good cleaning method?

[cremley]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what the best way to clean a rifle is. I have a few rifles that I clean regularly especially a Mosin Nagant that shoots corrosive ammo. I am not too sure what I should use and in what order. I have cleaning rods, cleaning brushes, cleaning swabs, cleaning patches, gun solvent, gun crud remover in a spray can (like WD-40, but for firearms), and gun oil. Which one of these do I use first, second,.....etc? I also read on another thread that you can use windex to remove the salts from the corrosive ammo, is this true, and when should I use it and how? I have cleaned the rifles before but I am not sure if there is an order. I don't want to mess anything up or destroy the barrel.

thanks,
Chris

[BaserRonin]

Been a lot of discussion on cleaning corrosive. The goal is to neutralize the salts formed by the primer that get left in your barrel, on your bolt face, and wherever else it goes. Windex (ammonia) is one of the things that neutralizes said salts. I use soap and water on a patch. Whatever you use, do that part first, remove excess water if you used any, let dry completely, then clean as normal if it needs it.

[Mike Franklin]

If you heat water up to boiling and then pour it on a gun part it will remove salts. The water will evaporate quickly. You don't wanna get boiling water on wood.

[BaserRonin]

This is one of those things we need to take pics up and post in a sticky I think. It is pretty easy to do once you have a system down. There are also a lot of misconceptions about what corrosive means and how to deal with it.
I have a buddy that used to use half a bottle of hoppy's in an effort to clean his parts after shooting corrosive and still had rust problems a few weeks later (he doesn't shoot corrosive anymore). I have tried to explain to him about the primers, salts, and basic chemistry on neutralizing acids, but he'll "be damned if I'm going to put water in my barrel."

sigh

[wunhunglo]

Originally Posted by cremley

Hey guys,

I was wondering what the best way to clean a rifle is. I have a few rifles that I clean regularly especially a Mosin Nagant that shoots corrosive ammo. I am not too sure what I should use and in what order. I have cleaning rods, cleaning brushes, cleaning swabs, cleaning patches, gun solvent, gun crud remover in a spray can (like WD-40, but for firearms), and gun oil. Which one of these do I use first, second,.....etc? I also read on another thread that you can use windex to remove the salts from the corrosive ammo, is this true, and when should I use it and how? I have cleaned the rifles before but I am not sure if there is an order. I don't want to mess anything up or destroy the barrel.

thanks,
Chris

When I used to use old corrosive ammo in my 303 I always gave it the hot water treatment first. followed by a couple of patches to dry it off, then if necessary a bronze brush & copper solvent solution, followed by more patches to dry off finally followed by a lightly oiled patch when clean. then a clean patch through it before taking it to the range for it's next outing.
Use a bore guide when running the cleaning rod through the barrel and I use the brush in only one direction and do not redraw it through the barrel. Breech to muzzle of course, even the autos, which can be a pain, but then again so is a damaged crown.

[samuel]

+1. sam.

[sonny2u2]

I worry about the same thing. I'm using Sweets 7.62 Solvent and then chasing it with CLP after I get the Sweets dried out. The Sweets smells strong of ammonia, so is it doing the same thing as the windex and soap/water????