So, I picked up my gun (SBE-II) today, that has been sitting in the un-heated garage for over 2-weeks now, and attempted to use it. When I pulled the bolt back to rack in a round, it was very, very stiff. Prior to leaving it in the garage, I had cleaned it and did not put any lubricant on it.
I then brought it into the house and field stripped it. No ice, no gummy mess, no dirt. The recoil spring in the stock was totally operational; not sticking at all. The problem seemed to be in the bolt/receiver area. I then wiped everything down again with a dry rag and put a few drops of Mil-Tec synthetic oil on the rails. I put it back in the garage to cool down and tried it again. So far, it seems to be working. I'll try it again in a few hours to see if it holds up.
Anyone else have similar issues with extremely cold firearm function?