"Winterizing" Firearms

dragoon7214

dragoon7214

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What prep do you do for hunting rifles for extreme cold conditions?

In the military I remember removing all the oil/lubricants with a solvent and applying powdered graphite. In the field cleaning was just wiping carbon off with a rag and using dry bore brushes and dry patches to clean the bore. This was just until you could give it a proper clean using CLP or gun oil.

I'm looking specifically at bolt action rifles. degreasing with something like Outers Crud Cutter, and then lubricating the action and bore. What is a good extremely cold weather lubricant? Something that won't turn into a gummy mess in -35 degree weather. Worried about rust forming, especially on blued steel.

What does the Rangers use on the Enfields and Tikkas?
 
I never had a problem with a light film of light oil that is wiped “off” after application. Hunted down to -40c no issues! The wood and blue is coated with wax and then buffed off excess to a shine!
 
Disassemble the bolt. Hose it out with brake cleaner, I’ll give it a scrub with a bore mop, then I’ll give it a touch of dry teflon spray.
Use floor wax or good old Turtle wax on the external metal parts.
I don’t clean my bore during hunting, I will use electrical tape or a finger cot over the muzzle. If I have to do anything to the bore, the rifle will get fouled before re-hunting….. or I’ll use the back up rifle.
 
I haven’t had cold weather weather trouble with lubed firearms. That usually comes on with dirty and lubed firearms. Make a slurry out of oil and powder residue and general mud and get that cold and all bets are off. With a bolt gun, strip your bolt once in awhile, and clean it. Most bolts have never been apart and the original packing grease is still in there building mudpies. After that the lube doesn’t matter much, theres lots of good ones. The striker is going to drop in a satisfactory fashion.

Which leaves the trigger mechanism because if it doesn’t #### the rest doesn’t matter much.The old fashioned way was cleaning the triggers with lighter fluid. Nobody ever saw lighter fluid freeze, and it has a tiny bit of lubricity.
 
I have had good success with G96 at temperatures down to -35C during a Northern BC Bison hunt. I lightly lubed my Smith and Wesson 1500 30-06 with G96 and then wiped it mostly off, the firing pin still worked. Our rifles never were warmed up though. They stayed out in the cold. If they had been brought inside, condensation could have caused it to freeze up when taken back outside.
 
dragoon7214 said:
What prep do you do for hunting rifles for extreme cold conditions?

In the military I remember removing all the oil/lubricants with a solvent and applying powdered graphite. In the field cleaning was just wiping carbon off with a rag and using dry bore brushes and dry patches to clean the bore. This was just until you could give it a proper clean using CLP or gun oil.

I'm looking specifically at bolt action rifles. degreasing with something like Outers Crud Cutter, and then lubricating the action and bore. What is a good extremely cold weather lubricant? Something that won't turn into a gummy mess in -35 degree weather. Worried about rust forming, especially on blued steel.

What does the Rangers use on the Enfields and Tikkas?
Click to expand...
https://www.amazon.ca/Picreator-PCR...9793356224-B0012S1XBO-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1
 
Only use ATF.
At any point a gun oil is too thick to shoot with, I'm in my chair with a hot rum listening to the wood crackle in the stove.
 
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