Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Cold weather hunt...degeasing a rifle?????

I leave for the musk ox hunt on the 22nd, I�ve got my 35 whelen sighted in, plenty bullets loaded and just to get in the mood, last night I was reading a Boddington article about hunting musk ox in the arctic. In this article he says you need to �completely disassemble your bolt and degrease it to prevent it from freezing�.

So being form the south and never having to worry about my rifle freezing I have a few questions.
Degrease it with what?
How do you disassemble a Remington model 700 bolt?
Plus if I need to disassemble and degrease the bolt, what about the trigger?
If I need to degrease the trigger, how do I do that without taking the rifle out of the stock, which will mean re-sighting it in.

Mark, You can degrease anything by soaking it in acetone.
Without disassembly of trigger group or bolt.
I'd suggest conferring with your guide-outfitter to get his input on what precautions you really need to take..
Bolt can be removed and stowed in your pocket until the shooting time..same with ammo..but I'd get some real world input from your outfitter..Jim

Yes degrease it thoroughly with acetone, brake cleaner, etc. You don't want heavy grease in there as it will get very stiff in cold weather. Use a light oil on it for lube/protection.

And once your rifle is in the cold, leave it in the cold until the hunt is over. Bringing it into a warm room repeatedly will just build up condensation which may freeze next time you're out in the cold.

Enjoy your hunt in one of the most unusual environments on earth. Take lots of pictures.

grouseman

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to avoid re-sighting it in. I'm running on a pretty close time table. I'm taking the same rifle to South Dakota on the 11th and won't get back until the 17th. Which leaves little time to re-sight it in. I wasn't going to degrease it until I got back from SD but I guess I could degrease it this week, re-sight it this weekend and use it that way on both trips.

BTW I looked at the weather and temps, this week, are running in the mid 20s and low 10s. I also did a 7 year history and the temps could be in the high 20s or in the -20s <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I disagree totally with useing Acetone on any firearm to degrease it. Acetone can attack most anything plastic and God knows manufacturers in the gun industry today are useing enough of it. Kerosene is a far better choice. It cuts grease better, and above all it won't harm plastic, or your stock finish. Simply soak the bolt in a coffee can full of clean Kerosene overnight. Brush it good the next day and blow dry with compressed air, or some "canned air" for cameras and home computers works well also. You can then lightly oil with a lube like Mobil 1 Motor Oil that keeps a very low viscocity in cold weather. you should be all set. billt.

I would worry as much about the trigger as anything. I think your fear of resighting if you take the action out of the stock may be overblown. If your gun is bedded right, you should be able to take it out of the stock w/out too many troubles- a small shift, but not starting over from scratch. Certainly the travel could do as much to it. I would hope you would take a basic accuracy check shot after you arrived up north anyway.

In the extreme cold, Remington triggers can get sluggish or even fail to release if they are gummy. I think squirting lighter fluid in the trigger housing would go a long way.

I also have a tool that allows me to take the firing pin out of the bolt on a Remington, but it you don't have it, the soaking advice is probably a good strategy.

Yep, I plan on checking it after I get there...

I do have a Winchester model 70 in 300wsm I could use, but sort of have my heart set on taking the whelen.

Another vote for brake cleaner here. When you reassemble the rifle do it right. Push down on the barrel, forcing the action back as it would be from being shot. Tighten the screws from front to back. Theres a lot of different opinions as to how tight they should be. Some people buy a special torque wrench for this (I did, but I'm a tool junkie and haven't even used it) Some people torque them tight as heck. My book of the rifle by Jim Carmichael advocates this. Enjoy your hunt and best of luck, maybe someday if I'm really good, or really lucky I'll get to do the same.

Mark and others reading this,
Please refrain from posting the same question under multiple forums. The problem is that a bunch of folks are talking in seperate places about the same thing. It hinders communication by causing folks to assume they have already read the thread. It also makes it tough to find stuff when it shows up in different places.
thanks
art

Sitka deer

Thanks for your help!!!

You need a special tool to disassemle the Remington 700 bolt.
Brownells and Midway have them.

You can clean out your bolt and trigger with Rem Clean spray without taking the rifle apart, but what's the worry? You might have to re-zero when you arrive at the North Pole, anyway.

A Teflon oil that evaporates off, like the US Army uses, will serve to clean and lube the entire weapon, replacing all grease. It will also protect against rust, and you don't have to completely degrease everything, as you do when switching to dry lubes. The aersol foam grease from Colt for their handguns is outstanding in a wide range of temperatures, but I have never tried it below 10 F.

What ever you use, STAY AWAY from WD40!
It leaves a silicone film, and anyone who has tried it in cold weather will tell you that it eventually builds up thsat film and jams everything! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
FP10 works well, as does G96 guntreatment.
What I use is Kano Kroil, then wipe it off before assembly.
I once read an article by Kenny Jarret staing that he uses ATF on his bolt becuase it is very light.
ATF stays very viscous in cold weather also.

I have never had a problem with Kroil, and we get some drastic changes here in Ft. McMurray.
It is not unusual to see -40, then a few days later have the temperature slide on up to around freezing!
Cat

I learned from Kenny Jarrett to clean the trigger with lighter fluid. Just squirt it in the top and let it run out the bottom.

You can take down the bolt with one of the after market jigs that help hold the main spring compressed while you unscrew the tail piece. You can also hold it with a flat bladed screw driver, this is the shade tree mechanic solution. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> The jig is very easy to use, and a lot easier than the screw driver.

jim

Go to a gun shop. Get a can of Gun Scrubber and a can of Moly Lube (both are from Birchwood Casey).

Clean it with the Gun Scrubber and then lube it with the Moly Lube.

It's that eazy!

Remington 700's are evil in the cold if there's any grease or the wrong kind of oil in them - get used to hearing "click" instead of "bang" if you don't degrease it right.

That being said, I've used one for years in Alberta, down to -47 Celcius (COLD!); I'd agree with the guy from Ft. McMurray that G96 is the way to go. The RCMP (police) use it one their pistols, and it's never gummed on me.

For degreasing, I'd stick to kerosene or Varsol and an airhose, or just use Gunk Out. And yes, you really need to get the trigger too.

Good luck and good hunting!

Thanks for all the info. I took it to the local gunsmith, he's going to degrease it and I'm going to re-sight it in this weekend.

I have experience with cold weather hunting and firearms. I have seen a few of my friends suffer failures from frozen guns. We don't hunt dangerous game just whitetails in northern Saskatchewan in mid-late november and have often hunted in -20's weather. Everything is important for this type of hunting environment, especially the gun prep. In both cases the firearms were prepped by gunsmiths specifically for cold weather hunting, in saying that don't trust anyone except yourself when it comes to preparing your gun for an extreme weather hunt IMO. It is not difficult, here is what I do.

1. Dissasemble firearm and trigger group, bolt etc.
2. Degrease by using any solvent that does not leave a residue after drying. I have used acetone, brake cleaner in aerosol, and gun scrubber, there are lots out there.
3. The two areas of greates concern are the trigger and bolt internals.
4. Triggers can be easily removed from most firearms and in doing so they should be soaked in solvent or sprayed and blown dry. The same for the bolts internals. The larger surfaces are easy to degrease but getting into the nooks and cranies is where it requires soaking and blow drying. I use canned air for my blowing and it works very well. A caution about triggers some (not Remingtons) have nylon plastic parts that will deteriorate in solvents like acetone, if the trigger is all metal then no problem. Attention should be payed to pins and springs and small areas that can hold oils.
5. A good degreasing will leave your metal greyish white and it will look like heck. This will not affect the guns function but any moisture will start corrosion almost instantly. My solution is to follow up the degreasing with a wipedown of oil, like break free. Attention do not use the oil for lubrication and do not pour it onto any swiveling hinged parts that will freeze up like trigger parts. The procedure that we use is to use a small 3" sq piece of cloth and add some oil to it, a few drops around the cloth is fine. Use the cloth to rub down the metal, as soon as the metal comes into contact with lubes it will instantly turn black/blue, this is all the lube you need to stop corrosive effects from starting in cold climates.the trigger and bolt internals are left dry. Unless the rifle gets wet or is brought from cold to hot it will not sweat and you will not have a problem. By far the easiest solution is to leave the unloaded rifle in a cold area to avoid the sweating, a breathable gun case is very effective in protecting the gun and preventing corrosion in case your rifle picks up moisture. Keeping it dry is not as easy as it might seem. If the rifle is stainless skip the wipedown.

On a side note I have seen rifles that were degreased show excessive wear in their parts due to lack of lubrication, this can happen if the parts are not properly finished and hardened and the lack of lube will show wear and galling. The better rifles should not have these problems but they are present in alot of todays guns due to cheaper manufacturing teqniques. Older case hardened actions will not show any slugishness in the action due to lack of lube. Also make shure you try your rifle for function with dummy rounds prior to your hunt, weird things happen when guns aren't lubed, especially semi auto's. IMO.
bigbull