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Tuning Any tips on winter tuning?

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lbmalleo

Member
May 9, 2020
65
7
Montana, United States
Hi guys, I know most of you guys are in the middle of summer but some of us in the southern hemisphere are freezing our a$#&* off right now!
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any tips for tuning during the winter months. The cold weather really slows everything down.
Do you guys re tune the whole gun, meaning hammer spring tension, valve opening, or do you leave those set and just adjust for reg pressure until hitting desired velocity?
I have a 25-30 fps approximate drop between summer and winter, reg seems to be all over the place too because I fill up inside where its warm, then when I take it outside and start shooting the reg pressure drops quite a bit!
Any tips or advice given will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Lucas
 
I wouldn't call it an actual Tune-Up.....
More like Winter Maintenance...
Check all O-ring/seals... anything flatten or crusty gets replaced.
Also clean the O-ring grooves and mating surfaces.
Inspect all Regs clean and polish as needed.
Then I remove the barrel from the action.
Next give the barrel a good scrub with a nylon bore brush and run patches through until clean.
Lube, reassemble and wipe down all metal surfaces with a lightly oiled rag.
Finally check all setting... adjust as needed...
 
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As it hits those winter temps I sit the rifle a few feet from the wood stove... Set I'm my chair not to far from both... And stare at my rifle and tell it....that it will be ok...I'm not going out in the cold.. I'm gonna nap instead. the older I get the harder it gets to go out in the winter to hunt.

But when I do go hunting During the cold months of hunting season I stay with pellets. I set the rifle out for a few to cool down. I stay with pellets only. Pellets aren't as fussy as slugs and fps loss in a pellet really doesn't affect the accuracy. (My zero will move a tad but not enough to get in a twist over) long story short...I don't retune my rifle.
 
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Jasonmc said:
As it hits those winter temps I sit the rifle a few feet from the wood stove... Set I'm my chair not to far from both... And stare at my rifle and tell it....that it will be ok...I'm not going out in the cold.. I'm gonna nap instead. the older I get the harder it gets to go out in the winter to hunt.

But when I do go hunting During the cold months of hunting season I stay with pellets. I set the rifle out for a few to cool down. I stay with pellets only. Pellets aren't as fussy as slugs and fps loss in a pellet really doesn't affect the accuracy. (My zero will move a tad but not enough to get in a twist over) long story short...I don't retune my rifle.
Click to expand...
See, that’s the problem I‘m faced with. I have found the 34 grainers that I shoot like it at 945-950 but as soon as I start shooting in the colder temps the velocity slows down to 920-925 and the groups are horrible, very fussy!!
 
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lbmalleo said:
See, that’s the problem I‘m faced with. I have found the 34 grainers that I shoot like it at 945-950 but as soon as I start shooting in the colder temps the velocity slows down to 920-925 and the groups are horrible, very fussy!!
Click to expand...

I got to the point I won't use a regulated rifle in the winter. Seems to me long sits in the cold ( 35 deg and below) regulators don't do regulating things well.
 
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I'm shooting a lot in the winter and in cold rainy weather, both regulated and unregulated pcp's. It definitely effects cylinder pressure going from hot to cold and projectile speeds with them as you've seen. As for the actual shooting outside goes, I dial the scope to the ranges I am shooting at, so I don't really notice the speed differential if there is any and the groups are usually pretty good season to season with my AAA gun's.

Here's a little bit of the stuff I do to make things consistent year 'round, and may help you figure out where the problem is:

Make sure the fill air cylinder and gun's internals are dry. Moist air freezes, especially going into different pressure zones just like going through a carburetor or icing on a vehicle or plane in the wind. So it may be effecting the regulator in the same way.

I fill the gun outside after it has acclimated to the cold so it is at it's standard fill/shooting pressure. And when ready to bring it inside afterwards I leave the fill pressures at least a few hundred bar/psi low on the last fill. It always adds pressure when warmed.

Greasy (silicone or moly) parts and such cause discrepancies in speed in all temperatures and humidity levels because they cause drag on each other. A clean, polished hammer, springs, and mating surfaces are essential to keeping things consistent in different weather. Use light viscosity oil, if any. Dry graphite lube is said to be best, but I have not used it. I use Krytox 207 on my moving o-rings because it has a good temperature range and slick additives. Try cleaning the regulator and re-assemble dry to see what it does. Then move on to the sticker lubes. (One thing at a time when making changes).

Air density is different in winter verses summer and if shooting long range or light ammo it will be seem in the group size if the gun is effected by the temperature.

When bench shooting I lube my ammo with silicone oil, so the slugs are wet as I load. It may be a contributing factor as to another reason why the shots are constant in winter.

After getting home, to keep the sweat from going from cold to hot and subsequent rust off the gun's screws, I will leave them in the case for a few hours to get to room temperature inside before opening up the case and putting them in front of a fan to remove all moisture.
 
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