Gun Maintenance & Cleaning.

[mortensen]

Going to the range or hunting are always challenging and fun things to do. Going home afterward and putting your firearms in the shop and getting them prepared for cleaning, well... it may be challenging, but the fun part has got up and left me with a mess of rifles to clean up! I've learned from experience that if you have a distasteful task to do, don't put it off, get it done now.

I'm sloopy and messy when it comes to cleaning my firearms and if I have 50 or more rounds fired from a rifle or going to do some aggressive scrubbing, I will do myself and the gun a favor and remove the barrel from the stock.

I'm always interested in what other gun owners are using for bore solvents for carbon and copper. I use Hoppe's #9 for carbon and have used others such as Sweets and other very good carbon solvents that may be a slight more aggressive than Hoppe's. I will use the Remington 40X for more serious scrubbing, but always close with Hoppe's. I would call the Remington 40X more of a bore paste and like any paste you've got to get all that cleaning residue out of the barrel when your finishing up. I have found Butch's Bore Shine to be about the best for my purposes in removing copper.

I know many people advise letting the solvent stay in the bore over night. I have done that and found that it didn't make an appreciable difference from letting it sit for half to full hour, my experience anyway and I have no certainty how it will react in the barrel after it disolves.

They say and they are reasonably correct that for every round you fire, you will do one pump through the barrel. So if you fire fifty rounds, you will pump 50 times. However, I wouldn't advise pumping 50 consecutive times as your brush will most likely fill up with carbon in no time. I go 15 pumps and 10 short pumps from the chamber out about 10 inches as this will be where most of the crudd will accumulate. And you go back and repeat the same process again until you will have approx 50 pumps or you begin to see daylight with a clean barrel.

I keep an eye on the positions of the brissles on the brush. When the brissles start to flatten out, you'll most likely be relocating the crudd in the barrel to another location. When I'm done pumping my 15 long strokes and 10 short strokes I'll put the brush in my solvent tank for approx 1 or 2 minutes, take it out of the tank and blow it off with an air hose. Also, I have to put fresh solvent in the tank every so often.

I'd really be interested in knowing from you, what brand of good quality brushes your using and the success your having with them. I found (lately) that some of the old brush company's I've been using appear to be having quality and sizing problems. I see that Midway is now offering some new brands of brushes or maybe they had them all the time and I didn't notice them before!

I'm no longer using any of the so-called gun lubricants, most of them are a myth! When you have metal in contact with metal with some extreme temperatures you need a lubricant that will adhere to these conditions and there has been only one proven lubricant that will accomplish this, ATF Dexron II.

Here is a very informitive article written by a very credible master gunsmith regarding the use of ATF (automatic transmission fluid). and it's qualities.

Lubricant 101

By Grant Cunningham

North American Arms Minis: The Best Gun Lubricant | Dexron ATF

I have done this post in good faith with the knowledge and experienced I have acquired up to this point and always willing to listen to and be corrected if something I mention could be approached differently or with a better proceedure.

[Ravin R10 man]

Hoppe's products as long as I"ve cleaned guns..nothing like the smell of Hoppe's

[Zizzer59]

Gun Maintenance & Cleaning.

I use Hoppe's as well. But Remington Rem oil has to be my favorite

[LETMGROW]

I have moved to Otis gun cleaning products. The quality is the best on the market. Their solvent is the best I've ever used and the patch design is head and shoulders above anything else out there.

My kit will do everything from .17 to .50 caliber including .410 to 10 gauge shotguns.

The breech to muzzle method is by far the best way to clean a barrel. Otis supplies the military with all their cleaning kits and supplies. The company is located about 40 miles from my home right here in NY. It is a state of the art facility which employs many local people. No off shore goods here.

www.otisgun.com

Lynn

Edited December 30, 2012 by LETMGROW

[dbHunterNY]

i've got a ton for different uses and used on different guns. T/C and Hoppe's mostly.

[too_pointer]

Always a good post ! I pretty much use my Hoppe's BoreSnake in my .35 Rem.

In my barrel, I like Butch's Bore Shine. After cleaning, I will run a couple patches soaked with

Rem. Oil down the barrel, and leave it. On the exterior, The Rem Oil on a cloth does a good protection on the metal surfaces. Wipe down good, if storing it for a lengthy time. In between,

I use a silicone cloth to wipe any finger prints or whatever.

too_

[wtnhunt]

Butch's bore shine is what I typically use in the rifle barrels, think it does a pretty good job. Use rem oil or break free clp as a protectant.

[Ravin R10 man]

Otis style of cleaning is the best. agree

[dbHunterNY]

for my Browning Abolt deer rifle and Savage Model 12 varmint rifle I use a boreguide and a one piece coated ball bearing handled cleaning rod with nylon brushes and jags all by Bore-tech. I always go out the muzzle, then unscrew the brush, and then pull the rod back through. Wipe it off on an old tshirt. Don't use any lubricants but when i store for prolonged periods the barrel has a light coat of Hoppe's Elite.

[doubleA]

Myself, like I am sure alot of others were taught by your father, grandfather, oldtimer etc. the story probably went something like this.......Sonny you had better clean that _________ each and every time you use it. Growing up I did adhere to that procedure.

Over the years I have amassed a good collection of firearms and cleaning products. I dont hunt much these day but I absolutely love to shoot.

In fact I shoot weekly whether I need to or not but I dont clean much at all. I prescribed to to the less is better club years ago and only do a thourough cleaning if

1) accuracy falls off

2)firearms are in rain or inclimate weather

3)the weapon isnt going to be shot for a extended period of time and stored. Thats about it.

I use Dewey coated rods and jags, Sinclair bore guides, cotton flanel patches. Lubes include RemOil, NECO moly slide, Mobile1 and Kroil. For solvent it's Butch's Bore Shine and Hoppes #9 (just for old times). JB paste for new factory barrels before firing them. Match/lapped barrels only get cloth patches before first use. Funny thing I use a Outters Bore Snake for my .17's and 50 BMG. Both are pains, one being tiny and the other huge.

My firearms live pretty much in a climate controlled enviroment and in safes with golden rods dehumidfiers in them. If blued firearms are handled with bare hands they will be wiped down with a silicon or a oil impregnated gun wipe.

My range/target/match rifles usually go through several hundred rounds before the bore is cleaned, shotguns have handled several thousand rounds before a thourough cleaning.

I remember the days when going to a range session and shooting several rifles and then the following week spent cleaning them to a squeaky clean. Spent more time cleaning than actual shooting baawwwwhHHH not anymore. This is just my ramblings and it works for me.

[LETMGROW]

I don't know what Otis puts in their solvent but I can honestly say it cleans better and faster than anything I ever used before. Not a foul smell my wife can't stand either. The brushes fit, the cables supplied are strong and coated with a plastic which can not scratch a barrel's rifling. Their patches are second to none. The pinch patch, as I call it, can be used over again 6 times before you have to throw it away. This is a great cost savings IMO. It takes a little getting used to but can be mastered quickly.

Their largest customer is the U S Army. Kits are carried by every soldier in a combat zone.

Doreen started this company in the cellar of her dad's home and moved to the garage soon afterward. She saw a need for a quick and easy cleaning method in the field when hunting with her dad and she dropped her gun in the mud and plugged the barrel ending her outing for the day. Her company is one of the largest gun cleaning ( if not the largest ) companies in the world. Her building today is massive and employs a lot of people who get very well taken care of. She says when she goes in during the night to do a few things she takes her shoes off so as not to dirty the floors. It is that clean. She maintains, It'd better be.

She and her husband are two of the biggest supporters our QDMA branch has up here. Their commitment to our youth outdoor projects is unending. I am proud to say they are good friends of mine.

Lynn