[smak49]

Winter is here in NE Ohio...

My question is...how did the russians/soviets prepare, maintain, and use their SKS carbines and Makarov pistols in a winter environment...and how would you?

Basically looking for tips in keeping them running when outdoors.

Thanks, Smak

 

[Vic]

No oil-

 

[Caribou]

Winters been here for awhile....LOL...this is Arctic Alaska....
Clean and oil them as regular , but wipe the oil off with a rag.
We often leave our rifles in the entry shed, or on our snowgos, so that they dont get warm and sweat. Cold and clean is best.
Sweat will freeze up a gun or rust it, unless you take care of it immediatly, as in strip it completely down and warm then dry all the parts. Easier to leave them in the cold, and take care of them after the travler/hunter has taken care of them selfs (Warm up, eat)and their stuff (meat ect.)maby gas up, get back on and head home.
Alot of guys hang their rifles near a stove when they come in, and dry them , but it depends on what your doing. It puts alot of stress on a wooden stock to be dryed by a stove and then out to -30.

 

[RuralTurtle]

Good article on the topic: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob79.html

 

[pymi]

No problem today at 50 degrees.
I just give a little oil to the action parts and never had a problem.
I thought the Soviets used a petro/oil mix?

 

[IamElmerJFudd]

Was a balmy 78 degrees out yesterday. Raining now ahead of a cold front. I love December in Florida. Its being stuck here over the summer that I hate. At least I can work outside, which is difficult when it's 95+ and 100% humidity. That will start around mid February and last till next December.

 

[SfcRet]

Basically looking for tips in keeping them running when outdoors.

it doesn't get that cold here, as it does in russia, to even concern yourself with using anything special other then just plain old fashion lube like CLP.

 

[GhostCat]

The high today was 68°
and now it's raining cats-n-dogs!!!!.....

 

[montello]

The weather service is reporting that they are having, right now, unusally warm weather in Russia's Sibera region, which is going to push all the artic air over the North Pole all the way down to Southern California, hitting me in Washington State along the way. So snow and cold are coming, the trees will fall down and break power lines and it'll be miserable.

I work from an office in my home so I'll just be looking out the windows at the rest of the poor folks, ah well!

 

[Bingo]

Wouldn't graphite be a better lubricant in the extreme cold???

 

[AmmoSgt]

Graphite or molybdeum disulfide will work in the cold.. but jeeze guys there are all sorts of modern effective Mil-Tec bake on type lubricants that are designed for all weather all climate use.

Moly B.. ( molybdeum disulfide) or graphite is tricky to use... if Moly B mixes with oil it turns into a nasty grease that can really gum things up.. best way to use it is to first clean the part with brake cleaner then mix the Moly B with a generious ammount of brake cleaner and paint it on what you want to lubricate .. when the brake cleaner evaporates it leaves a thin coating of Moly B just where you want it and not dusting arround on everything else as will happen trying to apply the powder... rinsing bullets in a brake cleaner/ Moly B mix would probably cut down on the mess graphited bullets make as well..

But if you are betting your life on your firearm.. just spring for the good stuff and apply it per instructions.... then you are Golden no matter what the weather or temp.

 

[Billofthenorth2]

...but jeeze guys there are all sorts of modern effective Mil-Tec bake on type lubricants that are designed for all weather all climate use...

Ya beat me to it Sarge.
Just cause the rifle is 70 years old doesn't mean you have to use the same lubes they did.

Depending on where you are you might leave the firearm outside when you come in, otherwise you get condensation which will promote corrosion or freeze when you take it back out. If you do bring it in, leave it cased and check it after an hour or so and wipe it down if needed.

 

[smak49]

Wimter is here

Okay, okay, okay...it's not really that bad here in Ohio today. (Compared to Alaska!) lol.

All in all a lot of very good and helpful replies. Thanks. I have a couple of SKSs so I might try a couple of your suggestions and see which I like best.

Is anyone aware of any russian techniques. I have the english translation of the Makarov owners manual, but it only refers to "special instuctions" for cold weather use and doesn't describe them in the manual. Looking for this for historical purposes only.

Thanks, Smak49

 

[falm16]

don't forget chamber pressures dip in extreme cold, if you have worn gas systems on your sks, such as a yugo, it may not fire semi.

 

[GunnerSam]

A high ranking German officer wrote that on the eastern front the nearly arrived Siberian troops developed a tactic of charging in mass then after the Germ Mgs had opened up the Siberians dove into the snow and waited for awhile then by the time they'd jumped out the snow to charge again the german MGs were tightly frozen and wouldn't fire. He then observed Siberians in captured positions spraying something on the captured MGs from a beansprayer, then turning the now functioning guns on their former owners.

They used to drain their crankases onto the snow or ice in the evening then put the solidified oil in a pot and warm it over a fire to reuse the next morning. I've heard of old time Bush Pilots doing the same.
Course draining it into the pot directly is better but if they waited to long it would gel up in the engine.
They also sometimes built fires under the engine block.

 

[Rex in OTZ]

Heat the arm up enough that you can get the metal to sweat dry of moisture then oil liberaly let cool and wipe off excess and put back in the stock.

 

[gunslinger586]

Seems I read somewhere that vegetable oil works better in real cold weather than petrol based oils. Any truth to this?

 

[Billofthenorth2]

Seems I read somewhere that vegetable oil works better in real cold weather than petrol based oils. Any truth to this?

I couldn't tell you but I think modern synthetics are superior to either.

 

[Galaxieman]

I couldn't tell you but I think modern synthetics are superior to either.

AMEN! Synthetics are all I use from the cars to anything around the house.

Was a balmy 78 degrees out yesterday. Raining now ahead of a cold front. I love December in Florida. Its being stuck here over the summer that I hate. At least I can work outside, which is difficult when it's 95+ and 100% humidity. That will start around mid February and last till next December.

You....you......you........SUCK!
Taken last night after it all finally stopped....

Eight and a half showing in the tape, add 3.5" for the case.
Oh, tonight lows a few degrees below zero it's 0450hrs and the weather channel is showing -2º, highs about 2º today with -20 wind chills. Yippie!

 

[creepiE]

Good shooting weather...