Cold weather and rifles?

Well shoot, TV - I have a friggin Zeiss Conquest on it right now with a 50mm objective up front. Fine for a target gun but way overkill for the little Tavor. Problem is I am an old stubfart and for me it is pretty much scopes or nothing from here on out. I need an honest 3-9X especially at 200m.

Do you know I almost got kicked out of the gun club yesterday? I completely stunk the place out with my shooting. It was embarrassing!!!

It pisses me off. I was watching Future Weapons where Mack is shooting the Tavor off hand and drills the human silhouette right in the pan - at 300m! I am lucky if I can do that 15 out of 20 times at 100m! :(

When are those Timney triggers coming in?!?!?
 
Hmpffff. I have another question...why are they putting mildot reticles in compact combat scopes? Am I missing something here...? I can see them for long range sniper work and range finding...but sheesh, I can't think of a WORSE tool for that job....
 
About 30 years ago, an article in SWAT magazine was about Alaska State Troopers (AST) testing all the popular assault rifles of the day in the cold. Most of them did not function after prolonged cold exposure but 2 functioned 100% of the time - Galil and Valmet .223 - no surprises there.

HK 93 & 91, , FN FAL & FNC, Galil, Springfield M14, AR 15, Ruger Mini 14, and some others I do not recall all stopped functioning. I wonder how today's rifles would measure up in the same testing. FWIW, I see AST using M4 style AR carbines in their current TV show.
 
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tobin said:
About 30 years ago, an article in SWAT magazine was about Alaska State Troopers (AST) testing all the popular assault rifles of the day in the cold. Most of them did not function after prolonged cold exposure but 2 functioned 100% of the time - Galil and Valmet .223 - no surprises there.

HK 93 & 91, , FN FAL & FNC, Galil, Springfield M14, AR 15, Ruger Mini 14, and some others I do not recall all stopped functioning. I wonder how today's rifles would measure up in the same testing. FWIW, I see AST using M4 style AR carbines in their current TV show.
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Tobin,

i know some guys over here using Sks or Ruger Mini 14 in the winter for hunting wolf and seems it works like in Alaska without hassle.

all the best.
 
tobin said:
About 30 years ago, an article in SWAT magazine was about Alaska State Troopers (AST) testing all the popular assault rifles of the day in the cold. Most of them did not function after prolonged cold exposure but 2 functioned 100% of the time - Galil and Valmet .223 - no surprises there.

HK 93 & 91, , FN FAL & FNC, Galil, Springfield M14, AR 15, Ruger Mini 14, and some others I do not recall all stopped functioning. I wonder how today's rifles would measure up in the same testing. FWIW, I see AST using M4 style AR carbines in their current TV show.
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I suspect there were other factors involved that would have skewed the results. If those guns were taken indoors and thawed out and cleaned regularly - they wouldn't stop. One thing people don't understand about the AK and its variants is that though they have wonderful reliability, that comes at a cost. They function because they are machined to the sloppiest of tolerances. As a result that accuracy comes at the cost of accuracy. That isn't a big deal if everything is close quarters...but when distances spread out that soldier with the AK is at the mercy of the more accurate guns like the M14 and the HK's.
 
Trinimon said:
Most quality polymer firearms can survive the cold no probs. The biggest problem with the cold is with the lube freezing up or getting stiff and causing failures.
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In WW2 the Germans would add a drop of diesel to their gun oil to handle the lower temperatures. Or use a dry spray-on teflon grease, that has worked well for me when I'm out in -25C weather.
 
My diesel gels in low temps without additives...I'm curious what the advantage is of adding diesel to gun oil for low temps?
 
Never had a problem with my Colt AR-15 in the winter hunting coyotes. (when it was legal in the 80's).

This includes dropping it in a winter creek. Just using regular lube, not even CLP.
 
Dutchie said:
In Afghanistan, I used CLP generously, to make sure all the metal parts has lubrication. Then took a cloth and wiped down all the metal parts so there was no obvious "wet" film on the rifle. As long as the pores in the metal has some lube applied from time to time, and there was no "wet" lube on the rifle to attract the fine dust that is Afghanistan, the rifle never failed me, and never attracted any unwelcome dirt or sand. Over there, you have to clean your rifle on a regular basis, or else it'll look more like a sand box toy.

In the Arctic, I used the same method with similar results. CLP is a fine synthetic lubricant. You just have to know how to use it in specific conditions. Transmission fluid has the similar properties, and can be used in the same way.
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how much sand dose a c7 get in it, in the locker at the AVN tech hanger?
 
11 months ago...... yup, you get one of these!

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1. Soak the bolt and trigger group in brake cleaner and blow dry with compressed air.
2. Apply Lock-Ease to bolt and blow it again .. leave trigger group bone dry.
3. shoot yer arse off from the biggest snowdrift you can find.
;)
 
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