Went to the Club Shoot at Fort Greenville Muzzle Loaders today.
It was another cool day the ground frozen etc deal and a spit patch would freeze in the bore if you didn't ram it home quickly.
Things started out well but the lock started acting way slow after the third relay. pnic
We pulled the lock and it looked good but would just hang up when the sear was tripped??
One of the other shooters had a cleaner too spray the lock parts with and then it worked fine.
So I guess the Hopps gun oil is getting to thick/sticky in cold weather [hmm]
So if you don't mind sharing, What do you use to oil the internal lock parts normally and in cold Temperatures?
I should have asked them but I was trying to finish the target and not hold up the shoot. pnic pnic
Thanks!
I've always oiled the innards of my locks with 3-in-1 oil from the hardware store, applying a single drop where the mainspring bears on the tumbler cam and one small drop each at the pivot points of the sear and tumbler. A drop also goes on the pivot of the frizzen and works its way down to lube the contact of the frizzen toe along the frizzen spring. I don't shoot any form of competition, no relays, and don't do casual target shooting when it's as cold as it is, right now these days, but I've sat in a deer blind many a time with bitter cold in the air and snow on the ground and have never had one of my locks go sluggish on me, whether I finally fired at a deer or emptied the rifle.
Whether this constitutes a success story for 3-in-1 oil, I don't know. Results might be different in more extreme cold or if the rifle were fired repeatedly in a short space of time, but for one reliable shot after sometimes several hours in toe-killing cold weather the stuff works fine.
well here in michigan,I've shot in matches to @ 15 below and never came across that problem. I use Dexron II trnas fluid for my gun oil in the lock's and barrel. No issues in over 20 years of using it. It was developed as a substitute for sperm whale oil.
Thanks I will try the 3 in 1 and ATF.
As I think more about it [hmm] it might have been a condensation thing moisture getting into the lock and icing up?
I was kind of strange sighting through the heat waves off the Barrel and perhaps the moisture was condensing on the cold internal lock parts?
Quote from: Watauga on February 17, 2013
Thanks I will try the 3 in 1 and ATF.
As I think more about it [hmm] it might have been a condensation thing moisture getting into the lock and icing up?
I was kind of strange sighting through the heat waves off the Barrel and perhaps the moisture was condensing on the cold internal lock parts?
Possible! But I do recall being told, when guns were being introduced to me, to avoid over-lubing, since in cold weather things could gel up and get sluggish. These were modern firearms, too, with powerful coil springs driving firing pins. I could see a lock that depends on the fast fall of a hammer or cock, driven by a single v-spring, being put out of commission by either too much or the wrong sort of lube, in cold weather.
It is definately not period correct. but I have used a syntectic grease because it don't dry out and get stiff over time.
It also seems to keep dirt and loose powder from getting into the lock works. I generally clean the lock with a solvant once every six months if I'm using it often.
I've used 3-1 oil and Castrol both with great success. Of course those kinds of temps spare us in the South.
rem oil, but like hanshi, it dont get that cold here