Ammo vs. temp.

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bisonhd

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Anyone else made any observations regarded shooting 22 ammo at different temperatures.

Lapua Club usually shot ~1-1.5" 10 round groups at 100 yards when I practiced in the summer. Took it out over the last few weeks and found they were hitting a little lower and lots of very nasty fliers or rounds that fell well below the group. Obviously I've got to find something else. I guess that's why they've come up with 'Biathalon' ammo.
 
22 fliers

Hi there, it is funny that you would ask that question as I was out shooting just yesterday afternoon. I was trying two new kinds of 22 ammo in my 452 American. I was shooting American Eagle hollow points and Federal game shok hp's. I was shooting from a bench at 50 yds and outside temp was approximately -18 before considering the wind chill.

I'd usually shoot four or five rounds then quickly swab my gun with a bore snake and then continue. I noticed that I had several fliers that seemed quite unusual. Sometimes I'd group 3 or 4 really close then have one fly off by 2 inches or so. I even had one group of 5 that flew all over the target, maybe out by as much as 3 or 4 inches. Don't know if the temp. had something to do with this or not. I sure hope so, because if it's not the temperature, I don't know what else to blame it on? Maybe me or my gun doesn't like these brands of ammo. Will have to wait for warmer weather and try again. Cheers!
 
It takes 15-20 rounds just to get the inside of the bore coated completely with the bullet lube, since it takes one round to put down about an inch of lube. You shouldn't be cleaning like that if you're expecting any consistency, and you'll need to fire off the 15-20 rounds again after cleaning to get the lube 'fouling' in there again.
 
Art said:
Hi there, it is funny that you would ask that question as I was out shooting just yesterday afternoon. I was trying two new kinds of 22 ammo in my 452 American. I was shooting American Eagle hollow points and Federal game shok hp's. I was shooting from a bench at 50 yds and outside temp was approximately -18 before considering the wind chill.

I'd usually shoot four or five rounds then quickly swab my gun with a bore snake and then continue. I noticed that I had several fliers that seemed quite unusual. Sometimes I'd group 3 or 4 really close then have one fly off by 2 inches or so. I even had one group of 5 that flew all over the target, maybe out by as much as 3 or 4 inches. Don't know if the temp. had something to do with this or not. I sure hope so, because if it's not the temperature, I don't know what else to blame it on? Maybe me or my gun doesn't like these brands of ammo. Will have to wait for warmer weather and try again. Cheers!
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Art,

Don't worry about the windchill temperature, Its just an equivalent cooling rate. The air temperature won't/can't go below -18. A warm body will just get to -18 faster, as if the temperature was colder with the wind blowing.

Also make sure the firing mechansim isn't slowed down by thickening grease/oil. This will result in poor/eratic ignition.

Cold air is denser than warm air and a bullet's effective stability decreases with the same rifling twist in the barrel. This could increase group size in winter over summer values.

NormB
 
Ammo

I'm certainly not trying to hijack Bisonhd's original post. But I would like to thank you fellas about the cleaning info. Being a relative newcomer to rimfire shooting, I just assumed that the barrel should be cleaned frequently as it gets so filthy even after just a few shots. I will try leaving it alone for awhile and see if my groups improve. Thanks again. Art
 
_Shorty said:
It takes 15-20 rounds just to get the inside of the bore coated completely with the bullet lube, since it takes one round to put down about an inch of lube. You shouldn't be cleaning like that if you're expecting any consistency, and you'll need to fire off the 15-20 rounds again after cleaning to get the lube 'fouling' in there again.
Click to expand...

I imagine that the consistency of the various lubes/waxes on .22lr bullets is much thicker and harder in the winter cold than in summer. They may not coat the barrel that well. Some manufacturers lubes may be superior in the cold than others.

Experimentation is in order.

NormB
 
I try to record my shooting each time I go to the range to see the effect temperature, humidity, and other effects have upon shooting. Quite interesting to see how different lot numbers/velocities react to different temperatures. For example, I find that in my Winchester 52D in cooler weather (cooler for around here) you have to get a slightly faster veloctiy of Eley Match EPS for it to be accurate - around 1060fps is just about perfect. But in the summber 1060 velocity will not work well at all - lots of flyers and overall not so gerat group sizes. 1040-1050 works well in the summer time. Although these are mainly observations with my winchester 52D I have found the same or very similar out of my other target rifles (annie 54 and Valmet finnish lion).

Humidity also has an effect - but maybe not so dramatic as temperature. I find most of my guns shoot better in the high humidity. Haven't confirmed this one yet but it seems this way.

I have also found other observations from Eley Ammunition such as machine 1 works good in cold winter, machine 2 works better in warmer but thats still one I am working on to prove.

I think the biathalon ammunition uses different powder that functions better in the cold, but I have shot lots of my Eley Match EPS in cooler temperatures (-10C) and have had no misfires and exceptional accuracy.

BTW: Art, I find accuracy to be at its optimum after 35 rounds. 10 or less rounds accuracy isn't great and any more than 70-80 it starts to drop off again. There are many schools of thoughs on cleaning but I like to use a one piece rod (I use dewey but there are better ones out there) with a nylon brush with butches bore shine solvent and kleen bore patches. Maybe not the best meathod in the world but it seems to work fine for me.
 
Interestingly. during todays testing at around freezing the EPS was superior. The EPS Match didn't show much superiority over the much cheaper Practice version. (same shaped bullet) Both easily kept 10 rds in an inch at 100 yards today. The next best was the very inexpensive navy blue boxed Fiocchi stuff.

My summer favourites, including a couple of flavours of Lapua were horrible. A tight cluster of 4 or 5 rounds with the rest loosley sprawling everywhere, sometimes 4" out. These all did 1.25" in the summer.
 
Yeah, I'm wondering what differences there are in Eley's Biathlon ammo. I was thinking they probably use different powder and/or lube, but I don't know. I haven't picked up any to see if the lube's any different. Steve's book says it has a lot less lube on it than Eley's other ammo, and the powder was different than their other ammo upon visual inspection, too. Here's a video of testing in cold temperatures of -20C versus normal temperatures. It was not stated what normal temperatures were in Norway. This was from this thread over on rimfire central. The differences were quite surprising.
NormB said:
I imagine that the consistency of the various lubes/waxes on .22lr bullets is much thicker and harder in the winter cold than in summer. They may not coat the barrel that well. Some manufacturers lubes may be superior in the cold than others.

Experimentation is in order.

NormB
Click to expand...
 
I've tested Lapua's Polar Biathalon. Shot decent at the time but not anything to justify the cost (it's about mid-price $7 a box). Can't say I've compared it in cold weather to other stuff. Maybe I should!
 
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