Cold Weather Shooting: Gun Oil

Well it’s already that time of the year, but I wanted to go over Cold Weather Shooting and how gun oil/grease fits into the picture.

Most of us religiously keep our weapons cleaned and oiled, before, during and after shooting, whether its hunting or time at the range, but in a Survival/Collapse scenario, care of your weapons could be the difference between life and death.  This isn’t to ‘scare’ you, but i do feel you need to understand, if you don’t already, that your weapons need constant care and attention if they are to function properly, and when the time comes that you NEED them, you don’t want them failing because of oversight or laziness.

In my experience between sport, hunting and combat, gun oil is a necessary item for proper functioning of the weapon system.  You need to keep your weapon oiled when in storage or prior to shooting or an engagement to prevent rust and corrosion as well as to make sure the miscellaneous parts are well lubricated to ensure proper functioning.  However there are some times when oil can your biggest enemy.  In one case we learned very quickly that oil the deserts of the Middle East was a disaster, now we learned this in about the first 5 minutes of being there, our weapons still oiled from the armory, were quickly COATED in dust and sand when we got off the planes.  This meant we had to take them apart, clean them of all oil and reassemble them…no easy task.  In rainy or humid climates, or even temperate forested areas, definitely have your weapon well oiled and have some on hand.  In cold weather, freezing and below, especially in the below zero (fahrenheit) range, oil and grease can be just as much an enemy as the deserts of the Middle East.

In Extreme cold temperatures standard oil and grease will start to ‘gel’, which will gum up your bolt, slide and other moving parts on your weapon.  With a bolt-action this isn’t as big of a deal as you can probably power through it, depending on how cold it is.  In a semi-automatic, this could be deadly as the weapon will not be able to use the gas blowback to cycle the next round into the chamber, and cause a jam or other malfunction, in some cases the firing pin will not work as well and then you are up the proverbial creek.

NO OIL

Some people advocate NO OIL whatsoever in extreme cold temperatures, which if you have no other choice, this can work if you take a few other steps as well.

One issue with cold temperatures is that you will keep your weapon in your heated truck or your home before and after you go out, this can cause MAJOR issues and malfunctions.  What happens is that when your gun is nice and toasty in the house or your truck it of course takes on the ambient temperature it is in.  So when you sling your weapon and walk out the door of your house or get out of the truck the weapon is then thrown into a wildly lower temperature, there is a moisture buildup, minute, but enough to cause your weapon to freeze up.  To prevent this you need to set out your weapon in the outside temperature for a few hours before hand, work the action and then head on out.  If riding in a vehicle try to keep it in a case in the bed of the truck, or at least keep the temp down in the truck, and work the action of the weapon every so often once outside to ensure that it hasn’t frozen up.

Another issue is that when you get home  you will take that freezing cold weapon and then stick it inside somewhere where now the cold hits the heat and massive moisture builds up in all the little parts.  If you don’t disassemble it and clean it let it warm up and wipe it down again, moisture turns to corrosive rust and over time your nice weapon turns into a piece of junk.  You can wipe it lightly with CLP (Cleaning, Lubricant, Protectant) and put it away, but make sure it is a light, light, light coat.

TW25B

TW25B is made by Milcomm, and is an excellent product that i have used extensively in all my weapons without having ANY issues whatsoever in the cold.  It is rated from -85 to +450 degrees fahrenheit and is in use by the Canadian Mounties and US Special Forces.  It is all synthetic and improves the performance of the weapon and can be used for long-term storage as well.  It is a bit pricey at $10 for .75oz of the stuff, but for its performance it is worth it.

GRAPHITE LUBRICANTS

I have never used graphite lubricants in my weapons, not because it doesn’t work, but I am a creature of habit, I havent gotten around to trying it and i often stick to what has worked for me in the past!  A lot of people i trust on gun forums SWEAR by this for gold weather, there are various types of graphite lubricants, but one in particular seems to have a good following and no negative reviews for cold weather use.  That is Brownells Action Magic II, now this isn’t a quick spray and go, and will take a little time and work.  Basically you heat up the specific gun part apply the first liquid, let it cool then apply the second application which is a powder.  Once this sets up it is said to be excellent in cold weather and will not seize up.

MILITEC

Militec has good reviews as well around the net and with shooting enthusiasts, and its pour point is around -45 degrees.  The best way to apply it is to use a qtip and lightly coat it and then heat it up, a blow dryer works by some accounts.  The oil is said to bond with the metal and shooting it bonds it even more, and you only need to do this a few times a year, and once it sets the carbon wipes off very easily, similar to having chrome coated parts.

SLIP 2000

This synthetic lubricant requires a bit more work, as it is primarily a lubricant and needs a separate degreaser to clean the weapon.  However there are MANY MANY MANY testimonials of people firing  8000-15000 rounds without ANY cleaning whatsoever.  Much like Militec, SLIP 2000 bonds to the metal and provides a micro layer of protection on the metal parts of the weapon, allowing you to easily just wipe off the carbon and relube the weapon system.  SLIP 2000 is rated to -74 degrees fahrenheit.

REMINGTON DRI LUBE

REM-DRILUBE is a dry teflon spray that is quite popular on store shelves, and i have used it myself.  It is said to be good to -40 degrees, but honestly I haven’t used this below zero as of yet, as, like i said I’m a creature of habit and have always used tw25B when it got that cold.  I have never had an issue with it so far.

WATCH OIL

Reading Massad Ayoobs blog he once mentioned he found that the thin oil used in watches was good for cold weather use, now i have never used this, but wanted to pass it along nonetheless due to my immense respect for the man and his words of wisdom.

Other Notes:

Now this isn’t necessarily gun oil related but a here are a few other things you need to be aware of for shooting in cold weather climates.

• Trigger Guards.  Now often the Trigger guards are too small for gloves so you either have to take them off, don’t wear them on the shooting hand (which isn’t advisable), cut the shooting finger off your shooting hand or to replace the trigger guards themselves.  Now many manufacturers are enlarging the trigger guards on hunting rifles to allow this, but there are often after market guards you can purchase for you existing weapons to do this.  Test your weapons out with whatever garb you are going to wear for winter hunting…or…defense and make sure you practice, find out the kinks and work them out as needed

• Barrel covers.  Now in the sands of Iraq we used film canisters to cover our barrels so as not to allow dust and sand into it, this will work with AR’s in cold weather as well.  However since people have ALL DIFFERENT KINDS of weapons out there, you can use different things to cover the barrel.  WHY? because if you slip and fall or any other many occurrences, you could pack snow into your barrel causing issues, not to mention it melting and getting water inside your weapon.  You can use condoms and tape them off, just make sure you try to use the non-lubricated kind, or you can just use electrical tape to cover the barrel opening.  Now this wont cause you to shoot 90 degrees to the right on your first round, granted the round will be slightly off compared to  a shot from an uncovered barrel, but the difference is negligible and worth it for the protection it offers.  You will want to cover this after the barrel is cold so as not to trap condensation inside and immediately remove it and clean it if you bring it into a warm environment as mentioned before.

• You should be getting data on all your weapons in every type of climate condition that exists in your general area, especially with ‘precision’ long range weapons.  Your “cold bore shot” is the shot you make when fire your first round, which will be different that the following shots from a warmer barrel.  In extreme cold your ‘cold bore’ shot will be even more different than usual so get the info on it now when things are ‘ok’.

• Your magazines and ammo will be affected by the cold as well so condensation can gum up the works for them as well, make sure the magazines are set outside before hand as well and are free of grease and oil as they can have the same issues as the weapon.  You don’t want to have the weapon working well and the magazine springs are frozen and the next round doesn’t feed! If you reload make sure you waterproof your primers as well, if you fall in a creek or condensation builds up in rapid swings of temperature (inside to outside, vice versa) then you can have malfunctions in your ammo as well.

Thats it for today

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