shooting in heavy rain

Clay, Trap, Skeet Shooting Forum

Help Support Clay, Trap, Skeet Shooting Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Getting new toy wet is a factor, too. Oh I know it'll happen sooner or later, but there is a certain reluctance. And tomorrow's local forecast has pictures of clouds with multiple droplets.

But I am extremely keen to observe this "tracer" effect in heavy rain. Just possibly I have never seen it in years of shooting because as a spectacles wearer I wasn't seeing much anyway in wet weather.

We have not adjusted our calculations to reflect increased humidity having an effect of cartridge propellant burn and relative air density.

 
Also need to look at distance above sea level, as targets fly slower at low altitude......

Possibly even the rain direction, as droplets hitting the target head on will have a greater impact on the speed than droplets traveling with the target.....

Or we could just wipe our glasses and shoot the buggers............

 
Getting new toy wet is a factor, too. Oh I know it'll happen sooner or later, but there is a certain reluctance. And tomorrow's local forecast has pictures of clouds with multiple droplets.

But I am extremely keen to observe this "tracer" effect in heavy rain. Just possibly I have never seen it in years of shooting because as a spectacles wearer I wasn't seeing much anyway in wet weather.

We have not adjusted our calculations to reflect increased humidity having an effect of cartridge propellant burn and relative air density.
it was particularly torrential and I mean torrential. I have never experienced the effect before but I would think you would only witness it on going away stuff when your eyes are in line with the shot rather than a crosser also we are undercover so lens not covered in droplets

 
When I was shooting small-bore .22 40 grain lead bullets I was always taught by a ballistics expert that the rain does not touch the bullet but are deflected away by the air flow displaced by the bullet.  Its a sort of bow wave effect! Small-bore bullets travel at their fastest at about 1060 feet per second on average and are slowing down once fired.  I can only imagine that high velocity supersonic stuff works the same way.  Shotgun pellets, I believe are a bit quicker than small-bore stuff initially so the same effect is likely.

 
it wasnt actually raining on the day... in fact the sun was out... it was the biblical monsoon the day before that did for us... ;)
....i meant in general we still have the great British summer to come,you know the one where it only seems to rain at weekends :wink:

 
When I was shooting small-bore .22 40 grain lead bullets I was always taught by a ballistics expert that the rain does not touch the bullet but are deflected away by the air flow displaced by the bullet.  Its a sort of bow wave effect! Small-bore bullets travel at their fastest at about 1060 feet per second on average and are slowing down once fired.  I can only imagine that high velocity supersonic stuff works the same way.  Shotgun pellets, I believe are a bit quicker than small-bore stuff initially so the same effect is likely.
This is an interesting theory, I'd love to see a high definition film to show it for real as it seems so implausible but still somehow possible.  :)  The mind starts to go really fuzzy when you try and equate the phenomenon to a shot load travelling together  :huh:  perhaps that partly explains the visible tracer effect you can sometimes see in heavy rain. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Unbelievable!!

Shame on you, John
Charlie boredom and  watching very heavy rain and wanting to go shooting leads to such a post I am afraid ... still never fired a shot in heavy rain :)  

I still think it was a thought provoking post though... some thought it was shoite while others actually thought about it and then thought it was shoite! :)

 
I was always taught by a ballistics expert that the rain does not touch the bullet but are deflected away by the air flow displaced by the bullet.  Its a sort of bow wave effect!"

Robert you could almost see that happening... don't know if it does but the image is there. The question was about the target though... and I have since been assured that in heavy rain there is a large amount of spray that comes off a target travelling through the air so summat probably does happen to the target but not that you can determine the actual effect. I suppose as long as the target travels the minimum distance that is all that matters?

 
This is an interesting theory, I'd love to see a high definition film to show it for real as it seems so implausible but still somehow possible.  :)  The mind starts to go really fuzzy when you try and equate the phenomenon to a shot load travelling together  :huh:  perhaps that partly explains the visible tracer effect you can sometimes see in heavy rain. 
I don't know where to find it, but I've seen a slow mo video of a .308 passing through monsoon 'rain' (garden hose) and the air was pushing the water droplets out of the way...same guy who did this had superb slow mo footage of different rifle bullets being shot into ballistic jelly and casts of the wound cavity created by them. Most interesting one was .22lr hollow point v solid...WOW!!! That silly looking little hole in the end of a .22 sub hollow point creates massive damage!!! The solid .22 sub sonic almost passed right through 3ft of ballistic jelly and hardly caused any disturbance...no wonder rabbits can run away seemingly unharmed after being shot through the ribs with solids!!!

 
I don't know where to find it, but I've seen a slow mo video of a .308 passing through monsoon 'rain' (garden hose) and the air was pushing the water droplets out of the way...same guy who did this had superb slow mo footage of different rifle bullets being shot into ballistic jelly and casts of the wound cavity created by them. Most interesting one was .22lr hollow point v solid...WOW!!! That silly looking little hole in the end of a .22 sub hollow point creates massive damage!!! The solid .22 sub sonic almost passed right through 3ft of ballistic jelly and hardly caused any disturbance...no wonder rabbits can run away seemingly unharmed after being shot through the ribs with solids!!!
We are in china and ball clay country down here and there are a number of casts around of clay about a foot long that have been shot with a .22 then fired in an oven and then cut in half.  The inner damage is immense compared to the entry and exit holes and the "wet" clay is evidently pretty similar to body muscle.

 
the theory of bullet or shot pushing the rain droplets away sounds highly probable to me. As for rain effect on target, I have never considered it or noticed any perceivable difference in speed or trajectory and even if it did we would be wise not to consider it for long or we are in danger of yet another thing taken into account that does not need taking into account.

great thread though most interesting

 
the theory of bullet or shot pushing the rain droplets away sounds highly probable to me. As for rain effect on target, I have never considered it or noticed any perceivable difference in speed or trajectory and even if it did we would be wise not to consider it for long or we are in danger of yet another thing taken into account that does not need taking into account.

great thread though most interesting
Absolutely - - - just STFU and shoot the target

 
The one advantage that rain gives is that it will dampen down the effect of the wind which will affect the targets much more than rain!

 
Back
Top