After reading Eurodriver’s great write up about shooting in high wind before a hurricane, I’ve wanted the get out to do some distance shooting in less than perfect weather. I live in North Texas, and this winter season has been pretty mild. We had a brief cold spell before Christmas, but then it was in the 80’s on Christmas day.

It had been mild here, until Friday. Earlier in the week, I saw the forecast was calling for high 20’s on Friday, with 15-20 MPH winds! Perfect for what I had in mind. This isn’t particularly cold for our northern friends, but its downright frigid here in the Great State of Texas! So a friend and I trekked west of the DFW area today to do some distance shooting in the cold and wind.

Attachment 43236

As a bonus, it snowed today too. Not a lot, but enough to make it interesting.

Rifles used for this sojourn:

Attachment 43237

My friend used a 16” LaRue PredatAR with NF 4-16x scope, shooting 69gr SMK hand loads.

I used an 18” build with a LaRue Stealth barrel with a 1.5-5 Leupold Mk IV scope, shooting 69 gr SMK Outback and 77gr TMK from Black Hills. Both rifles ran without issue.

We shot prone off bi-pods for all or our shooting out to 500 meters. We checked zero at 100 meters. I was getting approx. 2” groupings with about a 4” drift to the left (west) due to the cross-wind gusts. Then we moved out to 500 meters shooting at a ˝ size IPSC steel silhouette target.

Attachment 43238

Attachment 43239

Attachment 43240

We did pretty well at 500 meters. I was hitting steel approx. 8 of 10 shots. My partner was hitting at about the same rate.

One of the reasons for venturing out in this weather was to see the difference and difficulty of shooting wearing heavy jackets, thick gloves with some general discomfort. I was able to stay warm enough that I didn’t feel too uncomfortable while shooting, though the ground felt cold through my clothing. I was also wearing a beanie hat and scarf, which kept my head and face warm, but caused my safety glasses to continually fog up. I decided to be less warm to keep my glasses clear.

The wind was mostly a head wind. When the snow started, we were both getting flakes hit the objective, obscuring the reticle as it turned to water. This made for some targeting difficulties.

After spending a couple of hours shooting at 500 meters, we moved to a short distance range to do some on the move rifle/pistol transition drills.

Movement drilling = staying warm! All in all, a great experience shooting being a little uncomfortable. We both learned a lot, especially about the kind of gear needed to stay warm while functionally shooting.

Questions:
What do you use to avoid getting the “snowflake turns to water obscuring your view on the scope” problem?

Anyone recommend a good anti-fog for the glasses?

NC