Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Action and/or trigger problems at minus 40 degrees f ?

What's more fun is -35F and wind chills at -60-65F..

BTDT.. Not gonna do it again..

A Sunday morning last December was painfully cold(wind). It was in the -60F range w/windchill, just completely brutal out in the breeze.
Probably the coldest day I have ever worked. 5-15 minutes outside and back in the pickup, repeat..


Come home and wife is always like, "Damn your face is red!"


If someone has a facemask that you can wear without fogging up (sun)glasses please let me know.

Try ski goggles. More coverage and better seal.

Gotta read through this again...

Why? Is it that hard to learn the first time through it?

Get one designed for runners that has a mesh opening for the breathing hole. That helps somewhat.

Shot one of my best muleys in SE Montana around Thanksgiving in 1985.
-55` windchill according to a radio station in Gillette WY. Camping was interesting that year. Had cleaned out the trigger and firing pin with Coleman fuel and ran them dry in a tang Ruger M77.
A friend couldn't get his M77 to fire at a 5pt elk at Gardiner MT at -10`, his firing pin was gummed up with whatever the factory had in there. Did the Coleman thing again and all was good.

It's been years since I hunted, or worked, in weather like that. But when I was a kid, we fed cows in the winter regardless of the temperature. Only a dangerous blizzard (if you've been in one, you know what I mean) would keep my dad from his cows, and it had to be a bad one. I always carried a rifle or shotgun with, and had no trouble. But the open hammer lever guns I used, as well as a 99 Savage, didn't have those pesky enclosed triggers. I have them in bolt guns now, and even in lesser weather, use the lighter fluid flush once or twice a year. It seems to clean dust out well, and not gum up the works. I do the same to the disassembled bolt.

I used to go out in a snowmobile looking for coyotes. In cold weather, went with a friend for safety. Those old rifles worked well, but so did my friends Remington 721 .270. I went bird hunting one day when it was -32 F. Stayed in the coulees out of the wind. When a pheasant got up out of a clump of brush that was covered in snow, I about had a heart attack, but the 870 went bang...behind the darn rooster!

One cold morning, I went to do the barn chores. Square bale stack was covered in snow from the night before, and about -10 F. As I got about 5 feet from the haystack it exploded, and I jumped. A rooster pheasant had bedded down in the lee of the stack where we were taking bales. He was completely covered in snow, probably warm as could be, and didn't flush till I was close. He flew about 18 inches from the top of my head! That is one of my most vivid memories of those days, but when you live on a farm/ranch and work in the weather, you see lots that you don't with a town job .

I also wore glasses, and that fogging thing can be a pain. While skiing in Bozeman I saw an ad on a billboard for prescription ski goggles. Sent my prescription and got a pair. They were wonderful in the wind when it was cold....you had to work to get them to fog, and they would clear if you turned sideways to the wind.

Howa or Weatherby Vanguard disassemble the same exact way. They are a copy of the early 2 lug Sako designs .

Only issue I had was a rifle that got a lot of moisture in it while clearing a path through willows for horses. The next morning the temps were ~15deg (balmy compared to others here). I loaded a round closed the bolt to head out for opening morning. Had a feeling that something was not right. Looked at it and realized the bolt was not cocked. About a minute over my small stove and all was well. Poor job by me of preparing equipment before hand was the cause. Will ensure it is dry in the future.

Went on an Elk Hunt in Montana in 1988. I was packing a Rem 700 FS chambered in 7rem mag. I took the gun apart before I left home and cleaned the trigger and left it dry and then sprayed the action with BoeShield. Everyone in camp took their rifles back to their rooms after the days hunt and then we loaded up in a suburban every morning to different spots. The third day at lunch I was unloading my rifle(ADL) and the bolt felt funny,unloaded everything and the firing pin would not strike. I took the bolt apart and there was rust everywhere. Outside temperature varied from 0-10 degrees and it snowing and icing the whole week. I put the firng pin assembly in a coffee can full of gasoline and wiped it off and killed a buck the next morning .

Learned a big lesson about condensation and its damage.

Where are you headed to expect -40?

What advantages, if any, to using lighter fluid vs. brake cleaner?

Lighter fluid supposedly evaporates and leaves a wee bit of lube behind that does not collect dust.

Brake cleaner may very well do exactly the same.

If it ever gets cold enough I may test it this winter and see what happens.

The whole enclosed trigger issue I consider total bullschit. Any trigger can be made to freeze and I found little difference in the difficulties between enclosed and open.

I have had this gun out in -20�to -30� many times. I have good snow camo, and love it when I can see nothing but white, even the trees from top to bottom.

I have brake cleaner and lighter fluid on hand all the time, but kerosene works better than either as far as leaving a light, non troublesome coat of lube behind.

As for enclosed triggers, you gotta keep em dry. I think a model 70 trigger may be best in the worst conditions. Sometimes less is more.

This is the reason I like field serviceable rifles and rifles like A-borts with over engineered bolts and triggers make me wanna blow groceries. Field strippable bolts are a necessity.

Some don't hunt in such conditions, so they don't get it.....

I remember seeing all those barreled actions out on your deck. Did you do a full write-up regarding that?

We should make an investigative road trip to 1ak's place....if it ever gets cold enough.

Whatever the problem for bolts, safeties or triggers in cold weather.....lighter fluid (Naptha) is the answer.

Does Coleman white gas for lanterns work well?

Shot a deer way up North one year and it just stood there! As I approached and the deer didn't run off I could see the deer had died apon bullet impact yet remained standing as it had frozen in its tracks.

I didn't need anything for the trigger or bolt because I was hunting a tikka T3 and they are good for -120 degrees. It also comes with a field stripable bolt though I doubt you'd ever need to use the feature other than cleaning the rifle at home.

The Tikka T3 is like the Glock of rifles. They are known to always fire under the most adverse of conditions!

Shod

Sure shodd. The red icicle hanging out the other side of the deer is what anchored him there