Re: Realistic powder temperature
I always harped on this when I was coaching the AK NG Rifle team.
Some guys would load a round as soon as the first one left the barrel, then wait for the targets to be pulled/scored/and back up.
We all know that temp does affect the pressure, hense velocity of a round. We shoot in the morning with its cool, and it warms up toward the afternoon sometimes changing 30 degrees depending where you're at or what time of year. That's gonna change things.
Now you're banging away, lets say at the 600 yard stage. You're first sighters are from a cold chamber/barrel, and it starts warming up.
No problem if you keep the next round in the shade of your shooting stool, but if you let the round heat up setting in the chamber, something has to change. The problem is we don't know how much.
Of course with fast target service its not gonna have as long to heat up the round as,...lets say your target puller has problems finding your last shot, leaving the target in the pits for a minute or more. Wouldnt the round setting in the chamber warm up more???
I bought one of those laser temp gages at an auto parts store to try and see how hot the chamber gets. It don't take many rounds out of an M1 to get the chamber up 500 degrees. I wasn't able to get the temp of each round, but it was different between rounds.
I also found that how the rounds are stored before being loaded makes a differenc. Some people have them laying in the sun waiting for their turn to be loaded. The more experenced shooter leave them in the shade of their shooting stool.
One only has to walk down the firing line with a spotting scope, watching shooters and how long they let the round set in the chamber before they shoot, and look at their target and see what it does to elevation.
The real problem is "you just don't know". There is no consistancy. Plus you add the fact that this type of shooter tends to be in-experienced so you don't know if its the temp difference of the round, or some other newby error causing the changes.
One thing we do know is "accuracy is consistancy" You can basicly do anything as long as you do it the same way.
So to answer your question, yes it does have an effect, the problem being, we just don't know how much.
It's not just target shooting. I work our club's "sight in days" where we open or range for out of state hunters to sight or check their zeros before the hunt.
You can see the same problem, some shoot a lot, some with elevation changes caused by shooting a sting, loading the next round and fiddling with something or other waiting to get the next shot off.
Then wonder why they can't get a zero.
Like I said, we just can't really tell what's going to happen after letting a round set in a hot chamber waiting to shoot.
Simple solution, don't chamber until the instant you shoot.
The way I shot long range was to pull the trigger, the target goes down, I make the notation of my call in the score book, turn my head to look through the scope at the wind/mirage. You can normally see the target start to wiggle indicating its about ready to come back up.
I pop the round in the mag (not chamber), I go back to the scope to check for any changes, roll back to position with my finger on the op rod, get back on the sights and as the target hits the top I see the spotter, close the bolt and fire. The round only sets in the chamber an istant.
If something happens and I don't shoot, I pull the round out of the chamber, put it aside, and load a fresh round.
Maybe over kill, but you just don't know.
Get one of those laser temp gages and play with it, you'd be supprised how hot the round gets setting in the chamber. You'd also be suprised at the different temps of rounds laying by your mat, one in the shade, one in the sun.
