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Cold components

Intell

Hey guys, I’ve noticed recently having trouble with load consistently with a 6BRA. Loads that shot small before are now shot gunning. I may get two side by side, with a sliver of paper between, then bam, bad flyer one inch or more out.
My loading equipment, bullets and brass get cold. I build a fire in the stove and it slowly warms up to jacket weather. All powder kept in warm house.
Could cold brass cause moisture inside cases and make loads go nuts?
ive been fighting this gun that’s shot very well before, same same everything. I blew through 50-60 rounds yesterday trying to replicate a previous load, same lots of components.
Should I take everything inside during cold weather?
thanks.
 
Hey Bill.
I do keep primers inside and use an old upright freezer for powder storage in a dry basement.
I was wandering if someone else has had an issue with cold brass creating moisture.
I hate to move my whole bench from my man hut to man cave.
I may experiment taking my brass inside so it doesn’t get stone cold.
 
When you start to question your load because you see it go way out of tune, it helps to have an idea of two things ahead of time.

One would be the average velocity and stats of where you say it was in tune. Remember, some of the best group shooting in the world is done in real time while loading at the range by BR shooters, and many of them don't use a chronograph. But, don't kid yourself... they are very experienced and know which way to adjust their load and by roughly how much, in order to keep it in tune as the day and weather changes.

I will assume you are not an experienced BR shooter, so I would say knowing your velocity when you are happy with the tune is important.

The second concept, is to know how wide on the high and low end it can go before it falls out of tune.

It is not always easy to test, but it is just as important to know this as it is to find that tune in the first place.

Some powders are more temp and humidity sensitive than others. If we don't anticipate the temperature where we will be shooting and know if that will take us out of tune, then we are just hoping to get lucky.

Humidity where powder is being loaded affects the water content of the charge. More water will affect both the density and the burn rate by slowing the velocity. Less water content does the opposite. Try to aim for keeping your powder at a baseline humidity and keep the workshop where you load within that baseline in order to keep the velocity margin in favor of your tune.

There are many other things that can affect your recipe which can take you out of tune. To keep the velocity in tune, you must learn to manage them all and also to anticipate the weather. Weather affects us in both internal and external ballistics, so once a loader is past the basics it is good to understand how these factors affect them and how to manage them. YMMV

ETA: I understand folks wondering about getting condensation inside a cartridge in very cold weather. Just keep in mind, in less than a millisecond the solid powder converts to a hot high pressure gas. The water content has the effects mentioned above, but they are going to be part of the gas charge in short order once the pressure and temperature in that cartridge goes to high levels. Worry less, shoot more.
 
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Dusty Stevens said:
Gotta re-tune it for your current conditions. Loads dont stay the same even throughout the day
Click to expand...
Dusty, are loads that jump the bullet more tolerant as conditions change? I can't hold well enough with the sling to see any changes. My eyes change through out the day based on hydration.
 
That’s the odd part Dusty, the temperature was close to where it shot well before.
it went from .3s pretty consistently to over an inch, some were 2 inches. I didn’t know anyone could make a 6BR shoot so bad lol.
I’ll try the same loads with a different scope, I forgot to mention I put a NF comp on it and that could be the culprit, even though I hate to think it’s not holding zero, I read that some don’t. I didn’t think the minor weight difference would take it that far out of tune.
Rings, action screws checked.
I should have done more testing to narrow it down before posting, but It just had me so frustrated yesterday, my loading bench is only 110yds from my shooting bench and a made 8-10 trips with six at a time lol.
Trying to shoot cold is tough also, I’m sure part was me, but not all of it.
I’m going to clean it up and start over like it’s new.
Thanks for the tips guys.
 
Something that goes from 0.3" to 2" would get my attention too.

This is one of those times when I would walk back that scope change just to make sure it wasn't really a bad scope. I would hate to hear an good NF scope went bad, but it sure would be high on my list of things to check. I don't always carry a spare scope to the range, but sometimes I do and this is why...

I hope you find it. Good Luck and in for the range report.
 
Intell said:
Hey guys, I’ve noticed recently having trouble with load consistently with a 6BRA. Loads that shot small before are now shot gunning. I may get two side by side, with a sliver of paper between, then bam, bad flyer one inch or more out.
My loading equipment, bullets and brass get cold. I build a fire in the stove and it slowly warms up to jacket weather. All powder kept in warm house.
Could cold brass cause moisture inside cases and make loads go nuts?
ive been fighting this gun that’s shot very well before, same same everything. I blew through 50-60 rounds yesterday trying to replicate a previous load, same lots of components.
Should I take everything inside during cold weather?
thanks.
Click to expand...
bottom line
you need to move it all to a temp controlled area.
65-85
plain and simple
 
Might be something about your set-up on the bench. Different jacket, gloves, different fill on the bags. Bags getting hard/frozen and causing rifle to jump or not recoil straight. Too much coffee/caffeine to keep you warm, eyes tearing up in the cold. Gotta consider all the variables.
 
Well, I got it shooting again.
This is my first 6BRA, I read that most use Varget or H4895 so that’s what I tried to use.
I think I was in a very narrow node before, shooting well one day and just meh or bad the next, I also had some stiff bolt.
I put a different scope on it, gave it a good cleaning and got the same results after firing some fouling shots.
I remounted the NF and tried a ladder test with some N150 powder and found a wide node with Hornady 108s. 3/ tenths up or down still shot well. I tried the Berger 108s with the same charge and they are shooting small again also.
New load with N150 is giving me 2964 FPS and easy bolt lift.
This thing had me all bent out of shape last week wasting primers and good bullets. Now I need to find an 8lb jug of N150. I scored a Varget local on Thursday, I’ll use it for 308 instead.
I’ll test it at distance tomorrow and see how it holds up.
Thanks again for the suggestions.
 
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