[SFRADIOMAN]

Several years ago, I used to shoot between 1,000 and 2,000 rounds per week trapshooting. Until I became highly competitive, I used to handload most of my shells using a hydraulic press. I checked shot and powder frequently and loaded a pretty stable round. When we would travel from Ohio to Florida, we would sometimes shoot our way down and back.

In all states except Florida, we noticed no problems with our handloads. But, when we hit sea level, higher humidity and hotter outside temperature in Florida, we noticed our ammo was considerably less responsive. We would already take into account that the targets were getting out of the house faster. Finally we got a good chronograph and found we were 150 to 200 fps below the expected level. We should have been getting 1,200 fps but were getting 1,050 or less. Got back to Ohio and the same shells measured out to 1,200 on average.

We asked Federal, Remington and Winchester Pros and they said it was not uncommon for that to happen but they did not experience it with their new loads. We asked why not and they just smiled a wry smile and said we should shoot all new shells and not rely on reloads. As it would happen, I won a couple major shoots and several decent size shoots and magically, a pallet of new Winchester shells were delivered to my home. I put my reloader on the shelf except for 'special' loads and winter weather shooting.

Has anybody experienced similar problems with altitude, humidity and heat? Is there a difference in shotgun vs. rifle vs. handgun loads due to construction?