The "Rain Rifle"

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My "rain rifle" has long been an old K98k with the stock water-proofed(-resistant) with a few coats of Formby's Tung Oil Varnish.

... but I enjoyed reading your approach to and thoughts on the subject. :)

If I were going to buy a special rifle for this purpose, it would probably be stainless in synthetic with an aperture rear sight.
 
"A Scout setup or LER scope would greatly diminish the risk of hot face/cold glass distortion."

Very good point. One other advantage of the scout I hadn't thought of. But where can you get both high-end and IER? How *much* better do high end scopes battle fogging, as compared to something in the $200-$500 range?

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Is it the hot face, cold glass, or the mouth breathing?
I use Nikon prostaffs and haven't had issues in rain or cold.
 
I've often run out of "dry shirttail" area to wipe the scope lens down when hunting in the rain.

bfh_auto ... "My train rifle..."
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:D

I've often run out of "dry shirttail" area to wipe the scope lens down when hunting in the rain.

bfh_auto ... "My train rifle..."
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:D
That's hilarious. I didn't realize it auto corrected.
Train rifles are much more difficult to shoot than normal rifles.
 
the burris ff3 on my competition pistol has gotten wet a few times,not submersed but rained on or splashed. only issue is water spotting.
 
I understand - that's all well and good until the game high-tails it while you're taking the covers off.

My flip up scope covers are see through glass treated with rain-x before each hunt. No problem seeing through them or fogged scopes. Long range, I can flip them up, close up, just shoulder and fire.
 
If I was buying a new rain dedicated rifle aimed at stalking, if would probably be the Marlin 336XLR, a stainless and laminate lever action rifle. It would be even better if they offered if with a carbon fiber stock and fiber optic sights. I have those and a plastic stock on my stainless muzzleloader and really think the ensemble makes a very good all weather rifle.

Since I recently bought a pre owned 30-30 Winchester 94AE and tested it yesterday at the range (it was then fired for the first time since its manufacturing in c. 1982), and taking into account that my best 8 shot group was hovering around 2.5", maybe 3", at 50 yards (150 grain ammo, 2 brands; 170 grain looks more promising, but I was tired after 46 shots and quit) -I feel like the fiber optic sights are a little less accurate, because they are bigger than the post- I think the replacement of the sights on that rifle by fiber optic sights would make an already suitable rifle simply perfect for the role envisioned by OP: It did cost half of what Marlin is asking for their rifle and it feels like a formidable stalking rifle, ahead of my BAR (scope 1.5-6 and see through mounts for the use of iron sights) and on par with my Encore (fiber optic sights). The gain envisioned with the use of fiber optic sights in dim light conditions surpasses in my opinion the accuracy loss, or possible accuracy loss, due to the use of fiber optic sights, in that precise use of a rifle as a stalking instrument. Just wipe and oil at the end of the day.
 
two of my rainy day rifles, tikka ss syn stock with a 4x12 ss leupold and a rem syn stock and a 2.5x8 leupold scope, no problems in the rain-snow. I have a small bottle of NU-VIEW antifog that I use.
 

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So you're saying I'm a mouth breather? You could be onto something. :)

It's a good point. Breathing through the nose sends warm breath downwards.

Back in my all-weather motorcycle days, I had to learn to exhale through my nose otherwise I'd fog up my helmet visor. For times I was really huffin' and puffin', and had to exhale through my mouth, I'd curl my upper lip down and over my lower lip to exhale downwards. It became second nature in no time.
 
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I have not extensively tested the RMR-DI in the rain, but initial cursory results from sprinkling water on the sight and looking through it around the house are promising. Also note that ESDs / RDSs with an internal chamber are probably out; need a holographic style of sight, or good iron sights, for this type of rig.

That's a fine lookin' rig. :cool:

I think one of the reasons a tube style red dot can be useful in the rain is you don't have to worry about water puddling over the LED emitter. I'm not sure if that would be a problem with the RMR or not.
 
Ruger Guide Gun in .416 Ruger with a JP 4-MOA Red Dot on a Custom Mount. That should take care of your T-Rex during the Rainy Season in the Amazon problem.
 
My zastava Mauser is coated with turtle wax and has flip up scope caps. It was 18 and snowing here today. I shot a deer at 15 yards and one at 120ish.

I understand if you have sentimental attachment to a rifle and dont want to get it wet but seems to me a high end scope is cheaper than a brand new rifle and irons/optics
 
My rainy day deer hunting rifle is a Howa 1500 Stainless Steel with the Houge over molded stock topped with a Paragon 3 to 12 power scope. 30 06
 
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I find I can rip the bikini cover off a scope as I'm mounting the rifle -- if it adds half a second, fine.

My bad weather rifle is my pre-64 Model 70 Winchester in .30-06. I have a bikini cover on the scope, electrician's tape on the muzzle (just shoot it off) and paste wax the interior of the stock and all the surface metal of the rifle. Strip and clean when the hunt is over.

One great advantage to this rifle is the Winchester trigger -- I've had an enclosed trigger freeze up on me, and I don't trust any rifle with such a trigger nowadays. This rifle also has a peep sight snuggled up against the rear scope mount -- if the scope goes sour, pull it off and use the irons.
 
Most of my ARs are what I would grab for an extended stint in the rain.

Although my 30-06 has a polymer stock as well so it would do fine.


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We don't have rain here - typically less than 3in/year. And shots tend to be several hundred yards. So no dedicated rain rifle. If I needed one to hunt elsewhere I'd probably just waterproof a .30-30. No long range means no need for a longer case. Peep sights would be fine.
 
i don't hunt much but i've shot PRS matches in every type of weather you can find in the US, including a hurricane and snow, hail, freezing rain, and 100% humidity deep south summer soup. I've never had a problem with lenses fogging as long as i
a) learned quickly not to breathe on them, as was stated above
b) leave them outside in my truck overnight so they are ambient temp, as was stated above (bring them inside where it's warm and you will definitely have issues the next day)

"high dollar scopes" - i can't speak to the cheaper ones but the scopes i've used are S&B PM2, NF ATACR 35x, Vortex gen2 razor. i have never put any anti fog stuff on the lens, and i assume cheaper scopes would perform the same, but who knows?

RMR - i have 4 and have one on daily carry pistol for 3 or 4 years now. never fogged it up. have been in the rain, but i try to keep it out of the water. some trainers have indicated they don't use them because people they know got water in there and make it difficult to see. YMMV try it and see

peep sites - I shot CMP / NRA HP for many years and got rained on several times. getting water in the peep site is a pain in the butt.
 
Lens wax is your friend. Do NOT take your rifle in and out of extremes in temp. (slow heating up of a truck isn't so bad) let it cool back down slow too. (We would leave rifles in the truck when we got back to camp overnight)

If your scope fogs INSIDE (like seeing water droplets) the tube is no longer airtight you need a new scope.

I bought my first stainless rifle (Savage 116) just for hunting 3rd season elk in cold, snowy Colorado. Won't rust, don't care of I 'scratch' the stock on a tree, use a lube that leaves a dry film like CLP to keep the action slick without gumming up when temps drop below zero.
 
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I like to eliminate variables for a real do-all down in the dirt rifle. For me that Is a model 70 classic stainless in 30-06 with a composite stock. The simplicity of a bolt action can’t be beat. I like the Steiner gs3 2-10x42 glass as it does very well not fogging and has quality optics. The rifle has tool-less rings for a quick detach if anything happens to the scope. Then there is a front post and rear express flip up sights for 100,200,300 yards.

The world could end and I would be comfortable with that rifle.
 
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