Military Rifles Vs. Winter Weather, Ice and Snow

[purple]

Wasn't it pretty cold in Korea as well?

The Korean winters were very harsh, especially in the north where the weather is generated in Manchuria. There is a lot of anecdodal commentary, as well as some official statements, on the servicability of US small arms during the Korean winter. Most comments are caveated by the necessity to keep the weapons free of snow and to operate them w/o oil/grease lubricants. The M1 Garand and the BAR were well regarded, while the M1/M2 Carbine was not. The Thompson SMG was well thought of for cold weather reliability. Ironically the Thompson was out of US issue by this time, but large quantities were taken from the Chicoms who were equipped with guns that they had taken from stocks supplied to the Nationalist Chinese during WW2. One of my old NCOs picked up a Thompson and talked about using it in Korea.

Brit/Cdn/Aus troops used the standard WW2 small arms (BREN, STEN, L-E). I have never seen anything specific on the cold weather performance of these weapons in Korea, but the reliability of the BREN and L-E was well established, while the STEN was always somewhat questionable. About the only negative commentary on the L-E was that it put troops at a real firepower disadvantage when confronted by massed Chinese attacks (the old question was, "how many hordes are there in a Chinese platoon?"). Extra BRENs were issued to compensate for this. Superior artillery support was what really saved the day on many occasions in Korea.

 

[mg4201]

PURPLE, thanks for the response I appreciate it. Friendly artillery certainly does leave a soldier with a warm fuzzy feeling, especially when it arrives on time and on target.

 

[purple]

When I joined the Army in the early 1960s our last war was Korea. Virtually all of our senior NCOs and Majors and above were Korean vets and our training was heavily flavoured with Korean War experience with a lot of emphasis on properly prepared defensive positions (dig or die), weapons siting in the defence, night patrolling, the effective use of barbed wire obstacles and minefields, and artillery and mortar fire support planning. To a considerable extent this reflected the positional/static nature of the fighting in Korea during the final 2 years of the war.

Artillery/mortar fire planning in the defence was based on selecting a number of defensive fire (DF) targets on likely enemy approaches to your position. These included pre-selected killing ground where you would attempt to cannalize the enemy thru the use of terrain and wire/mines, obvious routes of attack and forming up places, and areas of dead ground that could not be observed or engaged by direct fire. These DF tasks were given target numbers and related grid references by the artillery and were recorded as such to be fired on call when required. The most dangerous enemy approach was identified as a DFSOS (defensive fire save our souls) target. When not otherwise engaged, supporting artillery was kept loaded and laid on this target so that it could be fired at a moments notice. A forward infantry battalion could normally expect to have one DFSOS target (nowadays called FPF, or final protective fire) which was assigned to one or more supporting artillery batteries.

Artillery support of the UN forces in Korea was massive and very flexible in it's employment. The Chinese were a foot borne, peasant army and had nothing to match it. When possible all guns within range could be called on quickly to fire either a pre-determined or newly identified target in the defence of the most vital ground or a unit in danger of being overrun. A properly prepared defensive position will feature trenches with 18 inches of overhead protection. In this case friendly artillery and mortar HE fire can be called down on it w/o too much danger to the troops who are below ground.

 

[Coyote Ugly]

One lesson which wintertime hunters often learn the hard way is to thoroughly degrease and clean the inside of the bolt and the firing pin spring.

Most military rifles are given pretty harsh environmental testing, incl dirt, sand and snow exposure prior to adoption. Proper care in freezing snowy weather involves all of the following:
-keep snow out of the muzzle
-don't bring a cold rifle into a heated environment where moisture/frost will condense on it and then re-freeze when taken out into the cold
-minimize oil based lubricants and grease
-try to avoid snow accumulating on the weapon in the first place
-don't urinate on the weapon as it will only freeze and make the problem worse (yellow ice this time)
The Garand was favourably reported on in winter conditions in Korea provided that the foregoing precautions were taken. Simpler is best, so I'd probably put my $$$ on a Lee-Enfield. After all, the Cdn Rangers are using them successfully to the present day.

A Lemon Popsicle Rifle!

 

[ryan32]

my SKS worked in a blizzard, but after shooting 50-60 rounds the snow melts off the gun

 

[Quiet]

Winter shooting is a good reminder to clean all the cosmoline out of your milsurps. My K98 kept misfiring, and I couldn't figure out why until I brought it home and took the bolt apart to see that it was still caked in brown grease.

I've taken a (cleaned) Swiss K31 out for a walk & shoot on several cold snowy winter days, and it has always performed flawlessly.

A regular HB pencil provides good field-expedient winter lube for semi-autos after all friction surfaces have been cleaned bone dry.