I've read from here and a few other places that rain does not effect the path of the bullet, or at least not enough to make a difference, but what about hail? Does anyone have any experience with shooting in hail, if so what happened, how did it throw the bullet off, ect.
- Thread starter oregon700
- Start date
Does hail affect a bullet?...Hail yeah!! Well, seriously, if it strikes the hail, I would say yes.
The hail storms we get here in west Texas can be pretty severe, accompanied by high winds, lightening, and sometimes tornados. I can't imagine a time when I would want to go out and test fire my rifle in these conditions and I doubt there would be many hunting situations where I'd find myself shooting in a hail storm, so I'd only have to take a wild guess and assume that shooting in a hail storm would not produce good results.
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Can't you wait for the hail to stop before pulling the trigger, seems like a non problem.
Congrats !!! You've just won the stupidest fucking question of the year!!!! Your prize, a trip to Tornado Alley to shoot into a Twister and see if that throws it off. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll hail during a tornado in the middle of a hurricane. 
Just messing with you. But seriously ?? How do y'all come up with this shit!!?
Just messing with you. But seriously ?? How do y'all come up with this shit!!?
AT least he posted it in the right place?
By all laws of physics, yes.
But if, and only if, the bullet is struck by a hailstone.
But if, and only if, the bullet is struck by a hailstone.
Congrats !!! You've just won the stupidest fucking question of the year!!!! Your prize, a trip to Tornado Alley to shoot into a Twister and see if that throws it off. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll hail during a tornado in the middle of a hurricane.
Just messing with you. But seriously ?? How do y'all come up with this shit!!?
It would have been better if he had asked this question while serving in Vietnam. They must have gotten that question a lot in the jungles. "Hey Sarge?…."
I tried one time, but I couldn't hold to steady while that hail beat the shit out of me!
have hunted in hail storms as it started when I was miles from the truck. No idea on groups but the shooting would have all been at short range as the vision was limited. I do not think the was stupid. I would say, yes is does effect the bullet. It must do so.
I just realized there's no pop corn-eating smiley.
I was more of which wondering if the bullet would even hit the hail, like how rain does not effect it because of the supersonic "wave" around the bullet. I was more just curious because it was hailing and it intrigued my mind. Where I live it can be hailing but still great visibility, it's not golf ball sized hail. I also have to drive a few hours to get to the place I can shoot extended distances and the weather can be sunny, then snow, then sun, then rain, then sun, then hail, then snow, in just a matter of minutes, and don't want to have to pack up an leave because of hail.
As silly as this may sound, at the F class National Championships at Raton last yr (2013) a large dust devil (mini tornado) came up on the left side of the range and traveled down range from about 800 yards toward the targets to about the 200 yard line, and I shit you not, someone on that end of the range fired. I guess maybe if it went straight through it would cancel out!?
This thread made me remember a dinner a few years ago with fellow SDM Instructors and two AMU shooters. One of the AMU shooters, SFC Lance Hopper, said he thought a rain drop hit one of his bullets in a rifle match earlier that year at Camp Perry. Whether he was talking about a bullet in the gun or in flight, I did not know and was afraid to ask. I did not even know if he was sincere or just kidding. I just kept my mouth shut to not expose my ignorance of the subject. After all, if one of the best shooters on the planet says a rain drop hit his bullet who am I to differ.
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A while back someone posted some high speed photography of bullets being hit by what I think were small plastic pellets in flight. Not only was there no obvious disturbance to the bullet, but the pellet was clearly not brushed aside by any shock wave. I think that would be a pretty good approximation of what would happen with hail.
Edit: I misremembered this. See post below for video. I don't think it is terribly representative of hail after all.
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I would like to see that...
I wish I could remember the title. it was on Youtube.
1 million fps Slow Motion video of bullet impacts made by Werner Mehl from Kurzzeit - YouTube
I think this may have been it. If so, I misremembered a bit. It looks like metal shot, not plastic pellets, and it looks like they're moving approximately at the same speed as the bullet, and doing some damage to it. See the 2:00 minute mark.
I could have sworn I saw something similar with plastic pellets that did nothing, but I might be wrong. In any case, I'm not so sure htis is representative of hail any more. Sorry for the misinfo.
More interetsing videos here: http://kurzzeit.com/de/videos.htm
I think this may have been it. If so, I misremembered a bit. It looks like metal shot, not plastic pellets, and it looks like they're moving approximately at the same speed as the bullet, and doing some damage to it. See the 2:00 minute mark.
I could have sworn I saw something similar with plastic pellets that did nothing, but I might be wrong. In any case, I'm not so sure htis is representative of hail any more. Sorry for the misinfo.
More interetsing videos here: http://kurzzeit.com/de/videos.htm
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Anything the bullet strikes in flight will affect it....
I am sure it won't affect the ballistics of my 105mm Howitzer. Much.
Hail yeah it would. If you were shooting far enough I bet the chances of hitting at least one piece of hail would be high. A small, relatively hard object is going to have major effects on your bullet.
