i dont shoot mill-surplus rounds, I shoot wolf gold(so my cleaning consists of hoppes no. 9 and rem oil)...and if i was to start shooting mil surplus how would I need to clean the barrel. or what I clean it with already works?
Hoppes #9 Plus is water based and should do a good job. I use one of the black powder cleaners and then clean normally. You can use hot soapy water but then use a water displacer like WD40 to remove the moisture.
Well, many people will suggest Windex with ammonia, or an ammonia/water mixture, or soapy water. Its a matter of flushing out the corrosive salts. I have a strict regiment of cleaning after shooting milsurp ammo in any of my guns. I will start with Butch's Bore shine and run a couple patches through. Then a Hoppe's copper fouling and run a couple patches through of that. Then some Windex w/ammonia and run a few patches through of that. Then I'll run a couple dry patches through. Then start with some Hoppe's 9 and finish it off with some CLP. Patches at this point are pretty clean. Finish it off with a few pulls of the bore snake and its usually pretty shiny by then. If you do shoot milsurp, keep checking the bores of your rifles if its weeks or months before you think you'd shoot them again to make sure no residual stuff is reacting with any moisture. I'm sure my method is overkill, but it works pretty good so far. Any of these would work fine probably by themselves, but I prefer the extra procedures to ensure the bore is clean.
__________________
Mosin Nagant evangelist on a mission to convert YOU!
2 or 3 patches of #9 followed by 2 or 3 dry patches at the range. Get home fill the barrel and chamber with gun slick foaming bore cleaner and wait. After it dissolves, several dry patches and then a patch of oil.
Because of the large quantitiy of firearms I clean I want something that gets the job done fast, cheeply, and correctly.
I like one part ammonia to two parts water. This also takes out any copper better and faster than anything else I have tried. It just dissolves copper fouling and removes the corrosive salts as well. Then #9 until clean. Then oil wipe and done.
I use this method no matter what I was shooting. Why? Because the ammonnia takes out the copper as well as corrosive. I dont have to use three different solvents to do it.
I probablly clean 25 firearms a month depending on how often I go shooting. I shoot usually 5 to 7 firearms when I go. I want something fast and cheep to clean them with. A large bottle of Hoppes #9 and a large jug of ammonia and a small container of breakfree and Im set for 6 months.
I also found a spray oil called Tri-flo. This is probably the best oil I have ever seen as far as cold weather reliable. It wont gum up like WD 40 does and has for me. It is very good in locks for car doors as well.
For wood I love Scotts Liquid Gold. I hate the smell of it but after you spray it on it lifts the dirt and old oil out of the wood. After 5 to 10 minutes just wipe all the gunk off and your wood shines.
Now if you are talking complete dissambly and cleaning I use Simple Green. There is no better way to clean gun parts if you have small parts and springs and whatever than Simple Green and water and a some brushes. Then coat in your choice of oil (I like Breakfree) and re-assemble.
I normally will completely dissamble and clean any firearm that is used that I buy before I will ever shoot it. I like seeing how the firearm works and like to know it is in proper working order before I ever fire it.
__________________
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
Last edited by Capt'n Mil Coll; 10-31-2009 at 02:58 PM.
Tri-Flo is great stuff. I used to use it on my mountain bike instead of WD-40. Its hard to find around here though. A good place to find it, if you can't find it anywhere else, is a Schwinn Bicycle Shop, since they recommend the stuff for their multi-speed bikes. Unfortunately, there are no bike shops around here.
__________________
M1891 Mosin Nagant,M1 Carbine,Remington 550-1 ,Stevens 15a,RG Model 66,Stevens Model 311
This isn't rocket science. Most of these old war horses went days without cleaning and still work great.
Windex at the range (a few quick sprays muzzle and breech and run a patch). Regular cleaning when I get home (wipe down and bore snake with #9). After 4 years... bores are fine.
For the past couple of years I shoot mainly reloaded ammo. Even using Sierra match grade bullets it costs about $.50 a round. Using 147gr. pulls drops the price to about $.25 a round... so save all of that brass and reload. Cost to get a decent single press set up is about $250, or the cost of an SKS.
Note: Finally found some primers at Sportsmans so bought a box (1000)... was down to my last 80 (!) Whew!
Gandy,
I'm down to my last 300 bullets (pulls). Have you seen any new deals out there? Man that 1000 went fast.
__________________ Remember when seconds count... the police are only minutes away.
I just clean like I would a normal rifle, I just do it three times instead of one. My bore's still perfect. I clean it once after firing, once later that night and the next morning, i do it again. That does the trick. I just checked my bore and it's shiny as a mirror. I used to worry about my rifle being counterbored, until my buddy showed me his brand new Taurus .44 magnum. It had a 4 inch barrel with only three inches of rifling and it was counterbored an inch on the end where it was magna-ported. And it's brand new. I don't worry about it anymore, I just shoot it.
At the range, I put a little funnel in the chamber and pour through either Windex or a 50-50 deodorized ammonia and water mix, I guress 15 or 20 ccs of it (I carry it in a glass tube in my range bag). Then I put Gunzilla on my boresnake and pull it through half a dozen times. I also soak a patch with the Windex and wipe down the bolt face and chamber face, then wipe with Gunzilla.
When I get home, I swab out the bore with Gunzilla on a patch, then pull the soaked boresnake through another half-dozen times. After that, I use a bronze bristle brush, picks, swabs, and Gunzilla to clean the bolt and the rest of the rifle, then wipe the metal down with a Gunzilla patch. You can store a rifle cleaned that way for a good long time without having to worry about it.
