Worth working up loads in cold weather?

[Clark]

If you followed my link, Kombayotch used an oven at the range to control the temp of the ammo.

 

[joed49]

Well, I guess RL is temperature sensitive. I never really spent time shooting rifle in the winter before, this year was an exception.

I learned a lot. H380 would be a really nice powder to use if you lived in Hawaii. I developed a load in August, every month as the temp dropped so did velocity, and the POI changed. When the POI changed by more then 3" I vowed never to use H380 again, along with any ball powder.

Varget is very forgiving. I switched to that from H380 and continued shooting all winter. Even though the powder did fine the barrel seemed to turn on me in the bitter cold.

Not sure if there is a less temp sensitive powder then RL for my bigger cartridges and I'd hate to switch.

 

[Dans40X]

Try working up loads for a 150 deg F temperature swing(-60 to+90deg)in the interior of AK. if you think it's cold or hot in the lower 48.
Work up loads for winter shooting & loads for summer shooting.
400fps variations aren't uncommon.

In 25-30gr powder capacity cases(17,204,222,223) don't waste time,powder,primers or projectiles w/ powder charges less than .2 gr.
In 40-50gr powder capacity cases(22-250,260,7-08,308) don't waste components w/ powder charges less than .5 gr.
In 70-100gr powder capacity cases(WM's Ultra's Wbthy's) 1gr powder charges should get the job done.

If the barrel/combination is going to shoot weighing powders to the granule is a useless venture.

 

[Rustystud]

Two concerns with extreme cold:

Stainless steel embrittlement. Stainless steel is not the choice metal for extreme cold.

Bullet seating becomes an issue. Jammed bullets will stick in the chamber when the case is extracted on unfired ammo.

Nat Lambeth