No gonna let a little lake effect snow keep me inside 🙂 What's the expression? A bad day shooting is still better than a good day at work?
In minutes the weather would go from this:
To this (and back again):
Had to keep the cameras under a little protection too:
Anyway, Happy New Years everyone and stay well!
I was out on a heavy overcast day/light sprinkles...I fired my Discovery .22 and my ears rang forever it seemed...
I was out on a heavy overcast day/light sprinkles...I fired my Discovery .22 and my ears rang forever it seemed...
Interesting! Are you saying that The weather affected how the gun sounded?
Best opportunity to eliminate starlings as they attack the suet and seed feeders in the yard.
One great thing about shooting in the snow is trying to shoot twigs and any vegetation poking up through, it always lets you know which way your pellet went if you missed
Optimism can strike at any time. I love it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love shooting the small piles of snow that gather on limbs in the trees. After the first shot makes a hole in the snow, that hole becomes the target for more shots. You can always see where you missed, sorta like a shoot and see target, but you never have to walk out and change targets!
I call um "snow targets"
Absolutely...with all the dampness in the air it kept the sound right on me...much louder....go out on a foggy night and shoot your air gun.
... But, I definately prefer cold to hot.
David Enoch
For sure! You could always add more layers when it gets cold out 🙂
However, I do see cold weather causing some velocity changes with my airguns and I don't see the same thing in hot weather...
In fact, everything seems more difficult when it gets cold out.
After shooting outside in the cold for a while yesterday I definitely saw some swings in velocity. I did another quick test today without changing any settings and having the gun at room temperature. I found the velocities were much more stable this way. So I just have to figure out how to make the gun more consistent when it gets below 30° or so.
I love shooting the small piles of snow that gather on limbs in the trees. After the first shot makes a hole in the snow, that hole becomes the target for more shots. You can always see where you missed, sorta like a shoot and see target, but you never have to walk out and change targets!
I call um "snow targets"
Nice! Yeah, snow will make it easier to see where the impacts are hitting ?
A pile of snow, like a snowdrift, while stop pellets without damaging them.
I've shovelled snow from a path onto a waterproof sheet into an eight feet long pile, fired pellets into it from several rifles, then waited for the thaw.
It's surprising how different a pellet fired from a springer looks to an unfired one, and it is not just the rifling marks.
Some pcp's also deform pellets, and I've found some with uneven rifling marks that show the pellet was canted in the breech.
As regards temperature, I used to hate heat and prefer cold, but now I'm older it's definitely the other way round.
As a kid I spent hours outside in the cold with my Daisy. Today, we have a fresh inch of snow, wet by the appearance and the dripping gutters, and I can think of no good reason to go outside. I'm getting to the age where weather extremes are uncomfortable and performing in them is more and more difficult. I'm sure you more grown up folks understand that of which I speak.
Given the choice I'd rather have cold than hot. Born and raised in central Indiana, it suits me better than the heat. Went to DFW for a couple of years for a job back in 2012-2014 and the heat was oppressive. In the summer it was impossible to do ANYthing outside and that's just no way to exist. Remove about three months in the summer and the weather was very pleasant otherwise but for the two ice storms that locked up the entire DFW area for days at a time.
It's been an unusually warm winter here in central he.. minnesocold. Only a couple days below zero. I really do hate it here but alas, this is where my lass is from, so... I prefer winters to be consistently in the mid twenties during the day. Mainly because I shoot springers and msp's.
edit: Hate is such a strong word. That's why I used it.
... and used to get excited when the ground froze solid, and excited for snow. I have lived my whole adult life in the DFW area and have lost my enthusiasm for cold weather.
I also grew up in the snow, heck I even trapped fur in the winter, but after a couple decades in Florida... YES!
I LOVE shooting on a snowy day!
Then I call up North and crack jokes about standing on my front porch in a hot Southern wind, while they have to shovel snow!
I do--although I moved down south decades ago. So, my opportunites for doing so are very-few these days.
My reasons aren't unique in this thread. But, I'll comment anyway.
This goes back to my preteen days with a Daisy lever action rifle, and a low powered Marksman pistol--the one that looks like a .45 sidearm. I think the latter is referred to as a 1911 model.
First, a long beach and a clear night sky offer something a bit similar in their own way. But, I find few things as peaceful as a pristine blanket of snow. The presence of snow also implies the possibility of icecicles--fun, free reactive targets, as you protect your eyesight.
Next, as others mentioned, I like being able to see where the BB or pellet hit. And, I also like to see the long little caves left in the snow where they do.
Last, doing that shooting makes about 50 years evaporate. The old Daisy and the Marksman may not have had as much power as the guns I own now, when measured over a chronograph. But, their memory offers the wonder of a time machine. I think it's fair to call that some real power.