Last night my neighbor came over with
his A-Bolt.
He could not get the bolt open after dry firing it, and when he did, he could hardly get it closed or open again.

Asked him what he did? He said he only took a can of Gun Scrubber, and blew out the oil etc from the bolt, because he was going to Manitoba today, and did not want his bolt to be sticky in the cold weather up there.

He was right, I had a tough time opening and closing that bolt.

I said, let's re-oil it and see what happens.

So I lubed it well with REM Oil, and it worked perfectly......

Has anyone else ever had this problem????

Terry, my bet is it was a stainless A-bolt. I've heard of this problem a couple of times from others. It sounds like the stainless is galling and needs lubrication at contact points. If your neighbor is concerned about freeze up in cold weather (a legitimate concern BTW), he can invest in some cold weather lube for his rifle and lube the contact points such as the bolt lugs, raceways, and firing pin spring and work it in real good before leaving. Wish I could remember the name of this product, but it eludes me at the moment.- Sheister

A little anti-seize compound applied with a toothpick to the locking lugs will help prevent galling and wear. sure-shot

Sounds like galling to me too. If he is concerned, a good cold weather lubricant is any of the 5 weight synthetic oils (Mobil 1 etc). I've never tried it on a gun though but I don't see why it wouldn't work in subzero weather.

Tri-flon is an excellent cold weather lubricant, good down to -40 degrees F.

Try Break Free. Seems to work well in my neck of the woods in all weather-- including -20F.