Gun Froze

[chadly]

I've been out trying to kill a deer with my muzzle loader.  It's a Remington M700.  I've had it about fifteen years.  Always been a great gun.  Usually it's not too much work to find a deer to kill late season.  However the first three sits I never seen a deer.  On sit four I saw 2 but no shots.  Last night sit five I had three walk right by.  About 70 yards I squeezed the trigger.  Nothing happened.  The trigger moved but the firing pin never did.  I opened and closed the bolt and tried again.  Same thing.  I tried again clicking the safety on and off and opening and closing the bolt.  I shot that deer 5 times and never did the gun go off.  When I got home I tried to dry fire it but nothing would move.  It was 4 above zero while hunting.  I pulled the bolt out and brought it in the house.  15 minutes later I put it back in the gun and it fired like it should.  I took the bolt apart and clean and removed all the oil and put it back together dry.  I have it outside on the deck freezing now.  Hoping that removing the oil fixed the issue.  I've hunted in these temps before with no issues.  The bummer of it was all 3 deer eventually got my wind.  I hate educating them. 

[SteelerFan]

That's a bummer!

Yep - you got bit by the viscosity bug. Oil in the firing pin channel + collection of gunk + cold weather = no bang. Complete clean / stripper and dry lubricant should fix ya up. Good luck next time!!

[renegade19]

I had a misfire with my Ultra Slug Hunter a couple years ago.  Dented the primer but did not fire.  I attributed it to the same deal.  Hammer did not drop hard enough due to cold/viscosity/moisture freezing kind of thing.  At least that's the only conclusion I could come up with.

[Greg Massey]

What i use to do in really cold weather was take a hand warmer and piece of string and tie the hand warmer over the bolt area, so all i had to do was pull the string for it to come off of the bolt area...just a tip...

[Gobspur]

Man that's a bummer.  I've seen that happen a few times.  IMHO oil is overused way too much on firearms.  I only do a light coat if I'm storing it away for several months, or the firearm has gotten very wet. 

[Bowguy]

I have that same gun. The bolt has got to be pulled apart. Besides oil take it apart n clean it.

[wvmntnhick]

My dad had a similar issue several years back with a Remington 7400. Buck walked out and dad emptied two 5 round magazines into that deer without the gun ever going bang. He placed it inside his jacket for a while but didn't see anything else. Right before he left he tried it again and it went off. As mentioned above, oil is often overused.

[chadly]

Funny.  I settled in late and was reading all your responses when I heard deer.  quickly put down the phone and lifted up the shooting sticks.  About a dozen showed up. 
I agree with all the comments about too much oil is no good.  I will also admit I do over oil.  I've upland hunted with a Benelli SBE the last 12 years or so.  I can disassemble and re-assemble the gun in a minute.  Because of this I tend to over oil it.  I found over the years it gets lots of weed stubble and crap that sticks to the oil.  It's better to go with very little oi.  Anyway my muzzle loader fired tonight.

[wvmntnhick]

Congrats man. Now make me a stellar deal on the bike in the background.

[1iagobblergetter]

We had the same problem several years ago on Iowas 1st season deer shotgun. Everything was a sheet of ice and cold we could hardly stand up walking the hills I hunt. Dangerous enough I wouldn't even keep one shell in the chamber while walking for fear of falling. We finally decided to just sit in stands far apart when a Buck and 2 does came up the trail. I pulled up to shoot and nothing. Slowly pulled the first shell out of my 870 and was able to blow into the chamber put the shell in and shoot one  of the does and the buck. Same thing firing pin was froze. Told my brother and everyone what happened and laughed over how lucky I was. The next day the same thing happened to my brother when a big 10 point ran up to him when he was in a stand. He remembered what I did and ended up shooting the 10 pointer. We still laugh over that years season. Usually I'm never that lucky. Lol...

[chadly]

Congrats man. Now make me a stellar deal on the bike in the background.

that is my second dr650.  I had a 96.  Bought it with 4k miles for $1850 and sold it five years to the month after i bought it for $1800 and 14k miles.  Sold it in a half hour as well.  I bought the 2006 early this summer with 3k.  I really like the dr's for gravel travel. 

[chadly]

We had the same problem several years ago on Iowas 1st season deer shotgun. Everything was a sheet of ice and cold we could hardly stand up walking the hills I hunt. Dangerous enough I wouldn't even keep one shell in the chamber while walking for fear of falling. We finally decided to just sit in stands far apart when a Buck and 2 does came up the trail. I pulled up to shoot and nothing. Slowly pulled the first shell out of my 870 and was able to blow into the chamber put the shell in and shoot one  of the does and the buck. Same thing firing pin was froze. Told my brother and everyone what happened and laughed over how lucky I was. The next day the same thing happened to my brother when a big 10 point ran up to him when he was in a stand. He remembered what I did and ended up shooting the 10 pointer. We still laugh over that years season. Usually I'm never that lucky. Lol...

Probably 25 years ago I had an 870 do the same thing in freezing rain.  I think that is the only time I've ever seen an 870 malfunction.  We had deeps snow on the ground when the rain started.  It rained really good and it was cold.  I ejected the first slug and pulled the trigger on the second slug.  Nothing happened so I ejected again and fired again.  This time the gun went off but my luck was not as good as yours. The next day the deep snow we struggled to walk through the day prior we could walk on top of.  I went into a standing corn field and saw two dead pheasants under the ice.  I found another spot where a fox or something dug another pheasant out.   

[outdoors]

GOOD DEAL 
GOOD THING U FIGURED IT OUT IN TIME
TOO MUCH OIL IS NO GOOD .....

[wvmntnhick]

Congrats man. Now make me a stellar deal on the bike in the background.

that is my second dr650.  I had a 96.  Bought it with 4k miles for $1850 and sold it five years to the month after i bought it for $1800 and 14k miles.  Sold it in a half hour as well.  I bought the 2006 early this summer with 3k.  I really like the dr's for gravel travel.

When the timing is right, I'll have two bikes. One will most certainly be a dual sport. Not certain why but I like those types of bikes.