I plan on using my FAL for deer hunting in Northern Wisconsin this year. Weather will be shirt sleeve warm to bitter cold depending on the year. Any helpful hints for how to lube it to make sure I don't have reliability problems if it is really cold?

I have fired mine in N MT, with no issues. Canada and several northern European countries issued FALS. Use a light oil on the moving parts, you should be good to go.

Bill

I keep the oil real light on mine in cold weather and I have never had any problems with it shooting.  Even in in January type cold.


I'll add that the DSA free-float tube becomes quite the heat sink in the December deer season here.  Even through good gloves.

Having been in the Canadian arctic with an issued FN, I can tell you they work just fine, and there was a good reason why the C1A1 came with wood furniture. The other C1A1-specific features were that you could fold the trigger guard into the pistol grip for those times you needed to wear three gloves over another, and the fold down cocking lever to reduce snags.

In our boredom up there, we did have plenty of time to experiment.

Lube/other info:

Use a really thin oil. Spray-on break-free is what many of us used, some even used WD-40 (I know, you're all cringing now). In the modern world, I'd probably use militec. Both spray break-free and militec will work through the widest temperature ranges, and WD-40 and break-free will displace moisture.

ONLY oil the breech block carrier to upper receiver interface. It's the only part that's under stress anyways.

Re-Zero. I can't stress that enough. A change of 20C to the temp of the FAL will make some things wiggle differently. Your rifle will have a higher variation of temperatures, so the military standard three shot groups will be a lot more wide. As a hunter you'd know that the flier is the cold shot anyways, so that's what you want to get your zero to repeat on. The best is if you can test at your top ambient temperature, and your lowest, and see how much and in what direction your rifle's zero changes so you can compensate. Don't wargame that too much though, it's not as if you're shooting a Parker-Hale or Remington 700. Obviously this won't matter as much if you intend to do shots at less than 100 yards or so.

Try not to bring it all the way to your living quarters at the end of the day - this is where condensation meets lubricant, and they will both work together to surprise you the next morning.

When things go wrong:

1. You probably have oil where you shouldn't. Primary suspects will be on the trigger assembly and the hammer pivot. Oil + moisture + cold + mechanical agitation = butter/margarine/facial cream, and that gets real hard when cold.

2. Oil on the piston, or got blown up through the gas port jamming the regulator or plugging something up.

Speaking of the above, I can't wait to get around to getting my DS Arms congo rifle. Does anyone make chrome lined barrels for these things?

Nice post.... I'd say that's a damn sight more than most of us are going to have to operate in.

I used mine deer hunting in Wisconsin for many years, but have to tell you the plastic furniture conducts cold into your hands...and its miserable.

Quoted: Speaking of the above, I can't wait to get around to getting my DS Arms congo rifle. Does anyone make chrome lined barrels for these things?

Here's one

Another

Sarco is still advertising their Argentine made chrome lined barrels as well.

Thank you for the input. That seems to be some good cold weather advice, much better than learning myself the hard way.

I actually bought a 16" DSA STG, so it has the metal forearm with the bipod. The comments here about the plastic being cold make me wonder how much worse the metal will be. It had already occured to me that the metal would get hot on a long string of shots, never thought about the cold.

If I remember right Iron wood somebody or other was making wood furniture sets for metric FALs but they were pricey. Is that the way to go if I go with wood? I considered getting a wood Isreali light buttstock from DSA as supposedly they are about an inch shorter than the steyr plastic stock, haven't been able to confirm that. I realize I am wandering a little from my own post, but if any of you have any info I am all ears. Thanks.

height=8

Quoted: height=8 Quoted: I actually bought a 16" DSA STG, so it has the metal forearm with the bipod. The comments here about the plastic being cold make me wonder how much worse the metal will be. It had already occured to me that the metal would get hot on a long string of shots, never thought about the cold. My free-float tube is aluminum.  Metal will quickly suck the heat right out of your hands.  It is also loud as a pack of elephants when scraping brush.  It's one thing that I really don't like on the rifle.  The plastic is cold but that metal is just wicked.  I plan to get some camo pants and cut a wrapper for it out of them.  I don't expect to lay down suppressing fire so I'm not worried about blocking the heat dissipation.  Might work for yours too.

Noise too, another strike for the metal I didn't consider. Well maybe I won't be happy using this for deer, but I am going to give it a try once anyway. I don't really want to wrap it in something. I would like a more permanent fix, wood may be just better all around and worth the money. And no the shot string heat build up won't problem for deer hunting. Thanks.

Quoted: I plan on using my FAL for deer hunting in Northern Wisconsin this year. Weather will be shirt sleeve warm to bitter cold depending on the year. Any helpful hints for how to lube it to make sure I don't have reliability problems if it is really cold?

I have done exactly what you just asked about, there will be zero problems.

Quoted: I used mine deer hunting in Wisconsin for many years, but have to tell you the plastic furniture conducts cold into your hands...and its miserable.

Dude you just need better gloves.

Not even that...I just leaned it against a tree till I saw deer and had to pick it up. Worked for me.