winterizing a remington 700?
Hello all,
My favorite PA deer rifle is a remington 700 and while at the range
the other day i started talking to a well seasond oldtimer
that told me the firing pin/striker could freeze up in Below Zero temps because of the old lube in the bolt body causing a misfire
and could cost you your shot. Could this happen? has it happened to anyone? How do i prevent this? thanks.....
My favorite PA deer rifle is a remington 700 and while at the range
the other day i started talking to a well seasond oldtimer
that told me the firing pin/striker could freeze up in Below Zero temps because of the old lube in the bolt body causing a misfire
and could cost you your shot. Could this happen? has it happened to anyone? How do i prevent this? thanks.....
0
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I have been using the 700/722/600 rifles since the 1960's and never had a firing pin malfunction and I have used my rifles during cold weather. Simply do not put any "grease" in the bolt. Very little lubrication is the best rule of thumb with all action types. Maintaining a bolt is not as hard as some believe. 0 -
I've never had a firing pin freeze on me, though I have heard a few stories about it happening. Probably caused by grease in the bolt. I keep the internals of my bolts lubed with graphite...perhaps you might try that.
John
The original point and click interface was made by Smith & Wesson0 -
The first rifle I owned was a Winchester M55(22 rf), the second was a Remington Model 700. I've had the 700 from Florida to Alaska. I have never had a problem with it firing when trigger was pressed. For lube, I'll use RIG for storage, then when I'm going to go hunting I wash the grease out with Everclear, then spray with WD-40. It has neither rusted nor stuck since 1962. The 55 is a semi-auto that fires from an open bolt, in a receiver that is nearly completely enclosed. The bolt has a fixed bump for a firing pin, so when sear is dropped, a significant chunk of metal is pushed forward by a spring. When visiting relatives in Iowa/Minnesota I have had problems with the bolt having so much resistance from the coating of thickened oil, that was virtually impossible to remove, that the 22 rim-fires would not fire. Since it isn't the only 22 that I have, I leave it at home when I'm going somewhere cold, and take a 22 that has a bolt that has access. Thicked oil can be a problem, but the 700 bolt is easily opened up, so the spring can be hit with a light coating of something that won't cause problems. 0 -
First of all,..clean the grease from any firing pins. Use a light lube only. The tool to remove the bolt body sells for ~$17 in Sinclair and is worth the investment. Sometimes a peice of brass will get caught in the firing pin hole or inside the bolt body against one of the internal ends of a pin in the bolt body. Lubes containing any parafin (sp?) or heavy oils should be avoided even in the bore, as they will gather inside the bolt body if the rifle is stored sitting barrel up (as in most gun cases and safes). That old oil/grease will eventually start to thicken and slow or retard firing pin response,..which will be exagerated in sub zero conditions as is the property of any pretroleum based oil. I use rem-oil (teflon base) and I clean the internals of the bolt every 100rnds or so (it takes about 1-2 minutes max). It's well worth the price for the tool. Same holds true for all bolt guns,..no heavy grease inside the bolt.
why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?0 -
Break Free lube would probably clean up a lightly greased pin by itself, but since you don't know how much goo is in there I think the other guys are wise in recommending fully stripping and cleaning the bolt. Then lightly relube with Break free or other teflon based lube.
After cleaning up a couple M48's, it's surprising how much grease gets into the darnest places and a lot of factories still use a lot of shipping/rust prventative all over everything.0 -
Haaa. Happened to me once. About 1978. New 700, sub-freezing, trigger just wouldn't move. Think it was grease. Not sure, I replaced the trigger when I bedded the action. No problems ever after. But the light oil responses are a good bet. 0 -
Hi!, you've gotten some good advice. I hope the following helps: Use lighter fluid as the cleaner/lubricant.
Read on: I've used a 700 BDL since 1963 or so and the bolt had an accumulation of the old gunslick graphite based grease. I've smithed my rifles for years, so decided to clean it. Had one of Remington's slick Zytel bolt dissambly tools. Bolt came apart, so did the tool and my thumb. Now I've a fully crudded up ,dis-assembled bolt and blood all over the place. Thumb is so useless I couldn't begin to re-assemble. Drive 6 miles to my 78 year old benchrest gunsmith, who howls with laughter. Cleans it with Ronson lighter fluid only. It really never evaporates and leaves behind all the lubricant the bolt needs. Then he shows me how to put the Remington 700 bolt together, and, take take it apart repeatedly. His tool: A Lincoln 1 cent piece.
So for a penny, I have a junk piece of Zytel, stitches in my thumb and miss first two days of deer season because knuckle is cut to the bone. No, I've never had a bolt freeze. I do read that others have.
quote:Originally posted by deerhntr
Hello all,
My favorite PA deer rifle is a remington 700 and while at the range
the other day i started talking to a well seasond oldtimer
that told me the firing pin/striker could freeze up in Below Zero temps because of the old lube in the bolt body causing a misfire
and could cost you your shot. Could this happen? has it happened to anyone? How do i prevent this? thanks.....0
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