Winter Shooting

[Whughett]

Winter Shooting.
I’m fortunate, Gun club has indoor facilities. Heated. Shoot twice a week. Of course I don’t limit my self to choice of firearms.

 

[Jedidiah]

woke to 13 degrees her in SC, with a feel like temp of minus -2 !!!!

 

[bat119]

Went to the indoor range yesterday -32 outside not much warmer inside, the target retrieval system was frozen mine was stuck at 20' still managed to get 36 rounds of 44 done.

 

[mushka]

Winter is our shooting time down here in Yuma. Few really cold days and the sun normally shines and the breezes are generally manageable. It's why I moved down here. In the summer months we just shoot earlier in the day. Life is good in Yuma. It will be in the mid 70's for the rest of the week.

 

[Rató:rats]

-16 F today, still going shooting. A lot of the peoples we admire and try to emulate would scoff at how soft we’ve become with temperatures. Most hide taking was done in winter when the fur was richest, and 1700-1800 was the tail end of the little ice age. With our modern clothing and cold weather gear there’s no reason for me to stay in if it’s cold. Being Canadian if I thought like that I’d only shoot 6 months a year.
There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.

 

[centershot]

I agree about making sound choices in clothing this time of year. I live 60 miles south of Buffalo, NY, and they're getting blown away AGAIN. Thankfully we are not. Temp here is 2*F with a windchill of -21F. Our muzzle loader season is split, 1st ten days ended on the 20th, starts up again on the 26th and runs 'til January 1. The weather is due to improve a tudge by Monday and then get to the 30's and 40's by Thursday. I'll be back in the woods on Monday, but it'll be colder than I like. I used to say "I'm not going!" if the windchill was less than +15*F, but if I did that this season I'd never have set foot in the woods! Call me adaptable........but I have to say, it's not as much fun when it's this bloomin' cold! Still, it is deer season, so..........

 

[Richard Dittman]

Winter is our shooting time down here in Yuma. Few really cold days and the sun normally shines and the breezes are generally manageable. It's why I moved down here. In the summer months we just shoot earlier in the day. Life is good in Yuma. It will be in the mid 70's for the rest of the week.

Winter Shooting.
I’m fortunate, Gun club has indoor facilities. Heated. Shoot twice a week. Of course I don’t limit my self to choice of firearms.

Must have a pretty good ventilation system to shoot muzzleloading inside.

 

[JimFlint]

I remember attending an early Spring shoot here in New England and the day never got up to freezing. I was so glad the bathroom had hot air hand dryers instead of paper towels. Between volleys I would run in the bathroom and get my fingers working again under the hand dryers. I have to admit the summer shoots were much more fun.

 

[Cruzatte]

-16 F today, still going shooting. A lot of the peoples we admire and try to emulate would scoff at how soft we’ve become with temperatures. Most hide taking was done in winter when the fur was richest, and 1700-1800 was the tail end of the little ice age. With our modern clothing and cold weather gear there’s no reason for me to stay in if it’s cold. Being Canadian if I thought like that I’d only shoot 6 months a year.
There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.

Holeing up in an Algonquin village for the winter sounds like a fine idea. Even snowshoeing to another village doesn't sound too bad. One could accomplish that without removing one's mitaines in the Canadian woods. It isn't the cold I mind, it's being cold that I mind.

 

[sheriff john]

Only critters I'm seeing as temps hover between 5 above and 5 below zero are coyotes. Everything else is apparently hunkered down. One reason for not going out is when we flush a covey of quail, they're no longer bundled together. Apart, they can freeze to death. We have three coveys on my place which are three more coveys than any of my neighbors. I can wait, hoping coyotes don't find them.

 

[longcruise]

Train track in Illinois this morning.

View attachment 184994

Is that broken from the cold or is someone making an anvil?

 

[waksupi]

Is that broken from the cold or is someone making an anvil?

It's a cold break. You can see imperfections in the break on the left rail top, and the grain of the steel in the other end. Ribbon track expands and contracts, it has to go somewhere!

 

[BigD63]

In my 20s and early 30s I worked around Hudson Bay and Baffin Island. I would frequently shoot unmentionables in any temperature, frequently around -40. Now if it's below freezing, the guns are sitting snug in the safe. Some might say I've grown weak, I'd say I've grown.
Merry Christmas to all...please be safe

 

[stephenprops1]

I am happy down to about 10F but will keep shooting all the way down to 0. I have poor circulation in my hands and feet and below zero I don't have much feeling and am not having any fun. The good thing is that below freezing I get the range to myself.

When I got my matched pair of 1858 Remington 44 cal. cap & ball revolvers I had them outside when it was 30 below zero. I shot them about 12 times each and then went back inside. My hands were about frozen and the lubrication I was using was frozen solid.

 

[Freedom]

I made it out shooting -27F. Just before sunset I made the 400 yard walk to the range.
My rifle did seem to load easily. Like a clean barrel every shot.
Impossible to touch any metal as it felt like it was made of fire.. Trigger-finger hurt within seconds.
Great to be alive and shooting!
Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[SOLANCO]

Winter Shooting.
I’m fortunate, Gun club has indoor facilities. Heated. Shoot twice a week. Of course I don’t limit my self to choice of firearms.

Indoor ranges around here do not allow black powder. They don't have adequate ventilation for the smoke.

 

[tenngun]

Picture from 1986 my By God Mountain Man days, then at Fort Osage in ‘ 14 or 15
I don’t think I got to far from the fire, both about 0 degrees F

 

[Whughett]

Indoor ranges around here do not allow black powder. They don't have adequate ventilation for the smoke.

In my original draft of that post I mentioned NO Black Powder on the indoor range. Some how I omitted in when I hit the post reply button.
Our 6 position 50 foot gallery range’s ventilation is barely adequate for smokeless, hand gun only too, and it sucks out the heat also so we rarely run it.

 

[Stantheman86]

Nope

I was forced to be out in the field and at ranges at Drum for 3 years, in -30 , -40

I will never do that to myself voluntarily

It's supposed to be in the 40s and 50s in a few days, I can wait

 

[Absoroka]

Regarding Waksupi's photo, it really does shrink in the cold! Got back from Yellowstone a couple of days ago. It was 37 below when we left. Not a fun temperature.