. I have been in that situation where weapon hardware starts to get stuck or sluggish. We used to apply cellophane and an elastic to keep our barrels clear when deer hunting. We all in 'subcanada' have had at least an inch (30cm or so) of snow fall behind our necks before we find a good shot! It was a game for a lot of us to see how long we could stay accurate in those conditions. When in the country, you devise these types of scenarios!

 

[DFW1911]

Anything from 85F to -20F.

Well, maybe not -20, but when I lived in Colorado shooting was an all-year activity regardless of weather.

I tell you one thing I learned: operating your firearm with cold, practically numb hands is no easy task. I learned quickly which grips were "cold-weather" friendly.

I think it's good training, though. Who says things only happen in the nice months of summer?

Thanks,
DFW1911

 

[gggman]

I went to the range last sunday, and waded through 2 feet of snow, contended with 25mph crosswinds, with a temp of 15*f. Would I rather go shooting on a nice warm day with no wind ? Yeah ! But I still had a great time, and got some good practice. In Maine, if we only shoot when it's sunny and 70*, we don't get to shoot very much.