Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Functioning in sub zero temps

That old rig seems to get compliments fairly regularly. It took me about 5 years of searching to find one in good enough shape, at a decent price, to use as a basis.

Mac,

The solution I came up with for keeping S&W revolvers running in extreme cold was to very thoroughly clean them, including removing the sideplate, hose them down with Brakleen, then a puff or two of powdered graphite in the guts, replace the sideplate, pull the cylinder out and apart, clean it as above, then apply powdered graphite to the cylinder's moving parts. Don't use a lot as it can clump up with changes in heat & cold such as going in and out of warm places, and cause binding.

Doesn't surprise me about the Glock running just fine. The only time we had problems with any auto pistol was when they were dirty and lubed too heavily. A lot of fail to feed, light firing pin/striker hits, and Type 2 malfunctions.

Folks on the range with dirty/over-lubed guns got a lot of malfunction clearance drill practice.

Ed

Great pictures, they make keep the fire burning. I mean that in a good way.

When I lived in ND, my truck gun as everyone refers to them as, was either a push feed M70 243 or a m 700 223. They stayed in the truck all winter long. If I needed to take them out, I stood them up in an unheated garage. I didn't want the stocks warping or metal sweating. When in the truck the barrels were pointed down.

Powder, especially IMR 4350, I thought was effected by extreme cold.

I got started using Rem-Lube back in the late 90's. A couple of my old partners liked to goose hunting. They used the Remington autos in 10 gauge?. They had problems until they used Rem-Lube.

Just my .02$

Great story Mack!

It's usually best to not engage a vehicle's emergency parking brake in below freezing temps for very long either unless you aren't planning on driving it again before the weather warms up.

PS, find you a pair of surplus military artic boots, we called them bunny boots. I don't know the correct name for them. The white ones were rated for minus 70, the black ones were rated for minus 30. I still have both pair.

My next door neighbor is in his 80s. He celebrated his 21st birthday in the battle of the Chosin Reservoir. He is a little guy, so the Marines made him a tank crewman.

He said the tanks had a terrible time getting up the narrow, icy, single-lane mountain pass road. He said a couple of tanks just slid off the road, down into the ravine.

I asked him how well his weapons worked in the cold. The Chinese attacked during the night. He became rather solemn, then he told me, the .50 cal machine gun on top of the tank was frozen solid, and wouldn't work when they needed it most.

The .30 cal machine gun was inside the tank with just the barrel sticking out, and it worked well.

Then he laughed, and said, "The cannon always worked!"

He said he helped bring badly wounded soldiers to an aid station. He saw some whose bloody wounds were completely frozen. When they warmed up in the aid tent their wounds thawed, and they quickly bled to death.

Spot on!

Yep, the old Bunny Boots, not to be confused with Mickey Mouse boots.

There was an older gent at the shoot wearing Bunny Boots. I would hate to try to climb a steep mountain in them, but for standing around (like we were), waterfowl hunting, ice fishing, etc, they would be G2G.

On similar cold hunting trips, I do the old trick of filling a Nalgene bottle (or 2) of boiling hot water and sticking one down by me feet, in my sleeping bag, and one up near my core.

Plus I keep an empty bottle close at hand to pee into during the night, so I don't have to leave the tent. Taking a leak in freezing temps,after crawling out of a warm bag is no fun at all.

Your neighbor has my utmost respect.

Mackay;
Good afternoon to you sir, thanks once again for the wonderful photos and accompanying story.

When we were still living in Saskatchewan the winters always presented us with a number of challenges revolving around keeping things warm and functioning.

We had an '80 Toyota 4x4 pickup and even with the radiator covered with a chunk of cardboard and another bigger chunk in the bush guard in front of that, it'd only keep the front window clear and not all of it at that.

For sure good boots and extra layers were needed with it. Funny how some of the older rigs just didn't have the heaters that others did.

As far as firearms sounding funny when it was really cold, I recall my good wife shot her first buck when it was a balmy -38° C and her .308 carbine sounded only about 2/3 power.

I did an informal test - no chronograph back then - and shot at a pair of stacked 5 gallon cans at the same distance maybe 300yds or so, when it was -40° and then again at about -8°. As memory serves the point of impact was quite a bit higher on the warmer day.

We didn't bring the rifles in the house or cabin until the end of season either as I recall. They'd sweat so bad - I rusted the bore on a BBR Browning I had doing the freeze/thaw cycle with it.

Anyway sir, we think we're cold at -20°C where we are in the Okanagan now and so help me it does feel cold to me too. Gettin' old I suspect.

Thanks again sir and all the best to you all this year.

Dwayne

having never in my life experienced anything like that, I can't imagine those conditions. My hat is off to anyone that can function in such extreme temperatures and weather.
I respect that ability but I damn sure am not going to ever participate in such an exercise.
Y'll carry on.

'Cool' pics Mackay, and uber Toyota!


It's been a real winter here in eastern MT as well.

A little more snow than normal and chilly.

Average daily temp so far this year is -3F.


We lost power to part of the cow farm this past week and had to use a Honda generator to get waterers and a 40 year old IH tractor thawed out.

-22F and -18F on two different mornings and with less than a half dozen pulls it started right up.


Hydraulics are SLOW to get moving and I'm getting tired of chopping ice... Gonna have to sharpen the axe, 7-8" of ice made every night.

Good photos and info!!

I woke up to -30* on Friday (I think). These are actual temps and not windchill temps. It was cold but life goes on. I don't mind the cold if it's not windy. I dropped my Polaris Widetrak snowmobile in the water a few days back. -15* and water just past my knees made for a cold trek back home. I was glad to get that heavy pig out before if froze in for the winter.

Dwayne,

I get the feeling that our winters are just plain Balmy as compared to what you guys deal with! The .308 story sounds about right, and is great stuff to know.

A common theme seems to be keeping gear outside, or at least in unheated storage, vehicles, etc.

Sam,O

That old FJ is a true favorite.

Working cows, and all the related stuff/problems takes one hell of a lot of the "romanticism" right out of being a cattleman. No big deal, when you opt to go out for a couple days of goofing off, but when it is day in and out, all winter long, that tends to wear on ya!

I think Ian Tyson mentioned that a time or 2.

30 below is getting down right nippley!

My five winters living in Calgary are all I need in this lifetime.

I'd be more inclined to "thaw" things if it was really cold.