F’n cold weather
Newb question. Do I need to tune my gun differently to shoot in cold temps?
It was about 24F out this morning when I took my rifle out of the warm car to the freezing cold bench. I let it sit for maybe 15-20 minutes but still got really erratic POI. Gun didn’t sound like it was shooting at full power and I couldn’t keep it on target… I’m not that bad of a shot :rofl:
Do I need to let it sit outside for longer? Or will the regulator just not function well in the cold?
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I cleaned out the hammer are real good and then applied some graphite on hammer and put it back in again and have not had a problem shooting in cold weather at all. I’m the one to quite before my gun does. It should be noted that they come oiled up so they don’t rust during the shipping period and the time they sit on shelf and getting sold. So I recommend taking out hammer and cleaning out all the oil in there before you get serious about shooting it. Cleaning barrel comes second. The too much oil in hammer guild does cause fps fluctuations.
What I have been reading about hammer is better keep clean without oil or vaseline due to dust doesn’t stick on hammer and mechanism. I reed same problem on Russian cricket forum due to cold weather condition. 😕
Well, I think I may have partially figured it out. The hammer, spring, and hammer chamber were drenched in oil. When I pulled the action from the stock, there was even some oil seepage down into the trigger group. I wiped everything down and found that after clearing all of the excess lube and putting the hammer setting back to where it was, I had gained 60+ FPS. The hammer was 1.25 turns from full bind before disassembly and after cleaning I had to back the adjuster out several turns, to just about flush with the receiver, to bring the speed back down to 900 FPS. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cold temperatures made that oil very viscous, slowing the hammer down enough to throw shots way off. And of course, it’s warm out again. 😕
Temperature change (increase or decrease) changes several things that can impact the POI. The speed of air leaving the tank can be thought of as proportional to the square root of the absolute temperature (Celsius + 273) of the air in the tank. This means less force applied to the pellet for the same unit of air mass released when the temperature is lower. But it gets more complex too as the temperature change also impacts the spring constant which in turn impacts the force applied to the valve and hence the mass of air released. Simply its a mechanical and thermodynamical system and temperature impact is all over the place!
Thanks. I’m going to try and let the rifle cool down for a longer period of time. Will also check out the hammer lube situation.. maybe whatever’s in there is too thick for cold weather? Any thin lube suggestions?
My 25 crickets POI shifts with cold weather as well. Cold as in anything under around 40 degrees.
Its cold here now where I’m at and my routine in like this.
Drive to shooting site gun in 70 dog climate
Will take some shots from truck over a period of ten minutes.
I then go outside and continue with little effect on gun. It will get very cold sometimes but gun performs as expected.
Very cold would be 20 degrees. I do however have an issue with my gun shifting poi after the second clip.
But that has nothing to do with what we are discussing.
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I kind of wondered about the POI also shooting in cold air,
I set in my warm house and open the kitchen window and shoot out side, So for the coldest I have shot in is about 35 degrees
Since my range is pretty short I have not seen a POI change yet, 38-to 48 yards, I have shot out into the rain and still shot pretty good, I am not talking paper punching I am talking sparrows and Euro doves…
Mike