Cold weather and ammo

[CYANIDEGENOCIDE]

I went to the range this weekend with my wife and a friend. We stopped at the gun store on the way to buy some ammo. We bought winchester white box 9mm, PMC 45 acp, and Remington .22lr. It was very cold, in the low 20's while we were shooting. We had a good time but my typically reliable pistols weren't as reliable, in fact there were 3 misfires out of 20 rounds on the 1911 compact. the 9mm stuff ran fine I figure it was just the grease on the firing pin that caused the problems.

What bothered me was the .22 LR weapons: marlin 795, ruger 22/45, beretta bobcat, remington 581 (i think), and Pre mark 1 ruger ALL misfired and none of them had grease only the very thinnest film of oil. I know the oil can thicken but of 250 rounds there were 13 misfires. I have used these in cold before and never had a misfire, but I always use CCI Stingers or federal bulk pack. Is this normal for remington rimfire? was it the cold? lack of priming compound? other?

 

[mio]

my buddy and i shot our hipoint carbines and marlin mod 60s last week.

temp was below 0 and windy and had no misfires with winchester beb ammo and cci mini mags.

ive had nothing but bad luck with remington .22 ammo esp the thunderbolts. i think those are best used in a slingshot.

 

[MT GUNNY]

What Temps were you shooting in?

A lot of fireing pins Float, so any Cold Lube could slow the pin.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

What Temps were you shooting in?

He said it was in the low 20s

Is this normal for remington rimfire?

If they were thunderbolts it probably was.

I love shooting in the cold, but I'm not sure it affects reliability.

 

[Liberty or Death 86]

I also prefer to shoot in the cold. And I've had nothing but bad luck with the remington ammo. And I was shooting the thunderbolts. Also, when I shoot the Federal Bulk pack, I'll get on average about 5 misfires per box.

 

[Afy]

Cold weather does affect guns and ammo...
Normal...
Simillarly you 'might' see pressure signs in loads that did well in cold weather.

 

[bhk]

I have had particularly bad luck with .22s while hunting in very cold weather. Most of the bad luck was with Winchester Super-X, which normally does well for me. Some of the bullets were extremely underpowered, some so badly that I could see them out of the barrel and hit the snow before reaching some very lucky rabbits.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I have also had bad luck with rimfire stuff that shot great in 40-50 degree weather that in single digit temps opened up 10x what it would before.

However the Wolf target ammo I have been playing with I have not had that problem.

 

[moooose102]

well, if the ammo was the problem, it certainly was not the temperatures fault. i have shot in -15 degrees outside (i was much younger) before and they light just fine. if anything, the current demand for ammo is reducing the quality control of ammo. the manufacturers are trying to keep up with demand, but right now, that is probably pretty darn tough. usually nowdays, if it is below +10, i stay in, but even at those temps, standard ammo will work just fine. they do not make special ammo for cold weather areas like canada, alaska or siberia. under normal circumstanses, it is just that reliable.

 

[nyggis]

Here in Sweden I have serious trouble with Remington Thunderbolts in my 10/22. A lot of misfires and vertical spread. And that in only 0 degrees centigrade. Crap!

I´ve used Swedish army weapons such as the FN-FNC, G3, and M240 down to -35 centigrade without any problems...

An interesting thing is that the sight of the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle has an adjustment for ammunition temperature. Red for hot summer days, and blue for really cold winter days, and the middle setting for the in between...

 

[agd1953]

did you buy the ammo at wal mart? I shoot an uzi and winchester white box functions fine unless the ammo is from wal mart and then it just doesn't have enough umph to work the action. I think wal mart has their own spec on ammunition as they buy so much of it one time. Just my observation, nothing against wal mart

 

[nyggis]

Fortunately Wal-Mart hasn´t come to Sweden yet...

 

[owlhoot]

Most powder is definitely affected by cold temperatures, some more than others. I don't shoot much .22 so I can't speak to that, but my handloads for pistol in all calibers regardless of powder used are affected. I keep my ammo in an unheated garage. So if I know I'm going to be shooting, I'll bring my ammo inside the day before. I also use magnum primers for winter time loads.

 

[melikesguns]

I think wal mart has their own spec on ammunition as they buy so much of it one time. Just my observation, nothing against wal mart

Were you kidding? I hope so!