While an overcast, rainy day might incite thoughts of Netflix and staying in bed all day, it might be a good opportunity to “test” your equipment. We are not talking about dragging your pistol down a dirt road test, but rather to see where your personal shooting skills and equipment really stack up. I recently needed to test some gear and I only had 1 day free in my schedule to do so. When the day came – sure enough – it was pouring rain outside. Realizing I had no other time to accomplish what I needed to do, I stepped outside and fought the elements while learning a lot about my daily load-out of gear.
With near tsunami-level rain showers (on the barren tundra of Minnesota), I quickly learned where my grip was failing. If while shooting through one full magazine you become lax towards the end it shall become supremely evident when your hands are soaking wet. That was a personal reminder to me to not let my grip “daydream,” and to remain firm and strong for an entire magazine. It accomplishes better accuracy, control, and general command of the firearm by doing so.
Another problem I encountered was the aggressive amount of rain was distorting my red dot in the window of my Trijicon RMR. Now, I am not disparaging the Trijicon RMR because they are the gold standard for red dots, but getting a distorted image of your dot is a potentiality with an open emitter optic. This could occur in oppressive fog, humidity, swirling dirt, rain, and/or snow. A cheat code to this is having tall enough iron sights (suppressor height sights should suffice) so you can see your irons through the window of your red dot. Then, if you are seeing 3 red dots like you have drunk goggles on, you can quickly switch your gaze to your iron sights and keep shooting. That is exactly what I did.
A third issue I encountered since I was shooting roughly 250 rounds on this day was loading magazines. With the rain and my slick thumbs, it was incredibly difficult to load magazines without a speedloader. So, if you are shooting a class of any kind in poor weather it would be paramount to remember your speedloader. In terms of everyday carry (EDC), you typically are not reloading in a gun fight, but for recreation and training, a speedloader is a must in bad weather.
Finally, your choice of clothing can make or break a rainy range day. I was not wearing a ballcap and that could have kept a lot of water off of my shooting glasses if I had been clever enough to bring one. Other than that, my electronic ear buds performed fine in the rain as well as my hoodie, pants, and hiking shoes. While I would not advocate to always shoot in crappy weather, it can bring to light a lot of things you should improve on if you do it occasionally. Until next time, continually check out our blog, join our newsletter, and watch the website for new and exciting updates! As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below. We love it when you participate in our articles and keep the conversation going!
