Rifle ice/snow freeze eval 2025

[Formidilosus]

2025’s ice and snow comparison/reliability eval between rifles/actions/triggers. As last year, this is not a “test”, it is just a view at what generally happens. Doing a legitimate test requires more rifles and consistent conditions than I have. So…


The rifles:

1). Tikka T3 in Rokstok

2). MRC in wood Rokstok

3). R700 short action, factory trigger

4). BAT Hammer Head with Bix N Andy Tacsport trigger in chassis




This will be done in multiple steps, from near worst case working back to easy- to see any differences that show themselves. Every rifle is started in exactly the same condition- empty chamber, closed bolt, safety on, magazine loaded and/or inserted.



1). 4 ounces of water were poured from the top onto the action and trigger, then dropped into the snow. Temp is 31° F.





MRC getting washed-



Update: January 13th

The temps on the 11th and 12th got above freezing during the day, and below at night. This morning it was below freezing.

Rifles as pulled from snow-


Backside-




The rifle with the most snow/ice stuck on it was the MRC. The Tikka had the second most, then R700, with the BAT having the least on the outside- however the fluting and open ports everywhere did allow snow and ice to get in as much or more than the others.


Results:

Tikka- factory trigger: fed and functioned without issue. Fired first time. Magazine was slightly stuck due to ice, took a smack on the bottom and a little pulling to get out.

MRC- factory trigger: Fed and functioned without issue Fired first time. Bolt opening was slightly stiff on first try- cleared after the initial opening. Magazine slightly stuck due to ice, however easy to remove with the baseplate of the AICS mag.

R700- factory trigger: Feeding, feeding extracting, and ejecting was fine. Trigger was completely dead for 30’ish tries of racking the bolt, manipulating the safety, etc. Took about 30 seconds and two goes at it to get it to function. First time the firing pin fell it was extremely weak. After a couple dryfires, it started firing correctly.


BAT HH- Bixn-Andy TacSport: Fed, extracted, and ejected fine. Trigger was totally dead. Zero engagement, and no amount of cycling, safety manipulation, banging, etc. fixed it. 5’ish minutes of working with it to no avail. Took 7 minutes at 66° F inside to finally get the trigger to do anything. Once it started releasing, it took 5-6 dryfires to get enough force on the firing pin that I believe it would have fired. Still sluggish firing pin movement.

After going through each initially, I went back and videoed each-

 

[Formidilosus]

Round 2:

7° F when started.





Same as above- 4 ounces of water apiece- the Tikka and MRC got some extra.


Left to right:

1). Tikka T3 in ROKStok
2). Browning X-Bolt 2
3). Bat HH, with Bixn-Andy Tacsport trigger
4) MRC
5). Remington M700, factory trigger








Update Jan 21, 2025.


This morning was 11° F.






Rifles were checked in reverse order.


1). R700: Had to to beat bolt open and back, multiple cycles forward and back then a round fed. Bolt would not close even with pounding on the bolt handle. Ejected round out, fed again, beat on bolt again. Forced bolt handle closed. Firing pin released when trigger was pulled, but it was a light strike. Lifted bolt and closed, it snapped again with more force. Lifted again and ejected round. Cycled fine and firing pin released with full force. Worked after that. Approximately 60 seconds of work.

2). MRC: Safety operated fine, bolt was stiff opening but no issue. Pulled bolt rearward, ice and snow blocked its full travel. Pushed forward, pulled back and it went far enough back to grab cartridge. Pushed forward, round fed fine, a bit stiff to close but no issue. Firing pin fell on first trigger pull, but not full force. Cycled to eject round and the round wouldn’t release from the extractor due to the bolt not being able to go all the way back. Removed mag, removed round, reinsert mag- rifle and trigger functioned correctly after that. Approximately 12 seconds to return to full function.

3). BAT Hammer Head with BixN-Andy: Cycled bolt 2-3 times before the round picked up. Cycled fine after that, trigger was 100% dead- absolute failure to fire no matter what was done. Took approximately 34 minutes at 65° F inside for the trigger to work. The first 3-4 times after that were light strikes.

4). Browning x-Bolt 2: Had to spend approx 1 min beating open the bolt. Fed first round, but bolt would not close. Then couldn’t get the bolt back. Tried to remove magazine, it was frozen in. Had to smack magazine repeatedly to release it- when the magazine was removed, all the rounds fell out due to the rotary follower was frozen solid. Magazine was completely inoperable. Beat bolt open, round did not extract from chamber. Beat rifle on the buttpad with muzzle up and got round to fall out. Could not beat handle hard enough to get it to close. The magazine took approximately 10 minutes in my pocket to start working again. At 16 minutes I finally got the bolt closed- the trigger was 100% non-functional. It took just over 20 minutes at 66° F inside before it fired- and the firing pin released while not pulling the trigger (ND) the first time. Took 3-4 cycles before it really released the firing pin correctly.


5). Tikka: Bolt cycled back fine, was stiff going forward picking up first round due to ice and when the bolt came back a lot of snow from the scope fell in the action. Instead of dumping it out, I brushed even more off like a dummy and filled the action. Again instead of opening the bolt and dumping the snow out, I shoved it forward. Rifle picked up round fine, but would not close due to the compressed snow/ice in the chamber.

From the video, right before closing the bolt-



Needless to say it did not lock up. Pulled bolt back, slammed it forward, back again, forward, etc, etc. The round was encased in compacted snow/ice. Tried to beat buttpad on ground to get round to fall out- didn’t work. Hammered on bolt as hard as I dared- no joy. Pulled bolt, bolt face was filled with compacted snow.



Scraped out ice with knife, reinserted bolt. Still would not close. Set rifle to the side and carried the others to the house. Came back and tried beating the bolt closed one more time. Got it closed. Then it would cycle fine, but took a couple tries for the extractor to pull cartridge out of the chamber. After it extracted the round, rifle worked fine. Approximately 8 minutes for rifle to return to full function. It was 100% due to me not brushing the snow off the rifle (like all the others) before opening the action.



Conclusion after second round.

BixN-Andy TacSport trigger is a complete failure with snow and ice. Browning X-Bolt 2 was a total failure due to the magazine not working at all; as well as the trigger being frozen- then it fired without trigger being pulled. R700 took a bit of work, but function returned quickly. The Tikka would have functioned without issue had I brushed the snow that was caked on like I did for all the others. But doing so and what followed caused its failure. The Montana Rifle Company rifle functioned correctly without issue.

 

[Formidilosus]

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[Formidilosus]

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[Brontosaurus]

Of all of forms tests the ice ones take the cake!! Looking forward to the results!!

 

[Formidilosus]

Update to post #1.

 

[Gstew1930]

This is awesome. I have a question and this isn't me talking shit. It's a genuine question. The MRC when the trigger is fired it looked like the bolt would bounce. Is that normal & would it affect anything?

 

[SloppyJ]

Whats the design issue with the R700 that causes them to freeze up? I assume we can interchange the MRC and a M70? I remember reading the last feeeze test and the M70 worked as well.

Does the MRC have the drop in style "MOA" type triggers of the new M70s?

 

[keystone112]

Do you think a Timney in the R700 would be any better?

 

[Formidilosus]

This is awesome. I have a question and this isn't me talking shit. It's a genuine question. The MRC when the trigger is fired it looked like the bolt would bounce. Is that normal & would it affect anything?

Yes that’s normal, and had no effect. Most rifles do it to some extent.

Whats the design issue with the R700 that causes them to freeze up?

Sear design that makes the required trigger design far less reliable than other rifles.

I assume we can interchange the MRC and a M70? I remember reading the last feeeze test and the M70 worked as well.

The old style M70 trigger adjusted correctly is very reliable.

Does the MRC have the drop in style "MOA" type triggers of the new M70s?

No MOA. It uses a Pre64 M70 trigger adjusted correctly

 

[Formidilosus]

Do you think a Timney in the R700 would be any better?

No. From a reliability (not safety standpoint) Timneys are about the same as a well adjusted factory trigger- they are better at not firing when the safety is taken off.

The only R700 compatible triggers that are any improvement in reliability and safety are the Geissele Super 700 and the XSTP Mod 22 trigger- both incidentally are two stage triggers. The R700 trigger design is compromised from the start- it is an inherent problem that cannot be completely fixed regardless of trigger.

 

[ElPollo]

No. From a reliability (not safety standpoint) Timneys are about the same as a well adjusted factory trigger- they are better at not firing when the safety is taken off.

The only R700 compatible triggers that are any improvement in reliability and safety are the Geissele Super 700 and the XSTP Mod 22 trigger- both incidentally are two stage triggers. The R700 trigger design is compromised from the start- it is an inherent problem that cannot be completely fixed regardless of trigger.

What about the David Tubbs trigger? Any experience with that one?

 

[Maverick1]

"R700- factory trigger: Feeding, feeding extracting, and ejecting was fine. Trigger was completely dead for 30’ish tries of racking the bolt, manipulating the safety, etc. Took about 30 seconds and two goes at it to get it to function. First time the firing pin fell it was extremely weak. After a couple dryfires, it started firing correctly."

So, it performed like it usually does - - - even under normal atmospheric conditions?

 

[Formidilosus]

What about the David Tubbs trigger? Any experience with that one?

Not in snow and ice. In sand and dust the but that I have used it, it seemed better than most.

 

[ElPollo]

Not in snow and ice. In sand and dust the but that I have used it, it seemed better than most.

Thanks, Form. Appreciate all you bring to this forum. Would also love to see this done with one of the new tikka rough tech versions with the fluted bolt. I see that as at best a cosmetic thing and at worst as a pathway for ingress of debris and potential reliability issues.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Thanks, Form. Appreciate all you bring to this forum. Would also love to see this done with one of the new tikka rough tech versions with the fluted bolt. I see that as at best a cosmetic thing and at worst as a pathway for ingress of debris and potential reliability issues.

I haven't done this for ice and snow but in heavy wind/coarse sand and fine dust they've function as expected. The BATs that were ran side by side in these conditions didn't fare as well as the fluted and coated Tikkas. As to not fully deviate from the main topic here, I can answer PM's on this specifically if needed.

 

[Formidilosus]

Thanks, Form. Appreciate all you bring to this forum. Would also love to see this done with one of the new tikka rough tech versions with the fluted bolt. I see that as at best a cosmetic thing and at worst as a pathway for ingress of debris and potential reliability issues.

Fluted bolts as most are done do allow for more debris to enter the action. They still work well- they’re still a Tikka, but they do allow more in than a standard bolt. As far as that goes, the original T3 with smaller ejection port is “better” than the T3x.

 

[huntnful]

Note to self - don't eat shit in the snow with my Bix N Andy....

Cool testing for sure!!

 

[Qholum37]

This is a pretty cool test! Last year I got a nice blacktail buck in the middle of the worst storm we had all winter. It always likes to snow here then turn to freezing rain and my Tikka was covered in ice but still went bang! The bolt was iced up, probably wouldn't have been able to change magnification if I tried and the barrel and stock were joined as one with solid ice.

 

[Choupique]

Why don't closed-top actions like tikka have dust covers like an AR15?