Seeing Contrails with 12 LRP 6.5mm CM

[CFJunkie]

I shoot early starting at 8 AM in Northern Virginia and others at our range have told me on many mornings that they see vapor contrails from about 25 yards to the 100 yard targets when I am shooting my 12 LRP 6.5 mm Creedmoor with a 26 inch barrel.
It has occurred numerous times shooting 130, 140, 142 and 147 grain bullets.
Several people at the range have taken videos of the vapor contrails as I was shooting the 12 LRP.
I even took a video of my granddaughter shooting my 12 LRP and videoed the contrail.

Normally, I can't see the contrails in the field of view of my scope (a NightForce Benchrest 8-32x56mm)

For the first time yesterday morning at 38 to 42 degrees in calm air, I actually saw the remnants of the contrails in the field of view of my scope while focused on the target at 100 yards.
Several times, the remnants were vivid enough that I thought my scope had fogged up until I looked up when I was reloading and could see the remnants still in the air along the line of sight.
It was calm and the remnants weren't being blown off to the side like they normally are, based upon the videos I've seen.

I can understand that vapor can precipitate out of the air under damp conditions when something passes through the air to create a disturbance.
The contrails from jet aircraft and off the rear wings of F1 race cars demonstrate this effect regularly but when the conditions are right but each of them create the contrails not just a particular vehicle.

But this vapor contrail effect occurs only with this one rifle.
I have tested and found that exactly the same conditions (within a minute of a contrail being produced by the 12 LRP) won't produce the effect with another rifle of the same caliber.
I have another Savage 10T-SR in 6.5mm Creedmoor with a 24 inch barrel that I have shot with loads that produce the exact same muzzle velocity (loads adjusted for the shorter barrel) with the same bullets but it has never produced a contrail (shot at the same time under the same conditions that just produced a contrail with the 12 LRP).

I have 4 other Savages in .308 and .22-250 and they also never produce contrails.

Have any of you ever had a Savage rifle produce a vapor contrail?
I am at a loss to explain why only this particular rifle does this when in conditions when the air is damp.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Cool spring mornings we've seen con trails out to 100 yards shooting everything from .221 Fireball to 6 BR. Shows you where you're aiming.:cool:

[BigB]

I have a Savage 10t 6.5 Creedmoor 24 in barrel. I will get a contrail with 140gr ELD Match bullets


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stumpkiller]

Not a Savage, but I had a Remington in .22-250 that would leave contrails when woodchuck shooting in the mornings.

MY spotter & I figured it was related to the heat from air friction of the bullet. His .308 Win did not have the same effect.

[Balljoint]

When i were shooting mid rang matches (600y rds) the scorer was telling me were the hits were before the target was pulled and marked from the contrail of the bullet

[Swissfan]

I haven't had any with a rifle, but have had contrails when shooting a 1911 (45ACP). It is odd though that other rifles will not produce the contrails in the same conditions.

[Fotheringill]

Not I at up to 200 with a Savage. I am not sure it would be caused by the brand of the rifle.

[Robinhood]

Like Balljoint was saying. If you are scoring for the shooter in a long range match it is most noticeable when the sun is lower like in the A.M. At the longer ranges it is also cool to see the amount of drop your 30 cal bullets have. 6.5 not as much but still awe inspiring..

[CFJunkie]

Thanks for the feedback.
I've seen the clear air disturbance contrails with many rifles including 22LRs at 100 yards, but usually I see them with a spotting scope when aiding another shooter especially at longer ranges.
I see them a lot with the higher caliber bullets.
I have more than 30 rifles in lots of calibers and shoot them a lot in the early mornings but visible vapor contrails were unknown to me until I got this particular 12 LRP in 6.5mm Creedmoor.

These vapor contrails are visible to the naked eye and my shooting buddies and the range officers were seeing them
just standing around watching without any optics
.
Several took videos with their smartphone cameras and that was when I actually saw what was occurring.
I even analyzed their videos frame by frame and discovered by using the time stamps of each frame (every 33.3 msec.) how fast the bullets were moving along the path to the target.
I verified that my calculations for velocity matched the ballistic tables for the loads I was using at the time. It took 118 msec. for the bullet to travel the 100 yards from the muzzle to the target so there were only 3 frames with the contrail in them, but the vapor trail showed an ever lengthening line from about the 25 yard line to the target in each succeeding frame.

Then I started trying to find out why only one of my rifles was producing them and started experimenting.
Up until last Tuesday, I had never seen a contrail remnant when I was shooting.
I occasionally saw a trail of vapor dissipating after looking up after a shot, but never actually had seen the contrail as it occurred.
I had never seen a vapor contrail remnant at the target aim point through my scope until Tuesday.