Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Shooting in the rain

I was practicing yesterday and testing some new ammo. There was a light rain going on
.i would get some great groups in the X but about every third group i would get a crazy flyer ¾ moa out. Do i Blame it on the rain or just crappy ammo. Happened with Tenex and Midas + among others?

I have shot some of my best groups in a light rain and do not recall ever having flyers that I could blame on the rain. To me it is the near perfect condition to shoot in, light conditions are good and the rain makes it easy to see wind conditions by watching the rain.
I suppose that it is possible that there could be a slight deflection by hitting a raindrop but 3/4" is huge IMO.

drover

I was not aware that Tennex and Midas + was "crappy" ammo??



I should let more people post before I ruin the thread. I am in agreement with drover though^^




Shivering and getting soak and wet and miserable probably has more of an effect on group size, especially when it's near freezing.

Now, let's talk "crappy ammo:


Here's my single shot (MK1 FVT) similar to the rifle above:

Shooting in the rain.


According to what is written on the target, it was "windy/rainy" that day:


Wasn't using the same quality of ammo as the OP was using. No major fliers that I've seen, just from shooting in the rain. Not saying it can't happen, but generally the rain has minimal affect on group size.

This has more of an effect on group size:


But that's only because I can't see the orange dot!!!

YMMV. I guess???

Someone else should chime in. When I lived in Oregon, I shot a lot in the rain, as my clubs range is in the wettest part of Washington. Sometimes called the armpit of Oregon/Washington. Actually referred to as the PNW rainforest. Located near the bridge of the gods. It's always raining there. We shoot in the rain, we hunt in the rain. Just how it is. It is possible that if you are not used to shooting/hunting in the rain, it could severely affect your group size. How much does it rain in AZ???

He’s down in kodiak.. after hunting season is over heads back to Arizona.

Ok, It probably rains a lot there in AK as well.

We had LR smallbore silhouette match few weeks ago it was raining my daughter managed to get 6 out of 10 rams at 200 meters using tenex. So I doubt it’s the ammo or rain.

Only one season in kodiak, rain..

One of my buddies from Or hunts there. He says it's miserable. Glad to see your daughter shooting with you in those matches. She's going to be whipping your azz soon buddy.

Dennis was the ammo purchased in AK or did you buy it in Phoenix? I don't shoot much smallbore, but have been warned multiple times that one distributor stores their rimfire ammo outdoors in a connex and the heat takes a huge toll on the lube and priming compound.

This is in Kodiak. I shoot in the rain a lot but this was the first time testing new 22 ammo in the rain. I will look for some other reasons for the flyers. My best groups were with SK match long range and Norma match, both $7/ box ammo.
Normally my rifle really likes Tenex and Eley match. Must not like these lots or i have something else going on. Very frustrating to see a ragged hole with 4 shots and then one is b way out

I understand your frustration. Like drover said, it’s possible that a bullet such as a slow moving 22 cal could be affected by a large raindrop. I had to think about it a little more. When shooting in Washington, the rain was more of a mist. Unlike the rain we get here in Nevada. I’ve seen some raindrops that looked like golf balls here. So that may be a consideration. Fliers do suck. Hopefully you’ll have some good weather, so you can do some better checking of that ammo in question.

I was on Kodiak once for two weeks and it only rained twice! Once for 5 days and once for 9 days...

🤦

Shot in great weather today other than a little wind. Flyers not so obvious but a got a couple.

I've always shot better in the rain, but get any moisture in the bore and every thing goes to [bleep].

Keep practicing until you can shoot between the rain drops...

I didn't see this before..i had some of the ammo shipped to my daughter in AZ from Creedmoor sports, the rest i bought at Brunos in Phoenix. He puts everything on the shelf he has so no connex storage there. I had to fly to Phoenix for a couple of funerals and just filled my luggage with ammo.
Shot some of it today. Light drizzle, mostly good groups considering it was the first rounds fired from a new rifle.

Sounds like maybe the other rifle didn't like that ammo. Even temperature differences and humidity can mess with group size and poi. As an example, if you shot the rifle in Arizona and it drove tacks, that does not guarantee it's going to do the same thing in a different environment like AK.. Some rimfire ammo is very sensitive.