A Tavor in Winter?

degreeszero

degreeszero

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How have Tavor rifles (the X95 especially, but not exclusively) performed, and survived, in the extreme cold, ice and snow?

Apparently, the Ukrainian National Guard is using the X95 to some extent, but there really is not much official deployment of the Tavor in cold climates. After all these years, is there evidence that these poly puppies actually stand up in harsh winter conditions?

Are there any common break points in cold weather shooting?

Any common winter stoppage issues?

Do the rifles maintain consistent accuracy from desert heat to prairie cold?

Can anyone recommend a good source for published Tavor test results?

Enjoy the cold!
 
The IDF had a video years back of guys in the golan heights burying their X95s in snow then retrieving them and blowing through mags.

I certainly never had a problem with mine in cold or heat, as long as I'd put the gas system back together right.

Coldest I ever had mine out was -27C (-35 with wind) and hottest was 41C (71C on sun-soaked dirt)

degreeszero said:
Do the rifles maintain consistent accuracy from desert heat to prairie cold?
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I mean . . . no? I would say the answer here is no.

Tavors are not overly accurate rifles to begin with. I wasn't measuring groups in either of the situations described above, but I'd imagine their accuracy was affected. Literally every thing else in the environment is.
 
I used one about 7 years ago for a week long bush trip in the rockies mid winter temps from -5 to -20. I got it full of snow, in and out of warmed tent, didn't clean it once while I was out. Didn't shoot it a lot, but everytime I did it went bang.
 
I owned a TAR21 for 4yrs. It was held in gorilla grips on the front of my quad almost daily every time I left the house summer and winter. I once rolled my quad down a hillside in the mountains, it rolled for about 300m. Total yard sale I watched the Tavor fly off and tumble into the bush, my heart sank. I hiked down to the quad picking up all my things along the way (Tavor) included. When I got to the machine i rolled it over and rode it home (HONDA:). At home I went over the rifle and found no damage, fired it and it was still zero'd. I will never have anything bad to say about that rifle.
 
Mine ran like a champ for a couple hundred rounds in -43 pre wind factor a few winters ago, and that is including cycling from that low up to being hot after several 5rd mags, and then letting it cool off while loading some more, repeated several times.

I didn't purposely beat the rifle on a fence post or anything to see you if I could crack the polymer shell or handguard, and while I suspect it was maybe less durable than normal temperatures, the polymer still seems flexible and impact-resistant even at that temp.

Honestly at that temp even metal firearms are going to become brittle and prone to breakage. It's a good rule of thumb to not use your firearm as a hammer if you want it to last, this is especially true in extreme cold conditions.
 
I went hunting with mine this year and I didn't have any problems. It wasn't exceptionally cold but it was wet and started icing up pretty good by then end of the evening and it ran.

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I haven't fired mine much in the cold yet but one downside I've found is that the trigger is very close to the front of the trigger guard making it difficult to insert my finger while wearing thick gloves
 
Cleaned an x95 after a season of winter use and there was rust and light pitting on the oprod/piston rod. Its a very chunky part so no structural issues but be aware of condensation and snow may defeat the finish there
 
I have one of the very first import batch, Israeli built Tar-21, going on 14 years now. It is my truck/farm gun. It lives in my pickup and bounces around in the tractor. It is not babied or a safe/range queen. It regularly sits overnight at -40 under the seat of my pickup, then gets pulled out and shot. Zero issues.

I've fired it in all weather. Zero issues. In 14 years, I've only had a handful of malfunctions, all of which can be attributed to not cleaning it for a year or magazine induced malfunctions. I usually switch to dry graphite in the winter to avoid issues with thickened oil. Which reminds me, I should give it a cleaning and switch to graphite.
 
It's good to hear that these guns are being shot, and not just sitting pretty in a box somewhere. Thanks very much for sharing your experience.
 
bukwild said:
I owned a TAR21 for 4yrs. It was held in gorilla grips on the front of my quad almost daily every time I left the house summer and winter. I once rolled my quad down a hillside in the mountains, it rolled for about 300m. Total yard sale I watched the Tavor fly off and tumble into the bush, my heart sank. I hiked down to the quad picking up all my things along the way (Tavor) included. When I got to the machine i rolled it over and rode it home (HONDA:). At home I went over the rifle and found no damage, fired it and it was still zero'd. I will never have anything bad to say about that rifle.
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thats awesome....a holy sh/t moment for sure
 
mr83g0n3 said:
I went hunting with mine this year and I didn't have any problems. It wasn't exceptionally cold but it was wet and started icing up pretty good by then end of the evening and it ran.

**Image and video linking functions will be enabled after you have contributed more to the forum**
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Can anyone explain all the tape?most spots are common hand/touch spots, but some don't seem to be (front handguard, near the receiver etc)
 
We had a winter/night 3 gun match here last weekend, temps from -12 down to -17 by the time we finished.

None of the Tavors/X95s had any issues at all. The WK/WSs on the other hand.....
 
Armedsask said:
I have one of the very first import batch, Israeli built Tar-21, going on 14 years now. It is my truck/farm gun. It lives in my pickup and bounces around in the tractor. It is not babied or a safe/range queen. It regularly sits overnight at -40 under the seat of my pickup, then gets pulled out and shot. Zero issues.

I've fired it in all weather. Zero issues. In 14 years, I've only had a handful of malfunctions, all of which can be attributed to not cleaning it for a year or magazine induced malfunctions. I usually switch to dry graphite in the winter to avoid issues with thickened oil. Which reminds me, I should give it a cleaning and switch to graphite.
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Any rust on any metal parts that you can see? Just curious.
 
M21 optic in winter?

Has anyone had a chance to work with the Meprolight M21 red dot, that is sold with and spec by the IWI for use with the Tavor rifles? If so, what are your general thoughts, and any winter-time experiences that you may have had?
 
degreeszero said:
Has anyone had a chance to work with the Meprolight M21 red dot, that is sold with and spec by the IWI for use with the Tavor rifles? If so, what are your general thoughts, and any winter-time experiences that you may have had?
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Doesn't use battery so as long as you keep it clear of snow, it will be fine. Just don't buy the bullseye reticle, it will cover a large diner plate at 100m
 
Blackout lockdown said:
Can anyone explain all the tape?most spots are common hand/touch spots, but some don't seem to be (front handguard, near the receiver etc)
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Its just camo wrap. Breaks up the outline of the rifle a bit while hunting but TBH it mostly just looks cool and provides a little bit of extra grip.
 
I think Ardent (pretty sure it was him but I could be wrong) did a video on cold weather Tavor testing a long time ago. He let it stay outside until the low -30's overnight and then went out and shot it and the rifle performed exactly as it should have. All around I think they're pretty durable guns.
 
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