Could those Canadian Hunters tell me if their is any truth to the story that
problems occuring with Stainless Steel gun in cold and very cold temperatures in Canada.

I thought stainless was liked because of it's anti rust capabilities, however a mate / customer in Canada specifically wants a Blued steel because he said "If I didn't live in the arctic, I would have taken it, but stainless steel can tear apart around -40C - and it has happened to a few people up here. Attached are pictures of two stainless firearms which split in the cold."

He then attached 2 photos of guns that had blown up.

Now I know from military service that Cold weather and guns require certain tings to be done oils to be used but had never heard of stainless being a problem.

Your thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.

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I read that D'Arcy Echols won't make his Legend rifle in stainless for this very reason... some of his clients may want to take the rifle to the Arctic for polar bear, muskox, etc.

I've done a bit more research.

Some manufacturers are like D'arcy, others the opposite. Seem to be plenty of stainless guns up there.

Would be interested in others opinions.

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It's like everything else. The people believe the advertising hype and are to lazy to investigate the truth.

Carbon steels have a Brittle Transition Temperature which varies according to the composition .Below that temp is very brittle !! There is knowledge about this and alloys are chosen for it.
There are many cold weather applications [non-firearm] where stainless steel is chosen to avoid brittleness .
Again it depends on specific alloy . Crucible's stainless barrel steel ,416R, is good for -40 F according to the company. If you hunt below -40 F your crazy !

Other than my 470 NE all the rifles I use for hunting are stainless steel. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and I've been through -65 F which is way colder than -40C (-40 is where the F & C meet). I've never heard of anyone up here having a problem at cold temps with stainless.
Also, it's not often you would hunt at those temps.

I've hunted with my 30-06 in -30 C and never had a problem. If you're out there and it's much colder than that your nuts.

Nigel,
There is absolutely no merit to the conjecture of stainless barrels and extreme cold being dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. I believe I heard or read some years ago of a fellow splitting a #2 stainless barrel in extremely cold weather but was it the cold weather? Was there an obstruction in the barrel? Was there a defect in the barrel? Was it the ammo? Maybe any thin walled barrel blued or stainless below 80 thousandths is a problem, but again there is no viable evidence to support it.

Well, that about solves it for me. Thanks for all your responses.


Dirk
I have 2 photos of guns that "blew up" because of the cold weather - or so they say. However, like you, I wonder if it was the cold weather or something else - like oil freezing in the barrel and causing severe over pressure or any one of your reasons.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone.

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I've been hunting the Canadian Arctic for over 40 years at temps down to minus 65 degrees. I've had trouble with double based powders, glass stocks, and epoxy finishes, plus frozen toes, but never any troubles experienced or heard of with stainless barrels. This sounds like a government rumor, .........with solutions for problems that don't exist yet!!

Good to know...

I live in a cold place that used to get -56C now -34 etc is the norm but i don't know anyone here that hunts or ice fish at those temps. Dan

There was an Alaskan guide who taped his clients barrel up (normal procedure) and then it rained and water got through the action into the barrel, then it got really cold, the water froze and plugged the barrel and when they went to shoot, it blew up! It was posted here or somewhere, many years ago. But it wans't the stainless materials fault.

There was also an issue with Sako stainless barrels blowing up, but that was also a barrel problem, not a material problem.

I never had any problems with my Sako m75ss or Tikka T3 LS rifles.....hunted elk, deer, wolves, coyotes at -33 deg.C, snowing, ice fog, etc....no problems. I usually put a piece of electrical tape over the muzzle prior to leaving the truck in snowing and rainy weather. Spent lots of time at the range too in colder weather thru the winter.......no issues.

Last big animal I took when it was cold (-33) was a large cow elk @ about 200m broadside-double lung. SHe reared up, flipped over backwards dead.

When back at in the truck I will wipe down the barrel with a cloth once the steel has warmed up. At home, I wipe the entire rifle, scope down with a silicon cloth.