TargetTalk

Hi:
I am a member of an International Club in Minnesota. We shoot match rifles a lot from a heated building through a window with the rifle barrels outdoors at 50 meter targets. I have been discussing cold weather ammo issues with a couple of rimfire shooters who spend a ton of time testing ammo. We have found as the rimfire barrel cools (the action/ammo stay warm) accuracy falls off after about 10 rounds in the very cold. It looks like bullet wax is building up in the cold part of the bore. After a warm-up (and sighters) or a cleaning the rifle shoots well again. This has not been problem with Free Pistols and their shorter barrels.

I now shoot ammo with an oily lube -- SK Plus and can usually go twenty rounds without the build up problem unless I shoot very slowly.

Has anyone noticed the wax problem training in the cold with biathlon rifles?

Lube buildup is a HUGE issue. Many biathletes spend the morning prior to a race wiping the lube off the rounds. Besides gacking up the barrel, the wax fouls the firing pin and ejectors. Most athletes remove the rifle from the car and leave it on the racks in the range to cool to ambient and leave them until after the race is finished. Same with the ammo so what they zero with reacts the same during the race.

I use Fiocchi SM340 biathlon ammo. The bullets are lubed with Teflon and don't need to me wiped off and don't leave any gook (another technical term) on the action or in the barrel. The ammo feels dry but works very well. I've used it in temps as low as -20F just to see what happens. The gun and ammo worked; me not so well.

In addition to the Fiocchi, Lapua and Eley make rounds specifically for the cold temps. I use the FiocchiM320 during warmer months and it definitely falls off when temps dip below 35F. The SM340 is a TOL ammo but uses a hotter primer for better ignition of the powder when it gets cold.

Hi:

Thanks for the info. We get a lot of -20 in Minnesota. I have been shopping for some Fiocchi Biathlon ammo. Not a lot of dealers around. Any leads when you can get it a reasonable price in case lots?

MNshoooter wrote:Hi:

Thanks for the info. We get a lot of -20 in Minnesota. I have been shopping for some Fiocchi Biathlon ammo. Not a lot of dealers around. Any leads when you can get it a reasonable price in case lots?

You might try poking around at http://gun-deals.com/ammo

I don't know if any of the vendors will show Fiocchi biathlon ammo, but there might at least be some places there to go looking further.

Another idea- contact Altius Firearms in West Yellowstone, MT. A Google search should find it. He's the premiere biathlon business in North America, maybe in the whole world.

Thanks for the lead.

Cheaper-Than-Dirt has Fiocchi biathlon in stock at $7.59 a box.