AEGs and Cold Weather

Shiminay

Hello all,

I'm headed out to HRTA on Friday evening with a gang for the Midway LARP - I know some of you have heard of it before. Long story short, it's an on-going Role Playing game with Airsoft and rubber sword stuff for the combat.

Now, I've only ever been out once before before (the second event - this is the fourth) and so I have no idea what sort of impact the cold weather will have on the equipment and the majority of us out there are not airsofters, so I thought I'd come here and ask if anything thinks there's anything in particular we might want to do or worry about with regards to cold weather (we play from 6pm to 10pm). I've just bought this AK for using on the night and it's only coming with one battery, which should be enough as it's not a hugely intensive night's combat, but batteries of any sort + cold weather = power drain.

I know there's a good few folk with gas pistols too, any reason to be concerned there?

Cheers

Lemming

Kharn wrote: »

Hello all,

I'm headed out to HRTA on Friday evening with a gang for the Midway LARP - I know some of you have heard of it before. Long story short, it's an on-going Role Playing game with Airsoft and rubber sword stuff for the combat.

Now, I've only ever been out once before before (the second event - this is the fourth) and so I have no idea what sort of impact the cold weather will have on the equipment and the majority of us out there are not airsofters, so I thought I'd come here and ask if anything thinks there's anything in particular we might want to do or worry about with regards to cold weather (we play from 6pm to 10pm). I've just bought this AK for using on the night and it's only coming with one battery, which should be enough as it's not a hugely intensive night's combat, but batteries of any sort + cold weather = power drain.

I know there's a good few folk with gas pistols too, any reason to be concerned there?

Cheers

AEG batteries will be affected by the cold; but it needs to be baltic for you to really notice, and will result in batteries dying that little bit quicker than they would normally, e.g. a battery that might otherwise last a full day of skirmishing lasts for two thirds the duration.

Anything gas-powered will see a much more pronounced degradation in performance and volume of shots fired before having to refill a magazine.

NakedDex

Cold weather will reduce the performance in virtually all respects. Without getting into the technical reasons (unless you want to, in which case I'll be happy to explain) you'll see the most marked decrease in the efficiency of your battery - as you rightly alluded to - but you'll also see dips in performance from the aspect of range/power. Nothing drastic, but it'll be there. Unless you're very familiar with various expected nominal performances from the guns being used, you'll never really notice it.
Gas pistols, in the case of green gas, are almost useless in this weather. The green gas used in the magazine doesn't operate efficiently below approximately 10-15C, and becomes virtually useless below 5C. It may still fire (some do, some don't), but the performance will drop off massively. Today, where I work at least, it was -7C. At that temperature I'd be surprised if one of my larger pistols would even cycle.
If any of these pistol users are in possesion of a CO2 pistol, or a pistol capable of taking CO2 magazines (KJW M9 for example), then they won't see an issue. CO2 systems are virtually uneffected by these temperatures, which is one of the primary reasons for their growing popularity here.

Do remember to clean the gun thoroughly after use as this weather is ideal for leaving trails of water in small crevaces and between joints/hinges, which can lead to rust forming on some metal components.

Shiminay

Thanks for the info guys. I should be fine with a charged battery so - I had visions of wrapping it in cotton wool

I'll definitely remember to give the gun a good cleaning afterwards too - is it best to do so as soon as I get home?

NakedDex

A wipe down should be sufficient really, no need for a full strip down and storage in an airtight bag of silica. Just make sure it's as dry as you can manage before putting it away.

defenderdude

I was out a few weeks ago on a quite cold morning in HRTA and had my batteries in a tin box in the boot (nomally have em in a backpack). The were all freshly charged and were TM, Firefox and G&P batteries.

When I changed out the first battery at lunch time - all the batteries would hardly turn the gearbox over.

Resorted to using a spring shotty for a short while until I decided to stuff it.
My recommendation is to keep em warm - in a pocket even. At least - dont leave them in a cold boot for hours in a tin can. :rolleyes::o

The same batteries all worked grand later that evening at a normal temperature.:rolleyes:

It's years since I had issues with batteries and cold - forgotten the effect to be honest. I wont get caught again.

Hivemind187

Might sound silly but a lot of us wrapped our batteries in a sock (sometimes with a heat pack in there for good measure) and mounted them externally. Prbably a little short notice to learn how to wire up an AEG but ...

NakedDex

I really wouldn't advise heat packs. The combination of those, battery heating during use and the insulation of the sock runs the risk of damage to the battery itself.
By all means warm them up in your hand and stuff them in a sock, but be wary of heating them by any other means.

area51comando

Is it the same story for lipos and cold weather?

Mark

NakedDex

LiPo's are actually even more finnicky than NiCd/NiMH packs. It's not to say they won't work, just that you won't get nearly as much power from them as you would if it was, say, 15C outside.

senordingdong

Hivemind187 wrote: »

Might sound silly but a lot of us wrapped our batteries in a sock (sometimes with a heat pack in there for good measure) and mounted them externally. Prbably a little short notice to learn how to wire up an AEG but ...

Good thinking, might be the way to carry green gas mags in this weather too.

birdman 1979

Anybody, find a adverse effect on hop ups, during the cold spell?

Inari

The rubber will harden when cold, so won't be able to impart as much spin due to less surface area being engaged (because it's harder) - so there will be some change

Shiminay

Well all went well the other night, one or two people with green gas I think had a couple of small issues, nothing major though. My AK looked like it'd been through an apocalypse and a heavy CQB firefight defending a camp, so it's all good

The biggest issue was that a cold gun may chrono higher than a warm one as the cold affects the internal springs. My gun came in just under the limit, so I wasn't affected, but I know at least one of the guns brought along had to stay in the changing rooms.

Stonewolf

To be fair, having seen the chrono reading, I don't think the weather was at fault there.

I borrowed a friends CO2 pistol for the evening and it worked a charm.