Could your weapon handle this?

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You'll never know whether your firearm/ammo will function in those conditions until you try it under those conditions. I rather suspect that it will be the shooter that fails first.
 
Any gun will be fine with proper lubrication.

Want to know something funny? The Russians even have a lubricant that is designed to keep the AK-74 running in -30* temps. I have seen AK's lock up from the colt before so it can happen, proper lubrication keeps it from happeneing.
During WWII the Russians mixed their standard oil with gas to keep it working in the arctic temps experienced.
 
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My father was the commander of a tank destroyer outfit during WWII. He told me that after the war he met a German officer who had been at Stalingrad. The German told my dad 'Didn't make any difference what weapons we had, we didn't have enough ammo to kill all those Russians anyway'.
 
in 1981 I participated in Cold weather exercises in Norway- we had no issues with the M16A1 in -30f temps, but we did use a special cold weather lube in place of CLP (I want to say it was LSA?)
 
Ramone said:
in 1981 I participated in Cold weather exercises in Norway- we had no issues with the M16A1 in -30f temps, but we did use a special cold weather lube in place of CLP (I want to say it was LSA?)
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How long we're you fellas in the elements? Outdoors, buried in snow, frosted?

Do tell. I'm curios of things that happen where man should not dare tread!!!
 
I was walking around the streets of Anchorage a little while ago. 22 degrees out. windchill its a balmy 14 degrees.

I couldnt imagine living in much worse than that, let alone firing a gun anywhere close to accurately, or working bolts, or any other fine motor skill.
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Bah. That was shorts weather! I spent Saturday at the range and rode the bike there and back in fleece shorts. It was too warm for pants.

Seriously, though, part of the key is learning how to regulate your body temp rather than simply piling on clothes. For example, I wore gloves on Saturday with open finger tips and within a few minutes my fingertips were painfully chilled and stiff. Solution? I removed the gloves entirely. Within a few minutes my body adjusted the skin temp by getting blood flowing to the skin surface. Shot the rest of the day with no gloves, no problems. I also brought a pair of oversized padded ski coveralls to slip on after my ride to let my clothes dry off from the ride without getting chilled.

As the temp drops into more serious below-zero territory you just keep making various adjustments. One key is to make sure you have room between your skin and the garment. That's where you keep your heat. You never want to have close-fitting garments in deep cold. This is also why puffy wool and fleece are useful. Close-fitting cotton is WORSE than bare skin. I never wear the stuff in winter. It's death in clothing form.

For firearms the main concern is taking them inside a hot environment like a cabin and then right back outside. They become magnets for condensation inside, get wet and then that moisture freezes outside and you have a locked-up action.

If I understood correctly they were actually operating at 36 degrees below zero
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IIRC it got down to about -20 C/ -4 f. in Stalingrad. The really deep cold came during the 39/40 Winter War where it got down to -40 c/-40 f. That's way up in the arctic. The horror stories from that campaign are legend. Whole squads frozen solid overnight sitting around useless campfires. Men frozen into statues moments after death. Cut-off Soviet troops resorting to cannibalism. A frozen hell, pretty much. And their government denied any of it had ever happened for decades afterwards. The Finns were better prepared for winter, but even they took a lot of casualties from frostbite. The Mosins kept working though. The only complaints I've read about involved the "wings" added to the M-27 bolt--a feature that was not widely adopted. When you're fighting dudes who stop your tanks by picking up trees and shoving them into the treads maybe you should reconsider the whole invasion.
 
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No lube on My M-39's and other mosins when below Zero, which is alot , here in the Arctic..... The only failurs Ive had with a Mosin in those temps were my fault, and a clean dry bolt just needs to be lcleaned in daily routine maintanace and all is well.

Theres nothing dangerous about shooting a Mosin Nagant at -60, its alotta fun and VERY smokey :D
 
I have done training in some cold environments of New England and even a few weeks outside Ft Wainwright, Alaska. In that situation, standard CLP will do more to harm your weapon than good so many of us keep a bottle of Mil-tec for cold weather environments. But if you don't have that, heavy duty tape is your friend. Black duct tape or gorilla tape will prevent ice wedging and cracking in the polymer components of an AR. It also helps insulate your weapon from yourself.
 
I've seen several hunting rifles freeze up if they got wet and some lube get gooey in November in Colorado above 8,000 feet.

Keeping your rifle DRY and using the right lube makes a BIG difference.

FYI I MUCH prefer a KAR 98 to a Moisin. But the lube was a huge factor in Russia--but it certainly wasn't the ONLY factor.
 
Ok, I'll chime in with my 0.02 roubles worth of experience ;)

some years ago I had a chance to fire M1891/30 and Kar98k side by side during typical Russian North-West winter, with high humidity and temperature in around -15 degrees Celsius (+5F)

both guns were lubed with some modern oil which was adequate for the weather, and both functioned just fine

However, loading rifles with stripper clips, and, especially, loose rounds was entirely different matter, and, in my personal opinion, Mauser magazine is somehow easier to load either way when your fingers are frozen.

OTOH, straight M1891/30 bolt handle is somehow easier to operate in thick mittens compared to bent-down Kar98k bolt handle.

so, I'd call this a tie.
 
Back in the '70's, we used to haul the 82nd Airborne Division up to Alaska from North Carolina for winter war games and training. The first lesson we learned was never touch anything metal (tools, gun barrels,etc) with bare hands. You would instantly freeze freeze to the metal. I remember it got so cold the moisture in the air would freeze and make ice fog.
 
SInce my company were the 'Aggressors' against a battalion, we were pretty busy.

I took one shower in three weeks, and it was the only time I actually undressed fully. At one point I was on my fifth day outdoors before we got hot chow.

LAW! that was it! Thanks- drew a total blank.
 
Your bare cheek, and hand dont freeze to an M-39's wooden stock, and I, in Winters past, taped my trigger so it wouldnt freeze to my finger.

Ammo from you pocket can freeze burn your fingers or stick to them be carefull.

One extra advantage that I have with ammunition reliability in deep cold is that I can easily make the firing pin prtusion to the absolut max with the gauge right there iin my cleaning kit, in my hunting bag.
At -20 and colder , its a good thing to give the firing pin maximum protrusion (gage wize) and hit that primer deep. Milsurp gos off every time, while Winchester white box may need a second hit to get things moving. Most none corrosive is 'iffy' past -40, and plausibly why the Russians still manufacture and issue corrosive primed cartridges.
 
The only 'combat' weapons I have are a Romanian AKM and a hacked up AIMR(stock-less, short barreled AKM called a 'Draco'), a Yugo M48 and a Beretta 92FS. I believe they'd all handle any weather conditions and work just fine and hit what I aim at.
 
-30 celsius takes it's toll on mechanical parts - a couple of years ago my bike's rear hub froze solid and a pot metal brake handle snapped during a nice winter night. A low-quality gun might shatter in those conditions.

Stuff with too tight tolerances also tend to jam, so run-in your guns before taking them to the arctic.
 
My Sako TRG would laugh. It was designed by Finns to work in subzero temperatures in military operations. Even the trigger shoe, safety, and guard are made of a durable polymer so your fingers don't freeze or numb up versus metal parts. Accuracy International would be another proven contender. Today, there are a lot of good aerospace lubricants (planes and things in space get really cold) that would work in a firearm as well.
 
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