What does everyone do with their rifle when it drops below freezing and they stay in a tent with a stove? Do you bring a cold rifle in the warm tent for the night and if so doesn't this cause condensation which could cause the action to freeze the next morning when you go back out in the cold? Just asking because this year will be my first sleeping with a stove and have never had to worry about it before.

If you are truck camping, then leave it in the unheated truck over night.

You are correct; you don't want to bring it in the heated tent.

leave it outside in the truck so it don't walk away... if your camping far from the road and don't have to worry about two legged vermin then just leave it outside....

Laying it on the ground under your cot will keep it close, and it wont be warm enough that low to the ground to cause issues.

Keep it in the truck.

If you're on a horseback hunt, leave it in the scabbard on the saddle. Then throw the saddle blanket over the whole outfit. Or lacking that, you can wrap the scabbard with your slicker.

I leave mine in the truck in cold or inclement weather, leaning up against a tree or some other place handy in good weather. Make sure you wrap the muzzle with blue electrical tape if you leave it outside.

Blue does seem to be color of choice for moisture protection...

If not packded in,we usually leave it in the scabbard under the hay tarp.If packed in,we take the scabbard off saddle and lean it againsta tree with the rifle in it,butt down. Tarp it. Don't do this if scabbrad is wet.
If no horses,I would put it in the gun case and leave it outside or in the truck. Either way, you do not wnat it in the warm tent

In bear or wolf country I would sure hate to have mine anywhere but with me. Just deal with the condenstion by servicing the rifle before you hunt just like one always should.

Big handgun in a tent works fine. I'd hate to be trying to swing a rifle around in a confined space, or I'd keep a camp rifle for tent use. Probably pretty small chance of a wolf coming in a tent

outside in a scabbard is the last place a weapon of mine will be. for that matter in a scabbard overnight anywhere will never happen. the leather wears off the protection you put on the rifle and if the leather draws moisture rust follows.

you have to service the rifle anyway so why not in the tent and just leave it in the tent. how hard it it to keep a ziplock with an oil soaked rag and 3 ft of weedeater line in your pack or pocket to service it? usually i lay mine on the ground cloth and cover it. and remove the tape every night too cause it can rust under the tape.

i have seen many guns rusted in guncases too from the foam drawing moisture. leaves a funny eggcrate look on the blue.

Well Ray,Co is a darn sight drier than Arkansas. I did say,not if the scabbard is wet. Guns are suppose to be used and having one sit over night in a scabbard is a lot less wear than what one sees while riding. I never worry about a little scababrd wear,I worry about the thing going bang and the bullet hitting where I aimed.
Unless it got wet from rain or snow,my rifles don't get wiped down every night.

Once the temps are below freezing and stay you are not going to draw moisture from the scabbard.

Leaving the gun in a warm tent and the taking it out to freezing temps is a heck of a lot more punishing on the gun than leaving it in a truck or outside. You can watch the moisture build up on it as it gets colder.Then that moisture gets down in the bolt, etc and before you know it, the moisture turns to ice and you have ice crystals in your action and on the scope. No matter how much oil you globbed on it the night before, ice will still form.Try working the bolt to load a round and see how it goes. All my rifles get wiped down of excess oil prior to the season, and usually do not get oil until after the seaosn closes.

One thing we do agree on is those gun cases with foam lining are next to worth less as a scabbard with fleece lining is. The rest of it we will just agree to disagree I guess.I know you have beendoing your way for a long time and so have I and I have yet ot have a rusty rifle or handgun.
I spent 12 days in Alberta oney ear, 25 below and it never got to zero while I was there. The rifle remained in the scabbard all that time,except when I shot an elk

It's hard to compare the humid southern states to the dry southwest states. If you haven't hunted out here, you probably won't understand it. I can open a bag of potato chips and they will taste fresh for a week or more. When I was in MO, I had to eat them within the hour or they were wilty looking!!

When hunting out of a house or cabin, I still leave my scoped rifle in the the truck at night. I hunted in MT with Mule Deer one year and my improperly prepped rifle took a beating from the warm motel rooms to the cold field. I went to shoot a buck and enough rust had formed inside my bolt body that my firing pin couldn't hit the primer hard enough to set it off.

Never happened to me before and happened at a bad time that trip. I was stuck using his back-up ULA rifle the rest of the hunt

If I am in bear or wolf country, I will keep a weapon with me, If the scoped rifle is all I have, then it has to do. Normally, I have a 12 ga loaded with slugs or buck with me and sleep with it.

I always kept mine in the tent with me. I had no problems at all. Gun is of no use if you cant get to it. I would try to clean up my gun every night anyway. It gets moisture on it when I am out hunting, etc. Wipe it down and put it in the case, laying open. I have never had an issue yet.

We've always left ours in the truck. No problem with fogging that way.

i am not talking of a tent in arkansas but colorado and alaska. i have seen several fellows regret not wipeing down their weapon in colorado. my scabbards have just a little too much salt from horse sweat in them for me to leave a rifle in them. maybe if i used a new scabbard and oiled it a lot i could get by. i think i will clean my rifle anyway.

In well over 50 years of hunting,I have never had a problem with the gun in the tent,it will always be there..Just what is the difference in driving to your hunting spot in your heated truck,then get out and go hunting in cold weather????


Jayco

Good point, Jayco. Here in KS, I hunt all day, then drive to a deer camp in a large farm shed, have a nice meal and knock down a few, tell the same old lies, and drive home to a nice bed. My rifle sleeps in its case in the truck. No problems with a Sav 99.

I'm too old for that mountain stuff now. I would need an outfitter that could pour my whiskey and tie my shoes. Life is good.

Truck, tent, outside have all worked for me. I think it's a non-issue at least if you have a good scope.

i always bring mine inside. I leave the action open and i have never had a problem. I have been in rain, then hard freeze, sleet etc..... wipe it down with oil, never an issue.

I personally never had a gun freeze, several others in my party did. One year it started 35 degrees and rainy to -10degrees and freezing. I carried mine semi horizontal,scope up with a flap over the action. the guys carring semi vertical scope down was getting the rain in the trigger. Instead of breaking the rifle down and drying it by the stove, they set it in the corner. That cost one guy a bull.

I"m anal about first round accuracy... running a wet patch with oil down the barrel every night is not conductive to that....

Coming in late at night and having to work on the gun isn't my idea of fun either.... but you do what you have to.

Personally, if in bear country we carry a 329PD with us in the tarp or tent. if no heat in the tent the rifles come in. If heated then they stay out... under a tarp or in the truck etc.... out of the weather but not in the heat.

when i lived in alaska, i left my rifle in the truck if it were close. on many hunts when using a tent in the bush (after being flown in), i always kept my rifle in the tent with me. out west i do the same - in truck if close, sometimes under a tarp or whatever if we hiked in. only brought the rifle in the tent if it was expected to rain hard.

yep -me too. i will fire a round and clean and wait a day and fire another round and clean for several days to know just how that rifle will shoot with a clean barrel. the alternative it to fire a fouling shot before you leave home and not clean. and i am not going to do that.

As long as there's no moisture in the action you should be fine with it not freezing. I always bring my rifle inside the tent with me and have not had any issues with a frozen action yet.

Is this a real issue? My rifle is always in the warm and dry tent when I'm not carrying it.

Condensation happens when you bring cold metal into a warm, moisture rich environment...not the other way around. Try taking a cold gun out into the fog...forgettaaboutit.

If it's dry I leave them in the truck, if they get wet I bring them in the tent, wipe em down and stand them close enough to the stove to dry them. I never use any lube on or in the bolt, ever. Never had a problem in 50 years doing it this way. Just watch them close and make sure they function.

You can throw the cased rifle in the back of the truck. Even if you don't, a short ride in a heated truck won't cause problems.

Back in the '80's my scope was fogging so bad it cost me an elk just after leaving the truck. The rifle had been in the trailer all night. Could have shot the rifle like a shotgun (20 yards or so on a broadside) but chose not to.

I'm with the guys that leave the guns in the unheated truck. Backpacking or on horse back we covered them with a small plastic trap at night, outside. I always wipe the guns down after a day of hunting, wet or dry, with oily patch followed by a dry one. Never leave a rifle in a salty sweaty leather scabbard overnight or anytime you are not actively traveling with the gun. This includes glassing an area while your horse grazes.

That's the way we have been doing it for years. Some of this knowledge came from disasterous first hand experience.

I prefer leaving mine in the truck also. Never had a problem.

Leaving the gun in the scababrd ,on the horse,while you are not on it is indeed looking for disastor.I have never had problems leaving it the scabbard other wise. 45+ years. So I guess my mules are not sweaty. I think a lot of this gack is from guys hearing it from others and just passing it on.

If I'm camping by the truck, the rifle spends the night in the truck. If not, I bring it into the tent and put it under my cot (which is always as far away from the stove as possible). I have had enough tack messed with by critters during the night that I have never left it outside in a saddle scabbard,

I also use dry lube rather than oil. On a cold morning up in Montana, I watched the firing pin on a friend's Remington ease slowly forward after he pulled the trigger. Needless to say, it didn't go "bang". We cleaned some excess oil out of the action at lunch and he had no further problems.

Always leave mine in an unheated environment (either the rig or under some sort of cover outside).

Condensation can also be quite severe on firearms in a pickup if one rapidly warms up his cab with ice or snow on the floors.

+1

That was my thoughts that once you fire up the stove you lower the amount of mositure you have to deal with.

Coyote Hunter

If you remember the post I made on another forum about finally fogging a scope,that was my first and yes,it was an old Weaver K-4 in a rain/snow storm from hell,all sideways in the wind..Everything was wet and I lost a Kodak Camera also.

I still have an old Weaver K-4(50's) that made it through on my other .270 but the bottom line is...Internet nonsense with todays scopes where you put it at night...

Mine sure as hell ain't going outside and never has in Idaho's climates, almost year around in my work with some sort of a scope next to me and the stove.

Jayco

Jayco -

Not sure what you mean by "but the bottom line is...Internet nonsense with todays scopes where you put it at night...".

All I know is I had a problem when the rifle spent the night in a heated trailer, no problem since I started leaving the scope in the truck overnight.

Wish I could leave my glasses out there but I'm blind without them...

Interesting replies guys...I never get too far away from my rifle while in the hills...I had an encounter back about 15-16 years ago that forever changed my outlook & habits...
I was on my way back to town from a weekend excursion & remembered that I had a new Ruger 10-22 that needed sighting in so I pulled off the main road to where I knew a nice flat log landing was. I stopped parallel to the pile of logs about 60-70 yards away on one side with a huge slash pile that was surrounded with 6-7 foot ceders & pines off to the other side of my truck...I grabbed the rifle from behind the seat & set it across the console as I got out & went ahead & loaded a magazine & laid it next to the rifle. Next thing I did was grab the staple gun & a target & set off for the log pile...with target in place I headed back to the truck...I got about ten yards from the truck when a very loud hiss-growl brought me back to reality...it's amazing how quick your mind weighs the options when stimulated in that way...I instantly grew another couple feet & started doing my best bigfoot impression without skipping a step...The passenger door was locked & the keys were in the console...BIG STEPS....SWINGING ARMS...I got to the front of the truck...all the while trying to see the [bleep] thing, when it let go with another hiss growl...I thought I was [bleep] cat food...got to the drivers side of the truck & sidestepped to the door, reached in & got the rifle & clip, jack a shell in & started easing towards the end of the slash pile...now verbally daring the MFer to come on out...I did manage to see the feet & tail taking off through short pine & cedars...since that day, you'll not catch me unarmed in the hills. Gun in the tent??? You betcha...

CH

It's funny how experiences differ.You probably left yours on the stove(Kidding)...When we hunt,My wife/son and I,all the rifles come inside at night and we use a catalytic heater in the trailer and wood in the tent..Never a problem.

Last year we had to drive several miles at 0 temps in a warm truck then got out to freeze our azzes off and the rifle/scopes worked fine.In all my years,I have only fogged 1 scope..A 50's Weaver K-4 and they all were kept in the tent or trailer over night....

But any scope or any bullet can fail,even the best of both...Most tried and proven things don't..I guess if I listen to all this..I have been lucky,but I don't(grins).

As far as glasses go..I hate them.I have to wear them to drive but I can't walk with them on or I would fall on my face.When I have tried to wear them hunting,my face gets to hot and they fog up or the rain/snow blinds me.....So I go without using them...

Jayco

I think you just summed up about 90% of the post on this site!

Hemi

I don't want my rifle to warm up when I'm hunting in sub-freezing temps. Moisture will condense on the scope lenses and metal as soon as you bring that very cold rifle into a warm place or vise versa - yes, even a tent heated with wood. I either leave mine in the pickup or outside the tent covered with a tarp or saddle blanket.

vice versa? How so? Just like gravity works...both down and up at the same time?

I've left a rifle in the cab of a truck and had the scope get covered in frost the next morning as I took it out. RIfle got very cold overnight and moving it into the warming morning air caused it to collect moisture that briefly froze. Also once took a cold rifle that had spent the night in the truck up thru a warm cloud layer. Lost a shot at a 6 point elk because of that. My glasses were fogged as well.

I've never noticed moisture condensing on something that's much warmer than the air temp. It isn't the hot cup of coffee that collects moisture it's the cold beer can.

I'll bring the rifle into the tent at dusk. Yeah, you might get a little condensation at first, but the rifle warms up and drys out all night just like me...ready for the next morning.

My scope didn't fail, it just fogged up on the outside like my glasses.

Would love to get Lasik but the glasses have saved my eyes from flying and poking things too may times...

Agree with this suggestion. A quick wipe-down with a silicone cloth at night and again at dawn will handle condensation.

This question has gotten me thinking. My experience has not been w/ super cold weather hunting (below zero) but only with temps below freezing.

I could see a problem if you brought a very, very cold gun into a warm tent. Especially if there were wet clothes drying and pots of coffee boiling. You'd get condensation in/on the rifle and if it couldn't thoroughly dry, it'd freeze going back outside.

In that case, I'd agree with those that recommend leaving the rifle outside in a truck or under a tarp. Definetely not uncovered as objects radiate energy to the sky. On a cloudless night the sky is at absolute zero so objects get colder than the air and attract moisture.