ORIGINAL: mauser06
i have a rem 700 SPS 22-250 with a 26" heavy barrel.
i havent shot paper with it since summer time...it was 80-95 degrees and sunny out...gun sitting on a bench in direct sunlight, so it was WARM out...as well as the shells...actually, the ammo never left my consule in my truck so now they are REAL cold...
i zeroed the rifle at 200yd...
say i took it out now, cold ammo, air temp barrel(below freezing...32 degrees down to 0 depends)..if i took it out now, what kind of point of impact change would i be looking at? if any? i know if im going hunting with it, i aughta shoot some paper and make sure its there...dont need a 200yd zero and want to burn up all the ammo anyways...want to head to the range soon either way...just got to thinking about the POI change...with that rifle and scope i SHOULD notice the change even if its pretty minimal...just always wondered how different temps like that effect the POI...might take the gun coyote hunting...will head to the range before that..just wondering where my POI will be in the cold
This is a question no one could hope to answer without firing your gun! It may evidence NO CHANGE at all, but you will just have to bite the bullet, and shoot it at a known-distance range under current conditions to find out! Any opinions expressed about this without testing the rifle are just S.W.A.G.'s!!
I once owned a Mannlicher/Schoenauer carbine in .270 Win. When I bought this rifle in 1964, I installed aLyman All-American 4X scope on it, and zeroed it to hit 4" high at 100 yards. Every year from 1964 on, until I sold it in 1987, I took it to the range and FIRED 1 SHOT at 100 yards. For all those 23 years, it was still 4" high at 100 yards every time I tested it. One shot was all that was needed to verify that nothing had changed. And it killed deer for me every one of those years also, plus a couple of pretty nice black bears!