Although it is spring here in Montana, winter is never more than an hour away at any given moment. Folks don’tbelieve me, but we had the “Fourth of July Blizzard” way back in the 80’s. The short version is, no matter what time of year it is…in this state if the sun isn’t out, and youre in the high country, and Mom Nature has been drinking….well, it can get downright cold. Middle of the night temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s in August aren’t unheard of. Anyway, my point is that it can get cold here any time. So, I really found this video about cold weather and it’s affects on our favorite boomtoys to be quite interesting.
The AR did pretty fair…but 50k psi will probably move even the most frozen bolt carrier. I would have liked to see the test done on the .308 rifles like the FAL, HK, and M1A but Im sure the results would have been similar. I’ve gone hunting a bunch of times with the PTR-91 in winter and never had any problems.The most likely scenario for a rifle getting enough moisture in it to freeze is when you come into a warm building after being out in the cold all day. Condensation occurs and the rifle ‘sweats’. Grab the rifle and run out the door and that condensation freezes. It’s my understanding that in the north countries they avoid this by simply leaving the guns outside.
One problem I have experienced has been with a couple SKS rifles that, no matter how much I cleaned and soaked them, still have bits of cosmoline or grease that would solidify in the cold and cause problems. Most notably sluggish firing pin strikes. Clearly there was still residue on the firing pins and in the firing pin channels. Colossal pain in the ass to get it all.
Some people go the extra step of degreasing their guns for the winter and applying a ‘dry’ lube. That’s great for dealing with the congealed lubricant problem, but youre still going to have issues if snow/ice gets in the gun, melts, and refreezes. (And, hey, sleet/snow/rain getting in the bore, freezing, and causing an obstruction is always a major concern. Play it safe, get some gun rubbers, and use them! And while we’re on the subject, I usually use muzzle covers like these for guns that are in storage. Keeps spiders and other crap from getting in the bore and creating problems. And even then, when taking guns outta storage always check the bores before shooting.)
Handguns, interestingly, haven’t had the same problems in my experience. The Glock (naturally) works just fine in the zero-degree weather since lubrication is a ‘nice to have’ with the Glock rather than a ‘must have’. While I have never had parts break from the cold, I have seen a few plastic magazines break when dropped at the range when it was really cold. Something to think about there.
And finally, cold weather puts a heck of a whammy on batteries. If you’re using a piece of gear that uses batteries, swap those batteries out for lithiums. More expensive, but much better for cold weather use.
By the by, ‘cold’ in Montana isn’t the same as ‘cold’ in, say, North Carolina. When I say ‘cold’, I’m talking about anything around 0 degrees.
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Sidebar: Welcome back from hiatus Self Sufficient Mountain Living.
During my military Days here in Sweden we poured some methylated spirits (from our field stoves) in our FN MAGs if they got stuck due to freezing.
Hot soapy water will dissolve even WWII cosmoline…
And I lube my weapons with Mobil Jet254 turbine oil….fluid to -80F and flash point is 489F. A quart is about $25 and will last years and years.
For grease, I use synthetic CV joint grease. A tube will last my lifetime.
I don’t buy into the lube d’jour anymore than I buy the caliber of the month from the gun rags.
A problem with using those two muzzle covers is that they can trap moisture in the bore and chamber. This can occur when air movement is stopped by an impermeable barrier. Not recommended for storage, especially long term, due to this.
An earlier method was to seal the muzzle with scotch tape, but I’ve seen the rusty results of guns stored this way.
These covers were originally intended for active carry, to eliminate objects and liquids from fouling the bore, especially from falling muzzle first into snow or soft ground coverings, or scooping it up when picking up the downed gun.. This also includes debris collected from moving through trees and other vegetation while hunting or patrolling. They were intended to be safe to fire while in place on the muzzle, if time or movement constraints did not allow them to be removed first.
I fully expected the AR to have issues of this sort, but the AK variant?
So much for the Russian cheerleaders out there…
To be fair, his test was not terribly scientific. The water wasnt applied to each firearm in an exactly repeatable quantity or location. In other words, the AK might have gotten a bit more water in a different location than, say, the SIG. Or the AR may have been at an agle to let the water run into the trigger group whereas the Beretta wasnt.
No reason a properly cleaned SKS would have cosmoline remaining anywhere in the rifle.
Drop the bolt/pin into a small quantity of gasoline and it will dissolve off the metal.
Old Russian Cosmoline used rendered animal fat, and can cause serious life-threatening infections if you cut yourself and get some in the wound.