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I would think that if the bullet moves the rain ( however it does that ) the rain moves the bullet also? For every action there is a reaction.
 
At 600 yards, 105 grain, 6mm bullets, had a appreciable drop of 6 inches at the paper, or just at 1 MOA. Pretty heavy to moderate rain. Wind was 2.5 to 4 MOA left to right. As the rain let up the bullets rose back up about 6 inches, all else being essentially the same. All this over 20 minutes, 15 shots.
 
In yellow during the rain.

IMG_20190910_1737085_rewind_kindlephoto-202653238.jpg
 
Short answer, it depends, Caliber and Velocity are key! The larger the diameter, the slower it will exhibit these following effects!
Couple of things to ponder here, First is shock wave compressability and divergence, and second is called Boundary Layer deflection! Basically, a bullet in flight above a certain speed will create a frontal shock wave at the tip and it will also create a boundary layer around the bullet, the faster it flies, the tighter and firmer that boundary layer becomes, and finally Compressability, once you reach a certain speed, those shock waves compress to a certain level and rebound off the boundary layer creating a second shock wave! So, the bullet it's self is not impacting rain drops, its the frontal shock wave, and as the bullet passes, the boundary layer pushes the water/vapor away! It what creates the cloud that looks like a possible splash! In fact, the bullet will be traveling so fast, it will actually vaporize the water as it passes through the air! You can actually see this at a much slower speed with High Performance Aircraft, when turning and maneuvering, you can actually see the moisture being compressed out of the air! You can also see this with Propellers in high humidity operation! You can also see it when shooting during high humidity, the bullet will leave a vapor trail behind it on the way to the target!
 
Does rain affect bullet flight?



YES.

Thinking.....
Distance to the target, temps, humidity, barometric pressures, wind, weight and velocity of the "bullet" and probably even the Earth's rotation. Probably other things that I've missed.

Rrrright.....artillery.... firing "big bullets." But more or less, with the help of a good ballistic computer, these things can be compensated for (to a degree).

Aloha, Mark
 
Last Edited:
The humidity does. One thing to keep in mind, when its raining there isn't as much water falling as the eye perceives. It only looks that way because it moves faster than we can even see.
 
At 600 yards, 105 grain, 6mm bullets, had a appreciable drop of 6 inches at the paper, or just at 1 MOA. Pretty heavy to moderate rain. Wind was 2.5 to 4 MOA left to right. As the rain let up the bullets rose back up about 6 inches, all else being essentially the same. All this over 20 minutes, 15 shots.
Are you sure you dont have it backwards? Usually i notice a slight riseing of my shots during stormy weather on long range shooting.
 

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