I just bought the Leupold VX5 and was wanting to sight it in, but I have always been told it is best to sight your rifle in when the weather is cooler. I know you need to let your barrel cool between shots, but can you sight it in during the hotter months?

Can sight it in any time. Just zero again and make adjustments before deer season in cold weather. There will be variances but minimal. When hunting in super cold weather I'd leave gun outside for a day or so, fire and check zero, then leave it alone all season. Any shot I was going to make would be with a cold barrel anyway. Wouldn't even bring it inside on trips.

I have never had a problem. Just go early in the morning and hopefully you will have some shade. Check it again closer to the season. Portable fan is nice to have.

Yes, just let the gun cool off between shots.

I've seen some IDOTS at the gun range pump 1 or 2 boxes through a gun without cooling trying to sight one in. They still couldn't get it done, and they never could figure it out. I'm sure the barrel would give yo 3rd degree burns if you touched it.

It shouldn't take more than 3-5 shots to get the scope very close. If it needs a little fine adjustment, wait til it cools down and shoot groups for this.

Just take your time between shots. I would definitely check zero again in the fall. Depending on your goal with the rifle, you may or may not see any variance.

Shoot one round then eat a sandwich between shots. You'll get full and be sighted in.

None of my rifles string, I shoot them until they are about to melt down and shove the barrel in an ice chest full of ice and water. I do this twice and my point of impact never changes of any note based on temperature. I’m also a stickler about running my ballistics numbers based on chrono and whatever the chart shows my 25 yard impact at, i make sure its exact. I also pretty much use a 1 1/2” - 2” MPBR based on my hunting and what caliber it is.

Had a friend of mine roast the barrel of his Christensen 300 RUM a few years ago by shooting it @ 12 times without cooling the barrel between shots. I was yelling at him to stop be he kept shooting. Next time he went to the range gun wouldn't shoot a 3" group.

Lesson learned, the hard way.

He shoulda used the ice water

I keep a dozen frozen washcloths in ziploc bags in a cooler. I'll shoot a round,collect data then repeat. After #5 round i go to the cooler and get 3-4 rags and drape over barrel. Get things cleaned up,reorganized,etc. After about 10 minutes and I'm ready to go with #2 session of data collecting i take rags off,put back in cooler and get back to work. Repeat process over,over til done with my load testing.

Some powders are more temp tolerant than others. If you are shooting a rifle with a magazine load one round at a time. The chamber heating up heats the next round in the magazine up too. So load one round then let barrel cool then load the next one.

How the heck y'all needing to cool a bolt action barrel with ice water?new one for me but I been shooting at public ranges since I was a kid and thought I was OCD.but seriously is this what y'all do please educate me?I shoot in July often and agree go early to get decent groups cause for one thing powder is more sensitive to heat but I'm puzzled in the ice water deal?please inform me if like to know just fir chits and giggles

I was thinking the same thing?? Never heard of such extremes to sight a rifle!

If it's hot outside I'll prop my rifles up with the barrels in the a/c vents and open the bolts to cool down between groups. Always take more time between shots, sometimes 5 minutes, when its warm. Also put my ammo in a cooler with ice packs to keep it cool.

I talked to a guy shooting liquid co2 down his barrel one day. He was an interesting character. I kinda wondered if it was worth it, but it was unclear if he was just trying to heat temper his barrel or actually shoot.

I just shoot a three shot group and let it sit for 10-15 min and then repeat.

Yep me to.i usually shoot better in cooler months and that's why I like to shoot alot if I can during February and March before turkey season and fishing.after it heats up I prefer to shoot semiauto rifles and pistols just cause I'm not as concerned with shooting tiny holes with those guns as much.when life lets me do it that way anyway.but to OP you'll see very little point of impact difference between hot and cool weather I do have a rifle powder that shoots better during hit summer days but that's rare mist do better when cool and point of impact doesn't change hardly if any between hot or cold weather at least not enough to notice.groups just open up a little normally

Y'all would find Benchresters strange. They invented rifle OCD.