Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters remington 700's cold weather

It gets cold here in Minnesota also. I just checked, and all my 700's still have their handles on....

[quote=dcd]must have been in 1986 when it was -42. my 700 worked on a bull mybuddies win 70 froze. [/quo
What is it like taking a dump when it is 42 below zero?
That is what I would be concerned about.
I think my Remington 700 would be ok.
whelennut

I have personal knowledge of exactly one Rem 700 bolt handle falling off. It was on an M24 that belonged to a unit co-located with a gunsmith friend of mine on a deployment to Bosnia. He silver-soldered it back into place. Since this was an issue rifle, no reload/hot loads could have been an issue. It just fell the [bleep] off.

Back in the 1970s I worked for a gunsmith and we had quite a few Remington 788s come in with busted bolt handles. IIRC, most were in 22-250. I never did see an M700 come though during the time I worked for him. I have 3 M700s myself and the last time I looked the handles were still on them. Never did use any of mine in sub-zero weather so I won't comment on that aspect.
Paul B.

I have taken a dump in those kind of temps.,and I promise you,I had to check to make sure my "Handle"hadn't fallen off.

I personally never had a problem with my rifles at those temps, and I hunted a lot in those kinds of conditions, over the years. If there was a weakness, I was me. I more than a few occasions, I gotten dangerously cold. Metal gets brittle in sever cold, and things do break. My Sako 75 has been exposed to and shot in temps as low as -40 deg F. just degrease the action and use lubricant that is rated for those temps and keep the rifle clean and you will not have any problems.

whelennut;
I hope that this finds you and yours well on this first day of 2013 sir.

Once upon a time when I was 15, my late father and I went on a week long moose hunt in Saskatchewan where the highest the mercury got was -30� and most of the time it was much, much colder.

We went in on a seismic cut line about 35 miles by snowmobile and stayed in a small trapper's cabin that belonged to a friend of the family. We had to leave the rifles outside as they'd freeze up from the condensation cycles otherwise. Dad carried a Model 100 in .308 and I was carrying a borrowed CIL-Savage 110 in 7mm Rem. Mag.

Anyway sir since you asked, the procedure one follows for waste removal as I recall it was sort of this way.

One first finds a "friendly log" and cleans the snow off of it, making sure first that it's approximate height off of the ground, diameter and bark texture are desirable.

Then you pull off your one piece white or Blaze Orange hunting suit that was required in Saskatchewan then and still might be. As this was only a denim material coverall, you didn't really get that uncomfortable immediately, though every layer admittedly helps at those temperatures.

Underneath that we wore a one piece snowmobile suit, which when removed caused one's body temperature to really begin to drop. You begin to question yourself as to whether or not you really, really need to go that bad.....

There are usually several layers of long tailed shirts and a vest that have to be shifted out of the way safely now, and of course one's denims and thermal underwear need to go too.

At this point, when all items that need to be exposed for the task at hand are fully that, you may indeed decide that it isn't worth it and you can hold it for awhile yet.......

If however this is serious or perhaps your 3rd time putting it off, you press on and rest the back of your legs on the frozen log, whereupon the back of your legs receive painful frost burn which tends to occupy much of your concentration until the other task at hand is attended to.

Lastly, one learns in times like those to have toilet paper in several pockets - maybe even all of your pockets - because that is the last instance you want to be searching for it.

Anyway, with apologies for offending anyone's sensibilities, that as they say, is how we did it back then.

Oh, the rifles worked fine in that weather worked fine in that weather, which is more than I can say for some of the other gear.

All the best to you and yours in 2013 whelennut.

Regards,
Dwayne

Hello! do I know what you mean on that! (And the painful burning that near freezing skin experiences when you plunge it into the steaming 100� pile. ) The gut pile on a big moose is like a heat "well" on cold winter hunts. I just go back there as needed.

Ain't that the truth?

(You forgot to mention the problem of "number 1" at those temps...the little problem wherein the "little squirt" really hates to be put out uncloaked and the harder one pulls the more he resists! Almost makes one want to pee 'like a girl' )

Since we're "talking potty", perhaps a few here know the adage sometimes advised about peeing into the wind - or not. Well, with that in mind, when I went out one breezy night to relieve myself many years ago, I heeded the advice and let loose toward the lee side. I discovered that whoever named the folly of peeing into the wind, inferring I presume that "with" was better, obviously didn't know about what happens in the breezes of the Arctic coastal areas. Let's just say that there was both a Venturi effect as well as significant updrafting which caught me by surprise....

--IF-- I have EVER been tempted to type --LMAO--..........here it is!!!

This thread has MORE humor than most:

THNX -- keep up the good work.

At 42 below, I'd be praying something broke so I could get back to some place warm.

I could tell you guys a story about a buddy who had a fancy for baby wipes as opposed to toilet paper and how that all worked out for him on a very very cold night in the mountains of Alaska after eating an oriental dish made by Mountain House. It weren't purty!!!!!!! Just try to pry a single sheet off that frozen block of baby wipes..........

I sent my Rem700 bolt and barreled action to ER Shaw to have them put on a new barrel, and the bolt came back with the handle reattached. I could tell it was reattached by the copper that was sandwiched between the handle and bolt. the copper that was welded looked good and precise. hopefully it will hold, not sure why they did that. Is copper normally used to attach the the two pieces?

No. The factory brazing is accomplished with a silver alloy. My concern, if copper is what you actually see, is that they may have re-brazed those parts with brass filler metal, an alloy of copper and zinc. Brass brazing does not produce as strong a connection as does the silver alloy - assuming both are done properly.

It is possible however, that what you're seeing is copper which may be part of the silver brazing alloy. I don't know if copper is one of the elements included in the alloy or not; I only know that it is not pure silver, but silver alloyed with other metal(s).

I have personally seen two failed Remington brazed joints, the braze was a light brassy color so there is copper in the mix. No idea of the composition but I would expect a little silver. (In both situations Remington, in so many words, said, "Oh [bleep]!" and fixed the firearm promptly.)