Skipping the revolver in the winter? stay with semis?

9

9mm

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Crazy thought, can the revolver freeze up in the winter? like the lock up pin thing, that sticks up on the cylinder get frozen into place? [I forget the name] Or even another part of the revolver?

It's been getting cold here and I have stopped carrying my revolver, and staying with the 26 and the 19.
 
I carried a revolver most of the 17 years I was in Law Enforcement.
Freeze Up was never an issue.

Unless you carry in Alaska, I would not loose sleep over freeze up.

My 2 cents, I would think your slide lube on a semi-auto getting thick would be a bigger concern than a revolver not functioning.

I run light weight synthetic oil in my revolver.

I normally use Lubraplate on my slide rails. If my 1911 were to act sluggish, I would switch to synthetic oil on the slide rails on it.

Unless you live somewhere that it gets way too cold to be outside in the first place, Don't loose any sleep.

Bob
 
Considering it will be next to your body and I'm assuming concealed, even if revolver freeze up were a concern, which it isn't, it wouldn't get cold enough to freeze.

By way of example, I truck carry a S&W in the winter and at temps into the 20s I've never discovered my gun frozen and seized up at the end of the day.

Addititonally, if you are concerned that a revolver can freeze in the winter, I dont believe that a semi auto would be any more freeze resistant. Perhaps even more so with the area of the rail contact.
 
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Non issue;

Unless you carry in Alaska, I would not loose sleep over freeze up.
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Non issue in Alaska too.

I carried a revolver in my 20 year career in LE with the Anchorage Police Dept.

I also carried my revolver on NG drills including tons of winter cross country ski trips, one such trip I can think was over 100 miles taking about eight days, is sub zero temps.

Still carry a revolver after I retired to Wyoming. Wyoming gets pretty cold at times, not as cold as Alaska but cold enough IF freezing was a problem with revolver.

Never heard or thought about my revolver freezing up until I read this post.

I have seen guns freeze up, normally because people take a cold gun into a warm tent, condensation occurs and the gun can freeze when taken outside. But I've never seen it with a revolver. Maybe its because of the way they are carried as opposed to rifles.

One can choose a pistol or revolver, for what ever reason, but a revolver freezing up more often then a semi is really a non-issue.

Kind of hard to see, but the taller guy, (me) in the bottom picture is carrying a revolver in a shoulder holster. As you can see, this is what you call "winter conditions"

Abn%20Det.jpg
 
"Crazy thought, can the revolver freeze up in the winter? "

Not crazy at all. Have never had a revolver freeze up, but did (once) have a new (about 150 rounds fired new) 1911 get somewhat sluggish and it did jam, on a cool day, about 5 below. Surprised me. Oil too thick?

Guess the biggest test came in Russia where it gets really cold, during WW2 on the Eastern Front, the Nagant revolvers made for nice hand warmers, always worked, whereas the Lugers just seized up in the cold.

For cold weather carry, real cold that is, I would prefer a revolver.

Nice pics Captain...looks kinda balmy tho...oh, to be young again.
 
If you dunk your revolver in a bucket of water and lay it out below freezing you may have a problem.
 
Due to design, the revolver is more likely to work in the winter than the semi. Come to think of it the revolver is more likely to work all the time.
 
I really don't see a revolver being any more likely to have problems in cold weather than a semi-auto. The most common cold-related firearms problem I've heard of is oil thickening and causing malfunctions. Considering that a revolver requires less lubrication than a semi-auto (in fact over lubrication is more likely to cause problems with a revolver than under lubrication), it would seem to be less likely to have problems assuming both are maintained properly.

As to the action of the gun freezing shut, I really don't see one type being more prone to it than the other. It would seem to me that careful selection of a holster and/or cover garment that shields the gun from the elements woudl be the best way to prevent such a problem regardless of action type.
 
I hunt with my revolvers in Wisconsin, this includes the months of November thru February. I doubt very much if a carry weapon would ever see the extremes that my revolvers see in the field under those conditions. Altho I have never had a revolver freeze up, I did have a 1911 freeze solid after being submerged in swamp water and then exposed to 10 degree air. Come to think of it, since I was exposed to the same swamp water and 10 degree air, I was froze also.
 
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When I was in the arctic, I switched to a revolver in the winter. Never had a problem with a semi auto in winter either, but used graphite on the slide.
 
I dont believe that a semi auto would be any more freeze resistant.
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Glock, single pull fires the action, revolver the cylinder must turn before firing. Is what I am getting at for the point.
 
Glock, single pull fires the action, revolver the cylinder must turn before firing. Is what I am getting at for the point.
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You of course assume that the cold weather that froze the cylinder in place didn't freeze the trigger of your Glock in place. :)

I really don't believe you have to worry about any CCW guns freezing to the point of non-function unless you really are abusing them.
 
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My only experience with cold affecting function was with a Remington Viper semi-auto .22 rifle during Minnesota winters. It functioned fine in warm and cool whether, but in freezing temps, it would not cycle properly and was basically reduced to a single shot. However, I believe that was more of a magazine issue than a gun issue. whatever the cause, that may be part of the reason, the gun was only in production 5 or 6 years.
 
I'm a little surprised anyone one question the reliability of either auto loaders or revovlers in cold climates. Both have been used since the early Twentieth Century in nearly every weather extreme with little or no problems from weather related causes.

Common sense dictates that neither be lubed with lubricants that can, or do, thicken during cold weather. But even these are applied in such thin films that they would do little to hinder operation.

I once tried some thick greases (not intended for firearms, by the way) and did cause the hammers of both revolvers and an M1911 to fail to hit the firing pin with sufficient force to fire the gun. The hammers so gooped up and frozen did fall, but in slow motion.
Blasted the stuff out with WD-40 and all was well immediately.

Fortunately, it seldom gets that cold in Memphis. Last year year it did get so cold water would freeze.

Bob Wright
 
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