Cold Gun, Any Effect on Accuracy?

G

Geek-With-A-Gun

New member
Since I don't yet have my CCW, when I go to the range I carry my gun locked in the bed of my covered pickup truck. I was just wondering if during the winter months when it is so cold, is there any effect on accuracy firing a cold gun?
 
Interesting question. I have no experience testing it so I will offer conjecture.

POI will change with a barrel heating, so it probably will on a barrel that is colder.

Groups seem to spread out as barrels heat, so a cold barrel might actually give you tighter groups.

The change, at most 80* won't have as much effect as when a barrel heats up from firing(easily three times the change).

Can't wait to hear what more knowledgeable members have to say.
 
First of all, how cold is cold.... 20 deg F, -20 deg F, ...?

*edit* ok, now I see your location so we can define cold*

You're more likely to have issues with any oil/lube in the gun getting thick and causing malfunctions. When you bring the very cold gun into a warmer area, condensation (even frost) may form on the surfaces which can cause problems as well.

If you're just transporting it from the house to the range... say a 30 minute trip... if the gun is in an insulated case, it won't get real cold in a short-ish period of time. If it's really cold out, toss one of those activated hand-warmer doodads in the case for the trip.
 
The answer to your question from my own personal experience in shooting in weather ranging from -10* F to +100* F, Cold barrels shoot as perfect as your first shot every time. So do HOT barrels.

I've never missed with my first shot in the cold on a target nor with my last shot with a very hot barrel.

Shooting with a HOT barrel, starting in 100* weather and shooting 40 to 80 or so rounds in a 15 minute period will make the barrel heat up something warm!

Accuracy is all in the seating or the floating of the barrel in my experience. (barring internal errors in manufacture or in rifling)

If your barrel is free floated it will stay true regardless of temperatures that do not melt the barrel, if it is fully seated it will shoot true, if there is interference in the seating, (meaning contact of wood or plastic to the metal at a particular point without matching contact on the opposite side) that could cause one part of the barrel to cool faster or slower the barrel will tend to "lean" towards the point of contact because any contact with the barrel can effectively cause that particular point to cool faster or rather Transfer heat OUT of the barrel more rapidly than other points thus causing the barrels steel to shrink (on a super small scale but I've seen it at 200 Yards in 1/2" increments up to a 2" miss as the barrel warms) more rapidly than the air cooled portions.

I hope that clears up your question a tiny bit.

In effect, neither heat nor cold will effect the accuracy of the round as it travels down range, if your firearm is setup correctly.
 
He's talking about his future CCW in a handgun section. If he gets his bbl free-floated or his action bedded... I wanna see that setup!:eek:
 
10-96 beat me to it. You'll not notice any measurable POI change at reasonable defensive shooting ranges with any handgun shot from any standard stance (isocolese, weaver, chapman, etc.). I have a very accurate rifle on which the cold bore shot strikes 3/4 of an inch low and left compared to center of a subsequent warm bore five shot group ... at 100 yards. You shouldn't have to worry about POI change from your CCW.
 
good catch 10-96.
I don't try to shoot my CCW gun anywhere close to accurately enough to have to worry about these minute differences.
A long range heavy barrel varmint gun...
 
Density of the air will affect the bullet. But honestly, last month I was shooting at 70 degrees, and yesterday at 8 degrees. Only thing I noticed was after about ten minutes, the hits were being greatly affected by my hand freezing.:D
 
DOH! 10-96.... You got me hahahaha! Dang! I was so into my rifle mode that I totally didn't pay attention the the CCW part... Oops!
 
I did some shooting with some friends over the weekend. All our guns and ammo were in the car for a couple hours in 25-ish deg temps before we got to the range. The range itself was inside, but not heated. I'll say the temp was about 35 deg... you could see your breath.

The guns we had were a Ruger P85, two GP100's, Taurus PT145, Beretta PX4, and a .22LR revolver (I think it was an S&W but not sure).

Interestingly... ALL of them shot 2-3" high at 7 yds. It was odd... we loaded them up and fired our first salvo. When it was time to reload, one made a comment about shooting high. Yeah, me too. Me too. hmmmm. :confused: All of this was relatively slow, deliberate fire.

After a few minutes and a few more salvos, the range brought out some space heaters that took the edge off the cold, and everyone's POI came back to normal.

I don't have a good explanation, just reporting what we experienced.
 
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