Cold weather issues with Talon SS.
My Talon SS and I generally shoot pretty well. Today I took a shot at a varmit that was well within my ability and ended up wounding it instead of a clean kill. Follow up shots were crappy as well.
I felt like crap about it because I practice one shot / one kill. Sure I ocassionally need a follow up shot, anyone who says they don’t doesn’t hunt much. This was well beyond that though… It just got ugly.
Afterward I shot some target shots and found my groups were huge. I’d get a couple close togehter, but they off point-of-aim, and then it would shift to a new spot. I’m talking like 5 inches away! Some of them seemed low power as well (by sound).
I suspect it has to do with the outside air temp. We are having a real cold snap here in New England (~15 F when I took the shots). The breech seemed to move stiffly along the barrel like the grease was stiff. I’m also wondering about the aluminum contracting in the cold and shifting around the barrel and/or scope.
Any thoughts on this guys? I realize I may have to re-zero at colder temps, but scatter like this will prevent me from hunting with an Air Force rifle in colder weather.
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Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
pablouk
I operate in very cold conditions on occasion and lubes are very important. In the cold you don’t want anything that will thicken up. Experienced that a bit with powder burners and learned some lessons. Even a light film of lubricant that changes in cold conditions messes everything up in an action etc. Wtong lubes or too much will freeze up an action,, no joke.
My coldest experience with the AF is around -10 or 15. No real issues if I have the PW turned up a bit. Gets a lot colder but I don’t shoot then. haha I use silicone spray on the O rings hammer etc. You get just a bit of a difference in the O ring in real cold conditions.
Clean out the old crud prior to re lubricating and reapply now and then.
You can also use free graphite a bit which is a dry lube.
No grease or grease like stuff.
Way off shots left or right. Check for anything loose and check out scope. If you have baffle system make sure it is secure etc.
Good luck
m
Have to agree with Sau’ Totally dry hammer in a well polished frame.
I could be wrong, but personally I don’t think divers silicone is a good idea for hammer lube, even in warm weather. The stuff is just to thick, and I would think get more so in cold weather.. The only thing I use it for is to lube the o rings, and apply just a little when changing barrels on the breach end.
A clean, dry hammer in a clean frame ID I think is the way to go, when I clean things up good, and the barrel is out, I barely tilt the gun down a couple of degrees, and all the internal parts will just slide right out of the frame almost as if they were riding on ice. I doubt any internal parts would re-act the same way if something as thick as divers silicone was on them.
Just my observation
Clean out all the silicone and shoot it dry until next spring. A new o-ring shouldn’t bee too expensive. Delrin doesn’t need lube. You might also polish the daylights out of the barrel OD where the o-ring rides.
lw barrels are choked also
Thanks for the feedback regarding the grease – I did use divers grease, and I’ll bet it gets rather stiff when cold. As I said the breach was moving kinda hard.
I thought about the scope contraction issue, and I know that Field Target guys work out different range marks on their adjustable objectives to account for these types of changes. I’d think the change would be consistent though instead of (big) scatter in my groups.
I’ll have to shoot some groups from inside the heated house to see if it settled back down. Then I may try as it cools, and fully cold.
Seeing as the scope body is ali’ could this have warped slightly throwing off the shots??
I’m sure the aluminum frame is contracting in the colder weather and since the bushings are connected to the frame on the bottom and only one side it may be “bending” or contracting unevenly causing your shot to go off POA.
John
I agree with Riff. If you have lubed your hammer/spring/breech with any of the thicker stuff like divers silicone you are probably getting “chatter” in the hammer, the cold lube causing it to drag within the frame. Try a good cleaning of the hammer/breech/inside of the frame and replace any heavier lube with a couple drops of light silicone oil as used for paintball guns.
I have similar problems when it gets cold outside.
Ive always attributed it to the lubes gelling up and making the moving parts harder to move.
O-rings get stiff when they get cold. Not much you can do about it. The breech and valve stem get a little inconsistent.
You cant go without lube either, or blow-by causes even worse problems.
If Im wrong, I would love to hear what else I can try. One-third of my shooting season is cold and its my least favorite time.
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For “hammer lube” I coat my barrel and hammer with Johnson’s Paste Wax … the stuff in the yellow can. No cold weather problems for me today shooting my .25 caliber on pop cans at 90 yards.
Get the paste wax at Ace Hardware … good stuff 🙂