Hi all, what do most of you guys use to clean/maintain your weapons ( metal AND wood ) ??
Printable View
Hi all, what do most of you guys use to clean/maintain your weapons ( metal AND wood ) ??
You have opened up a whole international can of worms Ferret. You'll get answers ranging from the sane and sensible who say simply '...treat all ammunition as errosive and corrosive'. They will say that regardless of whether you're using some old cheap ex WD cordite with mercuric primers or super-dooper meticulous hand loads to factory stuff, to just pour boiling water down the bore as soon as practically possible after shooting the rifle in order to neutralise the nasties that will; be lurking there. Then pull it through with a rod or pullthrough until eventually the flanellette comes out clean and then use another clean but oil soaked piece to oil the bore. Repeat this - less the boiling water palava for 5 days. Just like the Army have been teaching their blokes since the 1900's.
As for the wood...... Just wipe it down with a rag soaked in linseed oil.
Then you'll get those from another orbitory planet who'll say........ Look, they'll come in soon enough..........
I've used a Parker Hale brush and rod for years, or the pull through and then rifle oil and flannel cloth. Nothing special and it's always worked fine for me.
You won't better that advice from BAR (thread 2) Ferret. Weapon Training Instructor since the year dot and probably taught that by another weapon Trg Instructor who learned the same while putting Stonehenge up.
I bet Sentry Duty and Muffer will chip in soon....., hopefully
I just use hot water, Ballistol & Linseed oil in all my rifles including black powder which i mix the ballistol & hot water.
With known quality modern, non-corrosive commercial ammo I typically just use Hoppes #9 for post shoot cleaning BUT.........I have noticed in some of my more "challenged" bores that boiling water seems to loosen up some stuff that #9 does not. It's also free and non-toxic. Regarding the forend, we are lucky up here- endless amounts of RAW linseed oil available.
Ridolpho
When I get back from the range I flood the bores with Brunox spray and leave them for 30 mins, then once through with the bronze brush, then 4x2 patches with my PH rod until they come up clean, clean the chamber, then action and bolt with Brunox and a toothbrush.
Then carefully check the rifle for any issues, and finally inhibit the bores with Remington gun oil and allow the excess to drain off, back in the gun room, job done.
That's my ritual anyway, works for me..
For normal post-firing cleaning I use 009 on a soft bristle brush, with a Parker Hale rod and jag. Patch out afterwards until they come out acceptably clean from the No.4 (bore's long past shot out!) or clean from the SMLE, with its better condition barrel. If I need heavy-duty cleaning, after sustained rapid firing or a few days' competition shooting, I use C2R, which seems to dissolve every type of barrel crud known to man and then some.
I also have the bolt body only from a skeletonised No.4 which I use as a rod guide. Sadly it won't fit in the SMLE and it's too long for the No.8.
Don't involve me on this one Pete, I prefer caustics and abrasives.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
Give the bore a good scrub with Drain Cleaner(fast, as the caustic eats the cloth) followed by gear oil and sand mix.
For the timber, a good lathering of Black paint, applied with a coarse brush(shades of India)if it was good enough for the metal, should be good for wood too.
If you don't bother wiping out before the first shot, you can always locate your first shot on the target, a nice oily hole that a patch won't stick to.(remember to wear safety glasses though, the sand and oil make for smeary vision for awhile.):madsmile:
P.S Rebarrel every week.
You know Muff that's what I have been doing for years only problem is I am down to my last few barrels. :bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by muffett.2008
JDewey 30 cal rods are fantastic. Get a longer bronze bore brush if it is your first cleaning. If it is rather old, get some stronger bore solvent like 7.62 and scrub, but Do not leave it in the barrel for long! 10-20 min maxpatch the bore cleaner out then follow with a patch of oil.
Oil all metal bits to prevent rust and get some linseed oil, it isn't terribly expensive but it will save your woods.
this is the procedure i've used successfully :super: try out different stuff like gun oils and bore cleaners, everyone markets them as WONDER CLEANERS so try them out to find some good stuff.
For extremely coppered barels use Montana Extreme Copper Killer I have used it a couple of times it does what it states but be warned use in an open area very big on fumes. As for the other stuff petty much what every one else does.
I use Boretech bore cleaner, cleaning rod and quality nylon brush in conjunction with a bore guide for the rod. Pull through's belong on the arc and phosphor bronze brushes are hard wearing on the barrel and are dissolved by solvents giving a false copper reading on your patch.
I will nevr clean the copper out of an old SMLE again. I once bought an ex Queens winning rifle off a mate. I near as shot a possible with it. Being enthusiastic I cleaned all the copper out.Would not shoot for anything after that. Even got misses at long ranges. Learn't my lesson. Now I only clean copper in rifles I have started with a new barrel and know the amount of rounds down them.
For those using Oz "Sweets" evil-smelling, but effective brew, avoid copper or bronze brushes.
Sweets is formulated to remove copper-based fouling. It has LOTS of a copper-dissolving ammonia emulsion in it, hence the evil smell and the lovely green streaks on patches, soaked with the stuff, as they exit the barrel.
What it does to bore fouling, it does to bronze brushes.
Use Nylon brushes or "fluffy' mops. Pieces of flanel on the classic steel "takedown" M-16-type rod works too. I don't leave home with a rifle without a cleaning kit containing one or more of those old green "pouches" with the "modular" rod, sundry assorted rolls of flannel and a couple of small containers of solvents and oils.
If I have a "fouled" barrel, or just after a long match, it gets mopped with a Sweets-saturated but loose-fitting mop on a rod or piece of flannel. Let it "work".
Go and put on the kettle / coffee machine, then start pushing CLEAN flannel through the barrel; it should come out with green streaks on it, indicating the removal of dissolved copper.
There is a standard warning about using it on stainless barrels. Left overnight, it MAY start attacking the barrel itself. "Frosty Shades of Grey" is NOT my favourite bore colour!
Interestingly, Hard-Chromed barrels are a LOT less susceptible to "jacket" fouling, the bullets just seem to glide over the Chrome. Pushing a Sweets-soaked patch trough a fully-chromed L1A1 barrel will produce little or NO green streaking on the cloth.
HOWEVER, because HARD Chrome develops "micro-fractures" in the very act of being applied to the barrel steel, COMBUSTION products WILL find any path to the steel substrate.
This is where hot water / Hoppes No9, etc. come into their own. It is amazing / disturbing how much black s...., er, stuff comes out after a good day at the range.
The old RAAF range on Warwick Road, near the Amberley RAAF Base used to have the facilities to boil and dispense water for this very purpose, but, that was back in the early 1970s.
Anyone got experience of bore snakes? I'm asking in complete ignorance.
I find them handy for a quick pull through before leaving the range and on smaller calibers such as 6.5 Swedish. However there is no subsitute for a rod and brush or patches once you are home.
Lots of guys advocate them, they're just a glorified pullthrough. I'll stick to a standard pullthrough or a rod. Easier to clean after and they don't get stuck in a bore unless you do something foolish. A boresnake is big to begin with and I've seen them get stuck even though it's the correct caliber and the right one.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobD
Bore snakes, faddy things, not to be introduced to that grand old lady Mrs Enfield in my opinion!