Cold Weather Misfires

[Trigger]

Hi,

I have a question about hunting in the extreme cold. This has happened to me three times, with three different guns. The temperature was always 10 degrees or less when it happened. Me and a buddy are out hunting and we see a deer. My buddy shoots the deer. We wait, and a little while later say 45 minutes another deer shows up I take aim pull the trigger and click nothing, a misfire. I eject the shell and the next one fires. This happened with a Mossberg ATR 100 30-06. A couple of years before, a deer shows up I shoot it. The deer just stands there, I am sure I hit it so I wait for it to drop. It starts to trot away so I take aim pull the trigger and click a misfire, luckily the deer drops just as I pulled the trigger and got the misfire, I double lunged it on the first shot. This time the gun was a Remington 11-87 12 ga with a slug barrel. Now this same thing happens to me out rabbit hunting. I shoot a rabbit and about 30 or so minutes later I go to shoot another rabbit and click a misfire. I eject the shell and the gun fires. This gun was a Marlin model 60. Now in all of these guns I am using good ammo. Winchester Silver Tips in the 30-06, Remington Copper Solid 12ga slugs in the 12ga, and CC Mini Mags in the model 60. Is the firing pin drawing moisture after firing then freezing up and not striking the ammo hard enough? When inspecting the misfired ammo it looks as though the strike from the firing pin was sufficient. Has anyone else had problems with misfires in extreme cold weather after firing the first shot and waiting awhile before taking a second shot? Is there anyway to fix this cold weather problem I have had?

Thanks,

[minst7877]

Sounds like the oil or dirt that is on the firing pin is congealing and then slowing it down enough that it isn't striking the primer hard enough to set it off. Do a total teardown of one of the bolts and see how much dirt and crud has built up around the firing pin.

DC

[jims]

IMO minst7877 has identified the problem.

[RAF]

That happened to me way back when I was a pup. Shooting a 30-06 and temperature was colder than -20(back in those days we still used F). Pulled the trigger on a deer and nothing happened. Looked down and watched as the bolt moved forward in slow motion. After I warmed it, it worked fine. I had put too much oil in it thinking that would make the gun work better. WRONG. A good thorough cleaning of the whole bolt cured it.

[Trigger]

With the 30-06, I soak the firing pin end of the bolt in Hoppes #9, then I spray it out with Break Free, then I blow it out with compressed air. With the 11-87 and the model 60, I do the same thing except I do not soak them in Hoppes # 9. So this way is not good enough for cleaning the firing pins of my guns?

[bubba]

if it aint broke, dont fix it...........

[whyohe]

well id not use compressed air to blow that out. you are probably blowing stuff in to places not easily cleaned unintentionally. also unintentionally you can be blowing moisture in to the trigger. compressed air has more water content and it can condensate in the bolt assy. only a good drier in line of the hose can HELP, not eliminate the moisture, is just my opinion. the best way to clean it is to tear it down and use only a light oil. others here might have better suggestions on what to use as a lube.

ps as a thought on this thread what do you use to lube the bolt.

[Trigger]

Has anybody used this type of lubricant?

www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=153922

[redneckrob]

about once a year i disassemble the gun and soak the action in solvent then spray off with rusty duck action scrubber, wipe dry then a light coat of rem oil. the outside i wipe with rem oil or just regular old 15w30 rotella (just because it is readily available because of my occupation ;D )

[rossman40]

In cold weather you ether have a problem with lubricant gumming up or ice forming from condensation. If you know your going to be in cold weather a degrease followed by a dry film moly/graphite lubricant will do you good and to deal with condensation a shot of moisture dispursrant like WD-40 down the firing pin hole works wonders. Just remember to put oil back on when the temp comes back up.
Rob,, 15W30 Rotella,, You must be working on diesels, been there done that...

[Trigger]

rossman40 said:

In cold weather you ether have a problem with lubricant gumming up or ice forming from condensation. If you know your going to be in cold weather a degrease followed by a dry film moly/graphite lubricant will do you good and to deal with condensation a shot of moisture dispursrant like WD-40 down the firing pin hole works wonders. Just remember to put oil back on when the temp comes back up.
Rob,, 15W30 Rotella,, You must be working on diesels, been there done that...

Sounds good, I will give that a try next winter.

Thanks Rossman

[ozark]

I have disassembled bolts and found that the factory had used some kind of lub simular to bearing grease. The firing pin, it's spring and recess should be clean and only a film of high viscosity lub applied. I believe that following the advice others have supplied you will eliminate the misfiring problem.

[whyohe]

hmmmm... ozark i wonder if it is the same as the M-1 grease used in the military? i found that that cured a loading/ ejecting problem in my M-1.

my father-in-law was in charge of the armory when he was in the military. he had a few lil tubs.

[ozark]

I remember those little cups that were filled with something about the consistenty of warm butter. I don't know what it was but it may well have had some graphite in it. The grease that causes misfires in cold weather is something like cosmoline (misspelled probably}. The little cups of whatever it was placed at friction points helped functioning in all types of weather. Bolt lug operating rod area etc.