How much does cold weather affect pistol performance as oil gets thicker?

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Bratwurst

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I was at the range yesterday with my CZ Shadow 2 throwing rounds down range.

The pistol has had circa 8000 rounds through it so it may need a spring or two changing but by en-large is has provided me with 100% reliability outside of the occasional failure to eject or lock open on an empty mag.

Using both brass case (Federal) and steel case (Barnaul) while shooting in -12c I noticed that 50% of the time it failed to lock open on the last magazine.

I was wondering what this might be down to, and thought that perhaps my choice of oil might be causing greater resistance and reducing the ability of the slide to go fully to the rear.

I have 6x magazines and have cleaned them inside and out, then left them dry. The issue still persists.
 
The oil I would use liberally in warm weather will turn a pistol into a jam-o-matic in cold weather. I run them pretty dry when shooting in the cold. But I'm more sparing in oil application since even in warm weather. It's the easiest variable to change: try it with a thinner oil, less to non of it and a few minutes firing will indicate if that was the issue.

I've never had issue with light grip even with fingerless gloves... I'm just larger than most people so you might have to consider that if you aren't very heavy your already marginal summer grip might be inadequate with even the small veneer of fabric cushioning recoil.
 
Unless you have crap springs, they are fine. I seldom change mine out, and I shoot 60k+ a year through my Shadow 2s. Use lighter oil, don't use crap.
 
I would bet on a slide stop issue, not a magazine problem. Give it a good scrub.

Gunk can collect on the stop and around it on the frame. It could provide just enough resistance to keep the stop from moving through the full range. It would be worse in cold weather than warm, which is why it might work fine in the house.
 
G96 is good in the cold I find but I’m just shooting bolt guns while I’m hunting in the winter, can’t get in to the range unless the main logging road is being plowed so I don’t shoot the pistols much in the winter.
 
alpining said:
I would bet on a slide stop issue, not a magazine problem. Give it a good scrub.

Gunk can collect on the stop and around it on the frame. It could provide just enough resistance to keep the stop from moving through the full range. It would be worse in cold weather than warm, which is why it might work fine in the house.
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I might just drop the whole gun in an ultrasonic cleaner to shake out all the grime
 
I'm curious at the idea of running the pistol dry. My concern however is that with no oil whenever the pistol gets snow on it or moisture these will fill the gaps and freeze.
 
Bratwurst said:
I'm curious at the idea of running the pistol dry. My concern however is that with no oil whenever the pistol gets snow on it or moisture these will fill the gaps and freeze.
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Never tried ultrasonic, I detail strip and scrub with Simple Green. Rinse, dry (with air compressor), and lube immediately.

Doesn't need to be completely dry, just use good low temp lube very sparingly. Apply lube to rag and wipe frame and parts where necessary. Put one small drop of lube in each groove on slide/frame.
 
If you use synthetics and oil lightly its basically not an issue.

Its organic based oils that get waxy and it doesn't take much I'm sure they have additives to avoid it but the base ingredients on some start to wax at below +18 degrees C.
 
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