Pump shotguns and cold weather

S

Super-Dave

New member
How cold does it to get before a pump shotgun starts to freeze up/lock up?

What can you do to delay the malfunctions?
 
Spent many freezing mornings in a duck blind with a Wincheter model 12 and an Ithaca 37. I have never had a pump shotgun action "freeze up" in the cold. The action is purely mechanical and should not affected by temperaure.
 
so no matter how cold it gets it wont affect the pump shotguns?


The gun oil wont freeze or the metal wont stick together from the humididty in the air?
 
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Tolerances get looser in cold weather so a thicker lube viscosity is offset by the shrunken metals.

if you have enuff lube in there to notice... you got far too much in the gun.
drops, not ounces are all that is needed and that equates to mils of thickness at most.
Brent
 
Sure, at 60 below in the Aleutian chain ......it and everything around it will freeze tight .....

but not a problem on the coldest mornings I've ever seen in a duck blind / even when we had to break ice to put out decoys .....
 
many, many cold dragging my mossy500 thru icy cold water, waiting hours for the birds to come in, even had ice/sleet built up on the rails before, still functioned fine.
 
The only lube I have in my pump guns is enough to prevent rust. That is all a pump gun really needs. If you have enough to prevent rust that is also enough for lubrication. Your ammunition will malfunction before the gun does.

I've been out at -30F With my Ithaca and it functioned 100%. The ammunition, not so much at that temp. I should have kept the ammo inside the car and not in the unheated trunk.
 
As long as you got the strength to pump it hehe it will fire. Now i can't speak for anything below 10 degrees. But i've had my 870 during a 13 degree duck hunt. Cousin had a benelli and his friend a browning silver. Firing pin froze on the browning silver couldn't even fire. Cousin's benelli would only fire one shot. My 870 worked as usual sure ice was flying every where after it had been wet and i pumped one round out of it. But the point being i've never seen a pump fail
 
I have read that hunters going to hunt in the far north where temps well below zero are the norm should completely degrease the bolt and use graphite to lube the firing pin and bolt.I can see a heavy oil getting thick enough in extreme cold to slow the pin enough to cause light strike failure to fire.Maybe a tribologist will weigh in on this.
 
I've shot my 870 at about -10F. No issues at all.

Before winter, I very lightly dampen a rag with CLP, and wipe it all down. If the gun gets wet, I repeat.
 
I would think a larger concern on the longevity of your shotgun would be the condensation that occurs after brining in your gun from the cold. A cold gun brought into a warm environment will attract condensation throughout its innards as well as its exterior. It is that moisture that freezes the next time the gun is taken outside - usually not the oil. When hunting in the cold, try not to bring the gun into a warm environment until you are done.

Pretty much any light weight synthetic oil will be OK. That is as long as you do not give your weapon a bath in it. I do not know the freezing point of various commercial lubricants, but according to WikiAnswers.com, regular 5W30 motor oil will not freeze until -30F - and that is actual temp not a wind chill. Of course, if you really want to be in the cold graphite will work too.
 
Have hunted in Michigan's UP,

it's not temperature but cleanliness and lube used.

Have a WinM97 that was detailed in fall and dusted with graphite,
only troubled developed was when the snow built up on trigger guard upper surface that the carrier dropped on as a stop. couldn't feed from magazine but still fired.
Others shotguns froze due to no cleaning and safties not moving.

For today, detail the shotgun and use light lubing with either a teflon based lub ot"Plastilube" it's used on aircraft instrumentation.
 
Good point SomeGuyInTheMidwest and especially valid when using a blackpowder rifle.On a unsuccesful hunt in Virginia in Feb of 94 my rifle was the only one that fired when clearing the guns to go home and I was the only one who left my rifle outside of the motorhome at night.The other two were afraid of theft and brought theirs in at night,the condensation killed the powder and all Mac and Carl heard when they pulled the trigger was the percussion cap go "pop".
 
In sub zero weather firing pins will freeze in place and trigger mechanisms will do the same if to much oil is applied. You need to really only have the barest of oil film if hunting in sub zero weather for extended periods.
 
rob, we can dress ourselves in layers to maintain good core temp at 50-70 below, no problem but it won't work so well with a weapon...

Plus "unaged corn liquor" don't warm up the internals of a gun like it does in me:D
Brent
 
for cold weather lube nothing beats the army's "lsf" lubricating semi-fluid.

ive successfully used it on several weapons systems in -40f while in korea.

it is a thick milky white fluid that is often found in surplus stores.
 
Crosshair, can you expand on your experience of your ammunition not working correctly at low temps? What type of ammo/how did it react ect ect i'm very interested thanks.
 
I had a problem with my nova pump the other morning, it did not want to pump very well, but I can't remember if I cleaned the two seasons ago or three seasons ago.:o
 
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