Well, I cleaned and lubed the 97 and Kadet yesterday in preparation for the Saturday bullseye match. I'm always a little nervous after touching a gun that is shooting perfectly, so I went to the range early this morning to run 60 rounds through each gun. The weather this morning was almost exactly as forecast for the match on Saturday--rain, ice, low 30's temp, 10-20 mph wind out of the NE. Perfect conditions, LOL.
Tried the Kadet and it would barely cycle, and this was after keeping the pistols and ammo inside all night. Added some very light oil to the slide and it started running normally again, just as I expected. 60 rounds, put it up. Oh, I also had to change the battery in the red dot sight, another plus for going to the range this morning, as this is about a month earlier than expected for the battery replacement.
Then I tried the CZ-97B"E". Surprisingly, the casings were landing on the shooting table, so I knew this wasn't going to end well. I thought, well the gun will warm up after a few rounds, and it did, somewhat. But, I had to add oil to the slide rails and barrel on the 97 as well! I think this is the first time I've shot the 97 in weather cooler than 40F, can't remember for sure. After adding the oil, all was fine. Burris FF III dot was getting dim, so I decided to replace the battery in that sight as well.
When I got home, I removed all the grease from the slide rails on both guns and added some light oil and put them up for the match. I'll still keep them inside overnight along with the ammo, which will get visually inspected before leaving.
So, I hereby offer my (chilling) lube recommendations for an excellent accurized and rather tight CGW 97B"E" bullseye gun. Use Slide Glide Lite on the rails and barrel for 60F-120F ambient. Add oil down to about 40F, and below 40F, remove the light grease entirely and just use oil, and add oil before every 60-100 round range session or so in cool weather. The Kadet runs fine with just oil all the time, in all weather conditions. Skip the grease on the Kadet if you use 1100 fps or lower velocity ammo.
Can't wait to see how the 97B"E" does in 10 F weather in the mountains of New Mexico in January!
Joe
Joe
