sighting in a rifle when its cold outside?

does cold affect my zero?

38 here in longview and wanna sight my 6.5 and 300 win mag in.. will the cold cause any issue with my zero ?
what about when I sight in when its 38 deg and summer rolls around and the rifle and ammo are 95 deg?

I think it does affect it. How much can only be answered by you with a test.

You know how it hurts more if you smash your finger in cold weather?

Anyway, I can feel your pain, I'm developing loads for my 270 WSM and it's been getting down to 21 degrees at night. I show up at the gun club early in the morning as its usually calm then.

Brrrr!

Guess I better drag out my long hannels.

Hunting in cold weather is one thing, but doing load development in the cold takes real dedication. No doubt about that!

Should be OK out to 250-300 yds, after then you might start noticing a difference in MOA measurement.

Depending on the powder in the heat you may have pressure issues. Most of the Hodgson Extreme powders are close but even them they will speed up a bit when it gets warm.

So it's hard to tell but it will effect it some. The gun will lose speed in the winter and gain speed in the summer. More speed = higher POI & less speed = lower POI

Good luck and if you are a 100-200y shooter it isn't going to be enough to make you miss a deer/pig.

If you've got time to shoot and it's 28 F outside, go shoot. Same holds true if it's 100 F outside. They fly slower in the cold since your powder is starting colder and the air is more dense when it's cold. When you come to my range we always check zero first, and make adjustments as needed. The temp and DA today in Longview will probably be very different when you come to Wolfe City in the next weeks or months. If the zero is off it will probably still be inside .5 Mil from where you wanted it to be. One shot, see where it landed, adjust turrets as needed, loosen screws, zero turrets, tighten screws, fire a second shot to confirm, and it's over. Enough of this 100 yard stuff lets go farther...

[quote=FiremanJG]If you've got time to shoot and it's 28 F outside, go shoot. Same holds true if it's 100 F outside. They fly slower in the cold since your powder is starting colder and the air is more dense when it's cold. When you come to my range we always check zero first, and make adjustments as needed. The temp and DA today in Longview will probably be very different when you come to Wolfe City in the next weeks or months. If the zero is off it will probably still be inside .5 Mil from where you wanted it to be. One shot, see where it landed, adjust turrets as needed, loosen screws, zero turrets, tighten screws, fire a second shot to confirm, and it's over. Enough of this 100 yard stuff lets go farther... [/quote "what about primers, seems like I remember reading that if its terribly cold its better to use thin primers???

don't always believe what people tell you is the morale of that story. you do not need to change any of your components for cold weather and a rifle is as accurate in the cold as it is in the hot summer months.... your load may change based on the powder you use (less so with the Hodgdon extreme series) but your components are static. your zero may shift but it's not really changing, your velocity is which is shifting your zero... adjust load to get back lost velocity and your zero would be dead on (note your DOPE will be different, but your zero would be dead on at 100)

good article.

http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/bullets_ballastics/ballistic_altitude_temperature_humidity.htm

I have never had an issue whether shooting or sighting in cold or hot weather.

At the range .. freaking cold. My dumb self forgot my jacket!!

3 shots at 100
300 win mag.. factory ammo not too bad for freezing with no jacket or gloves..target was shot up before..just used what someone left behind

6.5x55 16.25 in setup..factory ammo 4 shots at 100..

Thanks Derrick at Horizon firearms for the custom work

That'll get it done.

Took em out to 300 yards today and that was fun.. never missed the 6 in circle at 300

When you come out, well just skip to 400, cold bore then.

Lol putting me on the spot..should be able to clear up my dates this mth and book it