Cold Weather Shooting

I shoot with a local group on a biweekly basis, the Austin Sure Shots, and we always practice at Red’s Guns in Oak Hill.  Red’s is a nice, convenient range if you’re in the Austin area, and I’ve heard rumors that you might even brush elbows with the likes of Governor Rick Perry (who we saw at SHOT this year), Kyle Chandler of one of our favorite shows Friday Night Lights, Quentin Tarantino, and other celebrities who call Austin home.  They have Ladies’ Day on Monday, which is awesome for the women, as we get free gun rentals and half price lane fees!

In any case, last night was cold. And I don’t mean when Texans think it’s cold if it gets below 60 degrees.  The windchill was in the single digits cold.

One of the good things about Red’s is that they pipe in fresh air that blows down range so that you’re not stuck breathing in gun fumes while you’re there.  Then again, one of the bad things about Red’s is that they pipe in fresh air that blows down range… because when it’s cold outside it’s ever colder on the range and when it’s hot outside, it’s hotter’n’hell in there.  I learned the (cold) hard way that shooting in the cold can affect everything from loading the magazine to aiming to holding the gun steady when trying to aim to trying to manage shooting in the extra bulky clothes we’re forced to wear in the winter (and let me tell you, it ain’t as easy to look good at the shooting range when you’re bundled up in 3+ layers!).

What happened?

First, when I was loading the mag on my new Gen 4 Glock 19, the ammo was cold, which made loading it a wee bit difficult.  Lucky for me, my new baby came with a speed loader – phew!  I tried my gloves, which are the typical knit ones, and these just made things more difficult.  So I basically would put my hands in my pockets between each mag load…

Once I had my pistol loaded, I proceeded to get a proper grip and aim.  Well, with it being cold, my fingers were stiff. And the longer I was out there, the stiffer they got.  I was still able to hold on but I noticed my movements got twitchier as the night continued on…

Then, since I had cold air blasting me from behind, my eyes started watering.  Well, this made aiming difficult because it affected my eyesight and impaired my sight alignment…

And then, finally when I pulled the trigger, I swear it was more difficult than usual with cold, stiff fingers.  This was most obvious in my results on the target – compared to shooting the 19 over the weekend, my grouping was not nearly as tight and I had several more that were way off-target than usual.  I tried shooting with the aforementioned knit gloves, but being slippery they made getting a proper grip difficult, despite the fancy new features of the Gen 4 Glocks.

What’s the moral of this story, you ask?  For one thing, I’m going to invest in some shooting gloves and begin to learn how to use them.  After talking with my lane partner for the night, she said they helped keep her hands somewhat warmer and aided in getting a good grip on her firearm.  Another thing I’m going to remember, which had been suggested previously, is to bring along some hand-warmers.  That way, when I’m not loading my mags or shooting, I can warm up my hands in my pockets!

One note: I’ve also shot clay pigeons in the snow with shotguns.  This was up in Colorado and going without gloves was not an option.  I had a choice of either my thick ski gloves or my knit ones.  Although it did affect my aim, I was able to manage shooting the shotguns while wearing the gloves.  I don’t remember if it was colder than at the range last night or not, but it wasn’t that bad and I managed to show a few of those clay pigeons who was boss before they smashed into the nearby mountain!

What do you do when you go shooting & it’s cold outside? Leave your tips in the comments!