Shooting for group size at night

[Bojo]

They shoot every night in some of America's largest cities. Hits seem to be all over the place without a whole lot of accuracy, however pure volume of shots fired makes the scores look good. Chicago just had a banner night a few days ago.

On a serious note I sight my 22 hornet in at night with a primos hunting light atop my scope. With a 100 yard zero it did not seem much different when I shot it during daylight hours.

 

[TAJ45]

We shot a lot at night a gun club in S. Ca., the Barea Gun Club, now closed. They had 50, 100, and 200 yd berms.

Underground electric lines had been run to each set of target berms. A sidewalk was poured about 24" wide and the electric plug was on the back side of the sidewalk so as not to get hit by bullets.

You took out your own ground flood light for your target.

Conditions would usually stabilize after 10pm, after the ground had cooled off.

Shooting partner and I shot a lot of very, very tiny groups on that rifle range.

I had a feeling this would be your post. Sure enough . . .

 

[4xforfun]

I shoot 600 and 1000 yards at night all the time. Mirage can be killer at night at times. Sometimes it is so clear that you can see your holes at 1K.

Tod

 

[STS]

I have shot many benchrest matches at night and I can tell you without hesitation that conditions can be brutal. I saw more crazy unexplainable shots from temperature gradients and mirage that you could see, but not tell what it was doing. Ranges with berms along side were at times virtually unshootable. A cool column of air would move over the berm and you could shoot a 2.5 inch vertical group with a rifle that was capable of shooting in the .2xx. It could be really good at night but it could also be so bad you were sure your scope had just blown up. I don't think tuning at night would be my first choice.