Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Rifle in tent?

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