Guns freezing up in the cold

C

ceider

New member
Well I am going on a very cold weather hunt this December and was wondering what is done up North to stop freezing. I have not experienced it yet at temps around -5 F.

Is it a occurance when the oil or powder builds up or action type? I just keep hearing about guns siezing in temps below zero and do not want to get frustrated up in New FOUNDLAND/Labrador.

I thought you guys in here would have some cold weather experience, THANKS.
 
Clean everything very well getting all oil residue off of everything, including the bolt/firing pin assembly, and then lightly re-lube with dry-lube.
 
Also be aware of the temp difference when you leave the vehicle or house. A warm gun when sent into the could can form moiture(condensation in temp change). The condensation is able to freeze. Cleaning is key. I have hunted when the air temp was -28 before. Did not have a problem with the gun, but it was sure hard to sit still for 20 minutes.
 
I have had this problem in the past with a Rem 7600. Its just as nmleon said, clean the action and pin assembly getting all the old oil off(oil gums-up).

This is when it counts to use a high quality gun oil and only a drop on moving parts.

nmleon, What is dry-lube and does it work??? Where do I get it?
Thanks, -Ron
 
Remington makes Dri-Lube for firearms. It dries to a dry white finish and it contains Teflon. I use it on my rifles, including my AR-15s with great results. I've hunted in some very cold weather with zero problems. MI VHNTR
 
i've hunted colder than -5F, and i don't worry about it. as stated before, clean everything well, give it a light coat of oil, and go. i tend to not use sem-autos very often, but i haven't had any problem with my guns performing in the cold.
 
What Elks said is key. It's not usualy due to lubes, although they can gum if you use too much. It's condensation. If you go from out in the field into a warm tent or truck or cabin, lots of moisture can get sucked out of the air and stick to your gun. Walk back out in the cold and you've got freeze up. Usually in the bolt. Lots of hunting camps you'll see the guns outside leaned up against the woodpile when the hunter is just popping in for a short time. Otherwise, it's best to have the gun warm up thouroughly, all the way to being completely dry, before taking it back out into extreme low temps again.

If you pull the trigger and nothing happens, pull the bolt out and stick it in your bare armpit for 30 seconds! If the critter is still there after you've been dancing around and hissing "...cold...cold...cold..." thru your teeth for that long, it deserves to be shot!
 
I just use my gun as is, the only problems I have encountered are that some semi-autos tend to fail-to-feed at certain temperatures (-20's C), and that condensation creates rust very quickly if the gun isn't wiped down. I've solved both problems by buying a remington 11-87 and using break-free CLP /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Also watch out so that you don't get snow in the tip of the barrel, because it can quickly freeze and turn into ice!

It would probably also be a good idea to wipe down your gun after every hunt, as the salt would probably tend to eat up the metal pretty quickly.....
 
Ditto to elks and rainshadow. Can't emphasize enough that condensation is the big problem if you have cleaned and removed oil as I think mleon said. Get the trigger assembly, inside of bolt and firing pin oil free for extreme cold.

Condensation is harder to combat. Jumping in and out of a vehicle in cold weather with a heater going is the toughest test for waterproof scopes and for keeping the inside of the bolt free of ice. As rainshadow says from experience, in our world we keep rifles outside of tents, cabins, vehicles as much as we can and leave them outside overnight. They are OK if they stay cold and away from warm moist air. Unless theft etc. is a problem only bring a rifle inside during a hunt if it is going to stay long enough to warm up and then dry out completely before going outside again. Condensation forms on the cold metal when it comes into warm air.

I've had a firing pin fail to hit hard enough to ignite a primer two times due to cold. One was from oil I think, and the other was definitely ice inside the bolt. Both times I ejected the round, which had a tiny dimple in the primer, chambered another round and in both cases the second round fired.

The one with ice was aimed at a very nice 6x6 bull elk. It had rained a little the day before and frozen hard during the night. Though dried the evening before, enough moisture was inside the bolt that when I squeezed on the bull just after daylight, I heard a soft "chinnk" of ice being crushed by the spring and firing pin. I knew instantly what had happened and tried a second shot hoping the first one had broken enough ice to let the firing pin fall. It had.

The other foiled shot was on a coyote in dry cold. I think that was oil because it would fire about 2/3 of the time. A friend's rifle.

I never tried the Rainshadow dance with bolt inside my coat under armpit but that would work. Thanks for the new trick. If you have time, that is more sure to work than merely shooting again as I did.
 
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If you're blessed with lots of time (as I had once when I put the sneak on a sleeping fox) & you're a poor dancer - keep a fresh chemical handwarmer pack on you & open it up & wrap it on the bolt. It worked, but lots of time is essential. I hope you're not in polar bear country, as my advise could prove useless. You may want a really slow hunting partner!

Have a fun trip. By the way, what you hunting up there - I missed it if you said.
 
Don't forget to re-check your zero under real field conditions. Extreme cold can and will make your ballistics slighlty different.

Put something over the crown of the barrel that you can shoot through but will stop snow. It will save you time and maybe a barrel.

Other than the advice on cleaning and using a dry lube, make sure you have clothing, boots, and gear that can handle the cold. If you can't handle the cold it won't matter if your gun can or not. I hunted under extreme conditions last winter in both ND and MN. It was -30F and my biggest problem was finding the right combo of clothing to wear in so I wouldn't sweat and then to pack in so I wouldn't freeze on stand. I recommend getting a good pair or two of long underwear that will lift moisture from your skin. Leave the cotton at home. Also bring several face masks that way you can dry one out while you are using the other.

Oh yeah. Bring a back-up gun on the trip just in case.

Tim
 
Thanks guys for all the great advice and your life experiences. They answered alot of my intuitions and I am sure I will not have a problem now. I am going up on a winter caribou and small game hunt. They actually have a bounty imposed on coyotes in parts of New Foundland (at least as I read their hunting abstracts).

Other than woodchucks in the summer I have very little centerfire rifle experience in cold wether as we are shotgun only in my area so I have great all day experience in -5 F without the wind chill and a scattergun just not with a rifle.

THANKS AGAIN
 
I have had two misfires on foxes this winter due to cold, around -30F. The first was the bolt on my .22 hornet. It was cleaned but lightly re-oiled with regular gun oil and that was too much. The second time it was the actual trigger mechanism freezing up on my 6,5x55. It was not perfectly dry inside but you would hardly believe how little oil residue it took to take it out of action. Seems that particular maker have had that problem so I traded it for a Sako 75 instead. I think you cannot be careful enough to remove oil or-God forbid in cold country-grease from moving parts.

One way to handle condensation is to keep your gun case out in the cold and put your cold rifle in it before taking it back into a warm car. Then take it out and reopen it outside next time you get out. Leave the case outside again to have it cold for the next re-entering. Doing this during a days hunting will keep most of the condensation off your rifle.

I agree with DTOM, do check your sight-in with gun and ammo about the temperature you expect to shoot it at. In my experience the problem with cold weather lowering the point of impact seem to be more significant with smaller calibers, like .22. But at long ranges it will be significant enough with any rifle. Especially try the ammo cold if you intend to keep it in your rifle while hunting. Another cold weather option is somtimes to keep ammo in a warm pocket and load at the time of shooting, but that is rarely practical.
 
From someone who spent 2 winters in Alaska as an Army grunt; first don't use any oil, use graphite to lube.
Second after the rifle warms up to room temp wipe the entire weapon down and I do mean the entire weapon.

I have heard but never tried placeing the rifle in a plastic bag before taking it inside, the condesation is on the outside of the bag but dry air inside supposedly.

Let us know how the hunt goes.

Chris112
 
Hey ceider, I live here in Newfoundland & Labrador and the weather/temperature is really going to depend on where you are actually going to do your hunting. Our province stretches over 1,000 miles from north to south, so conditions vary greatly. Drop me a PM if you'd like some "local" advice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 


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