.204 Ruger in the rain?

[traderdan]

I heard a story recently of a friend of mine shooting at a coyote in the rain.This is not a novice hunter.He believed that these light ultrafast bullets are badly deflected or may disintegrate in contact with raindrops. Any thoughts?

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Any bullet that will "disintegrate" in the rain wouldn't hold up to initial firing. Might not even hold up to loading/crimping in the case.

And any bullet will be affected by rain drops hitting it; just like they are when wind hits them.

The real question is will any rain drops hit a bullet?

-J-

 

[42769vette]

i ask this question on snipershide about a 22lr bullet. actually i ask if at long range rain drops would lower my poi due to hitting the bullet when it slows down.

the answer i got was it has little effect but the effect it does have raises poi due to the bullet hydroplaining just a little off the drops

 

[traderdan]

.204 Ruger

When something very hot contacts something very cold [water] it tends to crack or shatter.I wonder if perhaps a frangible round could break up?

 

[42769vette]

When something very hot contacts something very cold [water] it tends to crack or shatter.I wonder if perhaps a frangible round could break up?

imo no it would not, but go shooting in the rain and report back. it would be a interesting test

 

[cgbills]

Did he not hit it? He probably just missed. What was the distance?

 

[kingpin1779]

bullets in the rain

i cant recall what magazine, but i read that a bullet changes poi in the rain.

 

[PhilB]

I've had .22-250 bullets come apart in a light mist while target shooting. I had loaded up some 40gr bullets that were for my .22 hornet. I'd shot one target at 100yds and they seemed ok but not very good grouping. It started misting rain and when I shot again I could see no hole thru my spotting scope. I tried a target I had at 50yrs and still couldn't see any holes. I did notice a puff of smoke between my rifle and the target. I shot a couple more times and still no holes in the target at 50yds. Since the backstop was new I walked down to see if I could tell where the rounds were hitting. When I got close enough to the target I could see the paper was full of tiny holes scattered all over. Figured out the smoke I was seeing was the bullet coming apart on the way to the target. Needless to say I didn't shoot any more of the 40gr rounds. My normal load for the rifle used a 52 or 53gr Sierra match hp but I don't remember the powder(been over 30yrs ago). I used benchrest dies and a 3 shot group could be covered with a dime at 100yds and a qtr at 200yrds. Still sorry I sold that rifle.

 

[DRob]

Blowing up

PhilB, I think what you are witnessing is a very lightly constructed bullet intended for Hornet velocities coming apart due to centrifugal force. Driving that fragile bullet at 22-250 velocity and spin rates almost guarantees the bullet will come apart in flight. That's why those bullets are designated for the Hornet. I've seen it happen with hot-loaded light HPs shot from a fast twist .223. Rain has nothing to do with that!

Relatively speaking, the more popular .204 bullets (32-40 gr) are light and fast but not so fragile as to break up on a rain drop. I agree with Indy_Guy_77. If it was that fragile, it probably wouldn't live through the launch and certainly would break up upon hitting an animal!

 

[IndianaGTI]

I shoot appleseed. I use my tricked out ruger 10/22 with standard velocity 1070 (subsonic) CCI rounds. One appleseed, it began to pour. In the pouring rain, my POI was lowered by 1" at 25 yards. Before and after it quit raining, my POI was right back to where it started. I don't know if this is typical with slow moving bullets, but I thought the drop was huge. Fortunately, I corrected after stage 1 and still shot rifleman.

 

[sloughfoot]

The shockwave of the supersonic bullet keeps the rain away from the bullet as it passes.

 

[6birds]

If you miss, it's gotta be the bullets fault.

I'd like to try this test, but it never rains in South Dakota.

 

[Dwight D]

DRob is correct, that was centrifugal force on a bullet not designed for the higher velocities causing failure. I have witnessed the same thing on ultra light bullets loaded super fast in a 30-06.
The effects of rain on bullets has spawned alot of myths over the years. But quite frankly all one is likely to notice is a slight change of POI due to the very heavy atmospheric conditions. I have shot many a High Power match in the rain and instructed 1000's of shooters during practice and qualification in the rain at Camp Lejeune. I have seen the trails of the bullets through heavy rain fly right to the X ring many many times. Shooting in rain is more difficult for numerous reasons, but bullets hydro-planing on rain drops is a new one on me.

 

[PhilB]

PhilB, I think what you are witnessing is a very lightly constructed bullet intended for Hornet velocities coming apart due to centrifugal force. Driving that fragile bullet at 22-250 velocity and spin rates almost guarantees the bullet will come apart in flight. That's why those bullets are designated for the Hornet. I've seen it happen with hot-loaded light HPs shot from a fast twist .223. Rain has nothing to do with that!

Relatively speaking, the more popular .204 bullets (32-40 gr) are light and fast but not so fragile as to break up on a rain drop. I agree with Indy_Guy_77. If it was that fragile, it probably wouldn't live through the launch and certainly would break up upon hitting an animal!

I understand what you are saying but if that were the case, then why didn't they come apart when I shot the exact same round before the misting rain started. I shot at least one target before the rain started and the bullets made it to the target in one piece. They didn't come apart until it started misting rain. Thought I made that clear in my post but I guess I didn't. I was surprised when they held together since the jacket on the hornet bullet was designed for 2500fps velocities and not the almost 4000fps I was pushing them. It's an experiment I wouldn't even try today but I was young and foolish then.

 

[Dwight D]

Well it could be you were right on the edge of failure and as the weapon heated up your velocities picked up just enough to push the bullets over the failure rate. Also as the barrel got dirtier resistance picked up and there and put more stress on the bullets. The one time me and a buddy experienced this we did not have every single bullet fail either. It has been many years ago, but if I recall right he had loaded some light 100 gr 30 cal bullets bullets made by Sierra called the "plinker" with a load that was to give velocities in the high 3000 fps range. He had the big idea of using his 30-06 for a varmint rifle. Anyway we were tryng to do initial sight in with this load at 100 yds. We did have some bullets reach the target intact, but we also had some complete misses that was baffling us both. Then on one round I saw a puff of dust about 30 yds out from the muzzle and this shot was a miss. As we continued to shoot we experienced more of this and there was no consistency at where we would see the puff of dust. Like I said we had some shots hit the target , some blew up right at the muzzle, and some closer to the target which allowed some bullet fragments to hit the target and leave some tiny holes scattered over the target paper. It was quite a mystery until we figured out what was going on. Later on I was reading an article on reloading when this phenomena was explained which allowed me to get a grip on the whole thing. I certainly can see why a person who was unfamiliar with this would place the blame on something like the rain, but I am confident that what Drob and I am proposing to you is correct.

 

[PMY]

I don't know what this means, but at the National Rimfire Sporter Match at Camp Perry last summer I had my POI shift when a storm came through.

During the sight-in (in rimfire sporter you get unlimited sighters before the first stage) I was hammering the x-ring. After the sight-in period ended and before the slow-fire prone stage started a storm blew in off Lake Erie. Where it had been calm and sunny before, suddenly it was very windy and raining.

My first shot for score was an inch or so high and a couple of inches to the right, in the 9 ring. My next shot was in the same spot. After that I made an adjustment and was back in the 10 ring. This was all at 50 yards.

I understood the lateral shift. Obviously, the wind was blowing. I never quite figured out how the bullet moved up. Maybe there's something to the hydroplaning business.

After the first stage the wind really picked up and the targets started blowing all off the stands. The Ohio National Guard and the CMP staff chased the targets around in pouring rain. By the time they got everything tied down the storm had passed.

 

[D-Bo]

May it be that a storm front makes the pressure change and the temp also will change and this will effect the bullet and it's flight.

 

[sloughfoot]

The old target shooting saying is still true.

Light up, sights up

Light down, sights down

In other words, you are shooting centered in the sun. The sun is obscured by the clouds. An experienced shooter knows to click the rear sight down to keep them in the center.

1/2 minute correction is common.

 

[Tombs]

Any bullet that will "disintegrate" in the rain wouldn't hold up to initial firing. Might not even hold up to loading/crimping in the case.

And any bullet will be affected by rain drops hitting it; just like they are when wind hits them.

The real question is will any rain drops hit a bullet?

-J-

You wouldn't think any bullet that could completely vaporize on impact with a grape could hold up while being fired either.

Has to do with the materials involved in the construction, against a hard object the bullet is much less likely to fragment than it is against something soft. I can't see one rain drop vaporizing a bullet, but under certain conditions where it hits a couple on the way to the target, it's totally understandable. You have so many physical reactions going on at once with such high forces and such large changes involved.

I'd say it'd only be likely to affect hyper velocity rounds like the .204, 22-250, 220 swift, or 223 WSSM.

 

[Dwight D]

As an Old Highpower shooter myself I agree 100 percent with Sloughfoot. You guys would do well to listen to him, the man knows his stuff.