Magazine not working in the cold

I've got a Mark 3 Hunter that I bought used. Worked perfectly in the indoor range that I used to sight it in the other day but when I took it out squirrel hunting in the cold, the magazines (any of the 3) stopped functioning. The spring slowed down so much that the gun would not cycle. I took them apart to clean them but it didn't help. They will work with 5 rounds but not 6 or above.

I called Ruger tech support and they basically told me that there was nothing they could do. I'm ready to sell the gun since I bought it to compete with and the range (a different one) that I went to today was really cold (inside) and the problem happened again.

Any ideas? :evil:

Frozen lube in the mag?

It isn't that cold, only in the upper 40s. When I cleaned the mags, I didn't lube the inside or the follower to try to prevent just that issue.

Try degreasing the mags. get rid of all the oil on them and use a dry lube in the cold that might help, cold will affect guns as well as ammo, has nothing to do with the gun just the temperature, just like water turn to ice in the cold nothing you can do to control that but try to keep it warm.

I'll give a dry lube a try tomorrow. Temp was only about 45 or so and I didn't lube the mags after I cleaned them.

Mags. need some kind of lube to function correctly, I've also used Paraffin wax in cold weather makes a good dry lube.

You stated ''in the cold'', not how cold it. We just assumed it was below freezing and it affected your mag lube.

Solid Hit said:

It isn't that cold, only in the upper 40s. When I cleaned the mags, I didn't lube the inside or the follower to try to prevent just that issue.

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Ruger said that it must be the metal mag contracting in the cold and there is nothing they can do about it. I don't know if a dry lube will help but I'll give it a try tomorrow.

(sorry for not mentioning the temp but it was cold rather then freezing)

:boggle: They actually said that? Holy carp! Did you tell them the actual temperatures, or just say it seemed to be related to the cold? Are these factory mags?

I can't imagine a metal magazine contracting more than microscopically at those temperatures...if they're manufactured to tolerances that tight it would be the first thing Ruger has ever made to such close tolerances...

Oh..hey, just thought of something. I bet it's not the magazines at all! Have you cleaned the action of the gun and lubed it LIGHTLY with something that doesn't get sticky at cold temps? I bet it's the bolt dragging. With more rounds in the magazine you've got more friction between the rounds and the feed lips and if the bolt is dragging and not rebounding well because of thick lube the extra drag could well cause a problem. Could also be a weak spring contributing to the problem.

If it were the spring in the magazine being slow or weak in the cold I'd expect the gun to work well with a full magazine and not as well for the last few rounds.

I would also try a non Ruger magazine to see if that mag would work. Thinking of a colt or a GI mag.

What bullets are you shooting? Don't blow the question off as I've had the same problem with a certain popular .22 lr. bullet.

Cholo said:

What bullets are you shooting? Don't blow the question off as I've had the same problem with a certain popular .22 lr. bullet.

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Good point...sticky bullets could be an issue...not sure if they would be more or less likely to be a problem with a full mag vs. partially full mag, though.

I used both Armscor and Aquila with the same results. It isn't the action since I can work the mag outside the gun and it is still sluggish.

As for what Ruger had to say, I was speechless.

Take apart your magazines and clean them making sure the front of the magazine, where the nose of the bullet faces, is squeaky clean. Shoot until it jams. Examine the same front of the magazine. Is it still squeaky clean? Mine wasn't and it was with the well esteemed CCI Std. velocity .22's. There was a waxy build up where the bullet nose touched the front of the magazine well. I only shoot in the more temperate, IE cooler, GA months. The CCI Blazer ammo, which looks like the Std ammo, didn't have a problem because they are a few .001's shorter.

I believe you have an ammo issue, not a magazine issue.

I'll give it a try tomorrow and reply.

BTW, I gave 10 rounds to my shooting partner to use in his Browning with no issue

Roland and I were out hunting squirrels Wednesday. My Mark 2 had a sluggish bolt when I wracked the slide. I actually had to push it into battery. Later I fired it to make sure, and it worked like a charm. Would keeping your magazines under your shirt help?
gramps

Your original post is about a Ruger, not a Browning, right? Let's get your Ruger issue resolved. I hope we're on the same page.

Yes, it's about the Ruger. I just brought up my friend's Browning to show that his gun functioned under the same conditions using my amo.

Alright. This morning I stripped the mags, used some Hoppes #9 to clean them then sprayed Ballistol lubricant (that I got at the hardware store this morning on the suggestion of one of their helpers). I reassembled the mags, loaded them, then put them in the freezer for ~15 min. They function perfectly. I think the problem came from the bullet lube and dirty mags. I had given them a cursory cleaning before but went at them with the Hoppes and a brush this time.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.