So I had this crazy hankering the other day, to put my AI AE mkiii in my deep freezer along with my rem 700.
A while ago, before I bought my AE. I read a ton of threads about the Durability of the AI rifles, actions and stupid accurate barrels had me sold. Now not that i would ever need a rifle that could be ran over by a truck, but i did want one. So i bought an AE MKIII in 308, and i LOVE it.
Back to the threads about the Reliability of AI rifles. I always wanted to tested out these claims, the ones about being on a frozen tundra interested me the most. But to be honest, I HATE cold weather. So i wasn't about to go outside and freeze my balls off shooting. Now i know that the Arctic Warfare model would be the way to go, I have an AE. Not an AW, I figured they were close enough for my test.
So onto my "test"
Rifles:
-Accuracy International AE MKIII, 308 Winchester
-Accurate Ordnance Remington 700, 338 Lapua Magnum
My Procedure:
- I tried to "mimic" some frozen conditions. To do this I went outside with a bucket, and scooped "Slush" snow into it. Then I laid each rifle on the floor, grabbed handfuls of snow, and started packing it around the action ( I know in nature snow does not pack itself around the action). The only problem I ran into were the rifle's external temperature. I had to take about 5 handfuls of Slush to each rifle. The first four handfuls melted away and ran into the actions.
But since the fifth handful stuck, I was ready to stick them in the freezer.
I put the rifles in the freezer for 3 hours, The gauge was reading -15 Celsius
Here they are, fresh out of the freezer.
And the AE
When i pulled them out, this is as far as i could get the bolts open. After about 15 minutes both actions cycled perfectly.
I know this was an unorthodox way of testing rifles, and probably a little stupid. But I was curious so i tried it.
The one thing that interested me the most, both actions got stuck at the same point. Can anyone elaborate on this?
By the way, both rifles were wearing Mark IV's. but I really didn't feel like trashing two scopes.
Bradley
A while ago, before I bought my AE. I read a ton of threads about the Durability of the AI rifles, actions and stupid accurate barrels had me sold. Now not that i would ever need a rifle that could be ran over by a truck, but i did want one. So i bought an AE MKIII in 308, and i LOVE it.
Back to the threads about the Reliability of AI rifles. I always wanted to tested out these claims, the ones about being on a frozen tundra interested me the most. But to be honest, I HATE cold weather. So i wasn't about to go outside and freeze my balls off shooting. Now i know that the Arctic Warfare model would be the way to go, I have an AE. Not an AW, I figured they were close enough for my test.
So onto my "test"
Rifles:
-Accuracy International AE MKIII, 308 Winchester
-Accurate Ordnance Remington 700, 338 Lapua Magnum
My Procedure:
- I tried to "mimic" some frozen conditions. To do this I went outside with a bucket, and scooped "Slush" snow into it. Then I laid each rifle on the floor, grabbed handfuls of snow, and started packing it around the action ( I know in nature snow does not pack itself around the action). The only problem I ran into were the rifle's external temperature. I had to take about 5 handfuls of Slush to each rifle. The first four handfuls melted away and ran into the actions.
But since the fifth handful stuck, I was ready to stick them in the freezer.
I put the rifles in the freezer for 3 hours, The gauge was reading -15 Celsius
Here they are, fresh out of the freezer.
And the AE
When i pulled them out, this is as far as i could get the bolts open. After about 15 minutes both actions cycled perfectly.
I know this was an unorthodox way of testing rifles, and probably a little stupid. But I was curious so i tried it.
The one thing that interested me the most, both actions got stuck at the same point. Can anyone elaborate on this?
By the way, both rifles were wearing Mark IV's. but I really didn't feel like trashing two scopes.
Bradley
