cold weather shooting - any differences?

[caribou]

This is a subject I know very welll, indeed....

Ammo can shrink, in the deep cold, enough to get light strikes, and delayed ignition "hang fires" of a second or more. Ammo using rims has a much better ignition rate in deep cold as the cartridge is held to by the rim, rather than the shoulders, as overall length isnt so important to rimmed cartridges...

Ammo will freeze to your fingers instantly too....

Plastic/synthetic stocks break easier.

Scopes fog inside and get drops of condensation, as well, your breath is a big factor on the outside of the lenses. Leupolds are the only 'old' scopes I see around here. Iron sights do so much better in deep cold

Stocks freeze to your face, and hands ( another reason for wood), as well as stocks warp sometimes when subject to -20 and lower

Thick gloves and mittens make for a hard to get to trigger....

Springs stiffen, and hi-cap mags need a few less bullets for better lift reliability.

The deep cold makes 'mirage's' and that makes sighting a pain sometimes....

Guns brought into a warm house will have condensation almost immediatly, and needs to be taken care of, no different than dropping a rifle in a river, you must disassemble and clean and dry. If you decide to go back out, and its not dryed, it will freeze, somewhere in your mechenisim......at the least, it will rust where you cant see. Greasing the metal under the wood is always a great idea.....

Lube solidifys , so we clean, lube and wipe clean. Real cleaning and greasing happens indoors, for storage. Graphite or 2stroke (snowgo oil) engine oil with TCW3 is the best, as it wont congeal untilll -120.......wipe any oils from any place you may touch.....-40 lube on your hands is just like water at that temp, itll get ya, ruin yer gloves, etc.......


There is a solution, developed in Arctic Country's
But a Finn M-39 has a rimmed cartridge, an easily adjustable firing pin, a wood stock that protects the hands from the barrel , burning or freezing your hands, a cleaning rod for snow in the muzzle and a shorter stock, because you will be wearing way more clothes than Fall time, and a side mounted sling for better carry, excellent sights and a large trigger guard......... True, but ~~LOL!!~~

 

[herrwalther]

"...leave it in its case inside overnight..." Causes condensation that causes rusting. Out of the case, clean it and dry it.

Cleaning a cold rifle right away will cause more rust. As the rifle heats up you will have to clean the rust off again since warm, moist air will condense on the rifle.

Likewise I do not like allowing a rifle to warm in a case either. Depending on the foam, moisture can get trapped in the case which will cause further rust issues or mildew if not dried properly before being used again. In addition it will take the rifle longer to warm up to room temperature. Let it sweat, clean it once.

 

[caribou]

We call the condensation effect "Sweating" and most folks here store their rifles in the storm shed that is a part of most every arctic houses entryway, built to trap heat and keep away chilling drafts when folks go into a building.

The gun metals dont sweat when the temp drops or rises as the cold naturally drys air.

Sweat a gun and go back out with it will give you a wide variety of problems, safety, feeding, basically the freezing of most any thing in the action.....rusting being the least of them....

When we ride snowgos, we sling a rifle across the chest. First, if you should wreck, it wont break your back, you can ' tuck n roll with it', and second, it dosent allow for snow accumulations to freeze your action. Often when were doubled up and the wife, kids or whoever is riding on the seat behind me with a rifle , snow accumulations have to be removed.

An effect on accuracy in the cold can also be snow /ice on yer sights....

 

[CornCod]

Yes, don't use WD-40 on your guns in cold temps. I had an SKS that froze up on me that way.

 

[anothernewb]

coldest I've ever been out at was about -10f I noticed it was a lot harder to hold the scope stable laying in the snow. was shaking a bit. exposed fingers don't retain much flexibility. Decided at that point I was just being silly. Won't go do that again unless I need meat, or to protect my family.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Sounds like you needed a few more layers! Laying still on the cold ground, often where there isn't good shelter from the wind does call for warmer clothing than, say, shoveling the driveway!

 

[anothernewb]

We were after coyotes that day. Sometimes, there just aren't enough layers, lol.

 

[tark]

Illinois is nowhere near as cold as Alaska, but I have found that a heated house in the winter usually has a lower humidity than the outside air. There is a reason why you run a humidifier in the winter, that furnace sucks it out of the air. Going from outside to inside, I don't see as much condensation in the winter. Summer is a different story, as the outside air is usually much higher in humidity than the inside.

Whenever you go from cold to hot, the humidity of the "hot" plays a major part in condensation.

I just dry em' off with a hair drier. Works for me.

 

[desidog]

Well, as per the other thread, apparently if you're running an Eotech, the zero will wander under freezing, and when it gets warm won't return.

 

[mainecoon]

Thanks for the advice. That Finn M39 is a sweet rifle.

I assume that if you do get your tongue stuck to the receiver, the solution is to fire the rifle until the receiver warms up enough that you can remove your tongue.

 

[d2wing]

Caribou has more experience in colder weather than any of us. I am glad that you explained why you use the guns you do. Good advise.
I do want to agree with Sunray. Depending on how cold it is, I also leave my guns in the case overnight because they sweat much less if at all. then I warm them ove a heat vent until dry. Then I clean them as needed. But if I am going back out anytime soon I leave them in the truck or garage. If fact Is avoid bring them in at all during hunting season unless it is warm.