Cold Bore Shot

I had intended on writing a long involved post with lots of pictures. But then the kids refused to take naps. Well, LittleXY did sleep...for all of 35 minutes. LittleXX's nap was a total wash--she probably also woke up her little brother by opening and closing her door.

So this, my lovely readers, is what you get instead.

This is a picture of a target from when I went to the gun range this past Friday.

Yeah, I know, I draw cute little aliens, right? If we are ever overrun by aliens with 4" high floating heads, you should feel much safer, because I've been practicin'.

Anyway, the group of holes at the top is a 3 shot group taken at 200m. I didn't get the calipers out, but it measures out roughly smaller than 1/2". It's been a lot of hard work on my part to be able to put 3 projectiles in a 1/2" circle from 2 football fields away. Believe me I haven't always shot this well, and I still have lots of room to improve. At this point, my weapon is still way more capable than I am.

But that nice little cluster isn't what I'd like to draw your attention to. I want to talk about the impact just to the right of the alien's nose. Those of you who shoot will understand when I tell you that's my cold bore shot. Essentially a cold bore shot is the first shot taken from a completely cold rifle--often the point of impact is different than all subsequent shots. There is some debate over whether this phenomenon actually exists, but the idea is that the cold action and cold (or clean) barrel will shoot differently than one that's warmed to operating temp (or already fouled). Some say it's merely psychological and have run bench tests that seem to say it is.

Regardless of whether the cause is shooter-based or equipment-based, if there is a significant shift in your point of impact, this could spell trouble. Especially if your first shot is the one that matters. Think police sniper in a hostage situation. Think soldier on the battlefield where a missed shot alerts the enemy to your presence and a second shot, if taken, allows your hide to be compromised and your location discovered.

What about in the nursing field?

What if your patient is coding and you need access NOW. Unfortunately the patient is a long time IV drug user, and has scarred, thrombosed veins, everywhere you look. You're reduced to looking for the fun sites, like in the scalp, or under the scrotum, maybe even the dang EJ. You find one juicy vein, pull out your 18 gauge catheter and...

Cold bore shot.

Got to have it. The first time.

Oh sure, you can always just go intra-osseous, but that's not without complications in and of itself. And it's certainly not preferred given the necrotizing tendencies of some of the drugs you'd be administering.

So what do you do? Do you take the shot? Do you hand off the catheter?

How do you prepare when you have to make a cold bore shot?