I wasn't expecting much. But I must admit the brands/ types I thought would do well did not! I found this really enlightening.
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Garand Thumb: "How will the AK stand up to subzero conditions?"Not surprised that the AK's did well. Those brutal ass Russian winters are not for the faint of heart.
Those overnight fire watch shifts were super fun, huh?There’s a reason your weapon stays outside all the time when training in the artic. We never ever kept our M4s in the ten man tents when we set them up in Alaska.
this 'test' is a particularly bad one. All he is doing is literally freezing parts together with the water dump. It's entertaining at bestSome of the failures seemed to be platform specific (could have happened to any other make/mfr) such as the ejection port failing to open all the way, resulting in a failure to eject. Could have happened to the KAC just as easily as to the HK. Just (un)luck of the draw for the one it happened to.
I'm still kinda wondering what exactly went wrong with the M14. I'd like to see that one in more detail. Not that I think it'll change anything, I just want to know what specifically failed.Did everyone hear that? The deafening sound of boomers clutching their pearls when the M1A failed to fire?
JK
I have an M1A and fully expected it to perform. So disappointed.
Good video.
When a video starts out with more sponsors than NASCAR, it's purely entertainment.It's entertaining at best
you'd put your weapon in cover here so I think the cold water to freeze part is overkill to be honest. I think if you pour water on any tool and then let it freeze you're going to have issues. none of this surprises meI saw a similar (just cold) comparison of the LMT and the BRN 180. Both DI guns but the 180 failed. Kinda sad I didn't see these in this test.
Also around here I could see a sleet situation just before dark turning into something like this test. I had a bergara fail to fire while hunting but there was snow packed into the back of the bolt. Fun test.
I saw a similar (just cold) comparison of the LMT and the BRN 180. Both DI guns but the 180 failed. Kinda sad I didn't see these in this test.
Also around here I could see a sleet situation just before dark turning into something like this test. I had a bergara fail to fire while hunting but there was snow packed into the back of the bolt. Fun test.
I meant piston.Since when is the BRN-180 DI?
Thats what I was thinking. Pretty much what happened to all of them in one orifice or another.I think the trigger assembly on the M14 froze solid. Specifically the hammer spring area filled up with water and froze.
Open action weapons are prime candidates for freezing up under those test conditions.Did everyone hear that? The deafening sound of boomers clutching their pearls when the M1A failed to fire?
JK
I have an M1A and fully expected it to perform. So disappointed.
Good video.
We did the same thing in Norway (Tromso area), though I don't think the inside of tents got much above freezing in any case.There’s a reason your weapon stays outside all the time when training in the artic. We never ever kept our M4s in the ten man tents when we set them up in Alaska.
Someone was always up manning the yuke stove anyway. They got beat senseless if they messed it up and we got coldThose overnight fire watch shifts were super fun, huh?
I think @LRRPF52 post above covered that pretty well. The answer is no.So.... my question would be, if you fire your AR for an "hour", rolling around in the snow, etc , would the condensation from the warm rifle and your snow rolling, be enough to freeze up the AR ?
My bad.... I left my computer prior to finishing my post, meanwhile he was answering. ( " New post's" since I finished mine ) and I always appreciate LRRPF52's advice and experience.I think @LRRPF52 post above covered that pretty well. The answer is no.
Snow in extreme cold doesn’t feel like the soft stuff you make snowballs out of. Its’ very crystalline, crunchy, with multiple days/weeks/months of dew cycle layer freezes on it.So.... my question would be, if you fire your AR for an "hour", rolling around in the snow, etc , would the condensation from the warm rifle and your snow rolling, be enough to freeze up the AR ?
great stuffI’ve spent many years shooting in the sub-arctic and Arctic with the Finns from 2005-2016, doing high-volume, multi-day courses in far colder conditions than that nice spring day in the video. Every time I flew back to the US in the dead of winter from up there, as we broke through the clouds landing in CO or UT, it would be the first time I had seen the sun since leaving the US. I was there for a whole year from 2005-2006, then went back 3-4 times per year up until 2016.
For some reason, every multi-day course in the winter we did was around -30˚C (-22˚F) as the norm. I never saw the ground in the winter, just ice and snow piled up pretty high on any of the range complexes we used, as well as into the forest for overnight treks on skis with rucks.
I’ve seen hundreds of various types of AKs, Rks, AR-15s, some weird frankenguns, at least one FNC, Hk33s, Hk53s, MP5s, AR-10s, and one Bushmaster ACR come though those courses.
Never once did I see any weapon soaked in water and left to freeze. The Finns said it’s SOP to store rifles outside of heated tents in the winter for the reasons mentioned by some posters above. Finnish officers built the US Army Arctic Warfare training program back in the 1950s after the war when they left Finland once the Soviets put pressure on Finland internally, so the actual war-fighters who were continuing a contingency plan for follow-on Soviet invasion were arrested and thrown in prison. Lauri Törni was one such officer, arrested and imprisoned multiple times in Finland his service, even as a Mannerheim Cross recipient (equivalent of CMH). Many Finnish officers had already escaped to the US and joined the US Army under the Lodge Act, which allowed ex-pats to get US citizenship after faithful military service.
This is a Russian overwhite set that copied the new Finnish Defense Forces M05 pattern. Russians make copies of all their neighbors’ camo patterns so their special troops units can conduct false flag operations. These Russian-made overwhites are utter garbage with no breathability by the way. They accumulate your perspiration and coat the insides with a layer of moisture, which is not good in -30˚C conditions as you would imagine. The Finnish M05 overwhite/digitial snow camo uniforms are actually well-made with breathable fabric.
Anyway, I just have never seen rifles in that condition at any time over the past 3 decades of taking issued or military rifles into extreme cold conditions. Korea was really freaking cold and wet, and the most I saw there was that frosty snowflake texture that would accumulate on the surface of our weapons.
As far as reliability goes, the Rk62, Rk92, and Rk95 Finnish rifles fed Finnish brass-cased 7.62x39 were extremely reliable, followed by TDP-built AR-15s. 11.5” AR-15s did extremely well over many years of high volume arctic condition courses in Finland. I don’t ever recall seeing one of the guys with 11.5”-14.5" ARs having any malfunctions.
High volume courses are really hard on a firearm in -30˚C conditions because you take a rifle, magazines, and ammo that are at that temperature, then run it hot in volume through various drills, then it immediately drops back to ambient temp quite rapidly. It really illustrates how far we’ve come with the metallurgy and QC on TDP-built rifles.
Vismod rifles like Bushmaster and DIY builds with questionable parts are the only ARs I saw that occasionally malfunctioned. Arsenal AKs seemed to malfunction more than anything else in those courses, both in extreme cold and the middle of summer. Malfs I specifically recall with the AKs were FTExtract/double feed shooting Russian steel case ammo.
If I was going into the arctic and had that whole assortment of blasters to choose from, I would immediately reach for a properly-built 11.5” or 12.5” AR-15 carbine. I would stay away from skeletonized hammers. They actually use generous lube of varying types. A good buddy of mine said they were issued WD40 in the Finnish Army with their Rks, but I’m not sure what they do now.
I never saw a selector or ejection port door seize up on any AR-15s, AKs, or the articulating cover on the FNC.
Some of the Finns who scheduled and conducted a lot of their training were keeping records of what guns actually experienced malfunctions, what type of malfunctions, ammo, magazines, etc. over several years when I started working with them. From many years of their records at that time, it seemed that Arsenal AKs and Bushmasters had about the same level of reliability (there were a lot of Bushmasters imported into Finland that they were using, after having been run through Riihimäki proof-testing facility and given proof stamps on the bolts and barrels after successful containment of proof-test loads).
My 2 cents anyway.
The biggest problem with these videos where guys purposely sabotage the rifles with warm water and then let it freeze is, where are you going to get warm water in extreme cold conditions?
Piss on it is about all I can think of. Whipping out your dick when it's 11 degrees and snowing is always fun. Just pray it's not windy.
I honestly think that he was shooting to make a video that would draw clicks and get people talking and go viral and for that he succeeded. I am not 100 percent sure what his background is but I think he has some experience with survival in the AF and I am fairly confident that he has an idea what works and does work during cold weather training. Does this mean he is an expert in arctic operations, of course not, but between a trip to Bridgeport many years ago, and spending weekends in the mountains of WV in the dead of winter I even figured out that the stuff that Garand Thumb and the Kalashnikov group do are really not a thing. its fun to watch and gets people talking but its not really a thing.I wish he hadn't done a video just to do a video and would've tested lubes to gather some meaningful data. His conclusions are pretty much worthless this time.
He was a sere instructor at Fairchild. Now is an ALO. His cold weather survival background is legit.I am not 100 percent sure what his background is but I think he has some experience with survival in the AF and I am fairly confident that he has an idea what works and does work during cold weather training.
I'm sure but here he looks like someone that really doesn't know about what really happens to weapons via real world cold weather conditions. As I said earlier and other posters chimed in on; his test is just a fun youtube and has no real world applicability as it's simply a parts freeze. Cold weather survivability training and weapons training in cold environments are not one in the same. I always pay attention when LRRPF52 chimes in as he is one, throughout the years, that is really on point with his experience and commentary not just here but on other forums as well.He was a sere instructor at Fairchild. Now is an ALO. His cold weather survival background is legit.
Lol, yeah it is cold up in the mountains in WA. But we didn't have weapons. We had a roll of Lifesavers. As far as ALO goes didn't they get reduced (not pilots, navigators, weapons officer) due to ROMADS going to JTAC.He was a sere instructor at Fairchild. Now is an ALO. His cold weather survival background is legit.