Cold Weather Shooting....
We had a SWAT qualification the other night when it was like 18 Degrees out. My Springfeld Operator was a wee bit sluggishin cycling at the beginning of the shoot. I tend to grease my slide and then oil it after cleaning.
As the shoot went on, the gun kept getting more and more sluggish and then I got a nasty mis-feed. The slide didn't have enough umph to get the .230g JHP up the ramp correctly.
So what changes to your gun care or product changes do you make in the winter time? I was looking at some cold weather grease but was wondering if that was more hype than finction.
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Could try this. http://www.royalpurple.com/gun-oil.html
Not suppose to thicken in cold weather.
Definitely try to shoot your Springfield in the coldest possible temps, for practice!
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Maybe you guys can explain this, why would it get worse as the shooting went on? Wouldn't the heat of shooting warm up the grease too?
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
streaker69
Maybe you guys can explain this, why would it get worse as the shooting went on? Wouldn't the heat of shooting warm up the grease too?
Viscosity of the grease, which is more than oil, especially at low temps. Some folks completely clean their firearms of oil and grease and put on graphite. Other problem is going straight from a warm environment into a very cold one, which can create condensation, combined with grease would not be good.
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SteelCityK9Cop
We had a SWAT qualification the other night when it was like 18 Degrees out. My Springfeld Operator was a wee bit sluggishin cycling at the beginning of the shoot. I tend to grease my slide and then oil it after cleaning.
As the shoot went on, the gun kept getting more and more sluggish and then I got a nasty mis-feed. The slide didn't have enough umph to get the .230g JHP up the ramp correctly.
So what changes to your gun care or product changes do you make in the winter time? I was looking at some cold weather grease but was wondering if that was more hype than finction.
I had the same issue the other day with a couple of handguns AND a rifle. Nothing failed, but the actions were noticably sluggish and getting moreso by the minute. Especially with carry guns and "go-to" rifles in th safe, I usually put a light layer of grease on because it stays put better and longer, but I think the weather may compel me to use oil (Break-Free LP) only on my carry pistol.
Every year, around this time of the year, I start seriously considering sending a pistol away to be NP3'd. Google it, you will like what you see :D
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
I've used Break Free for about the past 30 years. It has always worked in all kinds of weather from the desert to single digit temperatures. The only thing I use grease on is M1s and then its Mobil One Grease which doesn't thicken up like regular grease.
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
I normally run Weapon Shield grease on my SIGs. Last year I was doing cold weather shooting/training and found they don't work so well in the cold. I was lucky to get off 2-3 rounds per mag before getting major failures to feed. The grease "froze up" and the slide was super sluggish and eventually led to a non-working sidearm. My Beretta M9 suffered the same problems with grease too. Switching to Weapon Shield oil did help quite a bit, but at least for my SIGs, a VERY light oiling helped, but they were still a tad bit sluggish for the duration. The M9 ran fine with very light oiling. I also tested my Glocks and they suffered no functioning issues even after many hours in the same frigid weather. So my overall solution was to go Glock in the cold months just to be safe(r).
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
i LEARNED THIS LESSon about 15 years ago, every winter i removed the grease from my guns. In fact i just removed the grease for the winter from my carry guns.
In winter i just use a light oil , my favorite is Eezox, its light synthetic oil that will not freeze down to -72 degrees.
.45 's especially are susceptible to the slow motion action , it gets worse as the shooting proceeds because the grease is begining to trap the fouling.
yes get rid of the grease, no good in Winter , go for a light oil.
Re: Cold Weather Shooting....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gun
Viscosity of the grease, which is more than oil, especially at low temps. Some folks completely clean their firearms of oil and grease and put on graphite. Other problem is going straight from a warm environment into a very cold one, which can create condensation, combined with grease would not be good.
I do not advise doing the above. Graphite can and will promote corrosion on both stainless steel and aluminum.
When graphite is applied to stainless steel it leads to a process called "carburizing" which can cause stainless steel to lose its "stainless" properties, can lead to red rust and can cause the physical properties of the stainless steel to change (see strength).
Graphite on aluminum with the presence of just a small amount of salt water (any kind of human sweat is salt water) will lead to horrific corrosion and can cause sever cosmetic as well as structural problems with your firearm. Do not use!!!
What to use? A light oil like CLP, which has teflon. I dig CLP (or whatever it is called today) because after extended use (and not using solvents on the same area as the CLP) a nice teflon film will build up and keep it slippery.