SVT-40 cleaning..

[Jamjor]

So I took my SVT40 out about a week or so ago, and I cleaned it that night. I ran about 50 nitro solvent patches through the barrel, and cleaned all the areas where the residue was pitch black, and now it comes back kind of grey. Is that normal? When I clean my other rifles it comes back clean, but the barrel is still coming back a tiny bit gray. Would the nitro solvent just deactivate the corrosive aspect from the residue, that would have come from the primers? I've run so much nitro solvent through the thing and its pieces and i feel that it's still dirty.

[SA1911a1]

You really need to clean the gas system components or you will ruin the rifle. You can not clean them by just running patches down the barrel.

There is a big argument on whether Hoppes #9 eliminates the danger of corrosion or not. There is very little argument that hot water does eliminate the danger of corrosion.

[desdem12]

I always use some kind of water to clean mine but i haven't checked to see if they ae gray or not. I usually use boiling water after using at the range and use a bottle of windex at the range. Most of my barrels that i have cleaned and shot alot have come back with a fair shine.

[Jamjor]

Well yeah I've cleaned all the pistons and and everything, I did that the day of shooting. Also, I've put windex down the barrel, I did that the day of shooting as well. I just feel like it's still dirty and I don't want to ruin a piece of history because I can't clean it properly. I've cleaned until exhaustion, I don't even know what parts to clean anymore. They just keep coming back gray. I believe i put hot soapy water down the barrel too. I know I did it with my M44 the day of the range too. Should I just put it back together or run some more patches or what? And should I keep putting solvent soaked Q tips in the muzzle break and other tight spots?

And do you need to clean the magazine too? I ran a couple qtips in there and it was black..

[desdem12]

Clean as best as you can then shoot then clean and then check for shine on barrel. The magazine may need cleaning every now and then, probly has cosmo in it. clean and then lightly oil. It takes a couple of sessions for me to get the copper out of the barrels sometimes. Or maybe put a patch through that has a lot of hoppes on it and let it soak in the barrel for a bit and then continue cleaning after brushing.

[Jamjor]

Sadly my brass cleaning rod and brass rifle brush broke.. both during the svt cleaning. I will be buying a new one soon. The barrel was dark and pitted when I bought it, as most SVT40s seem to be.. I don't think there is any corrosive material anywhere on my rifle, though. I bet most of it was gone the day of the range, when I sprayed windex and hot water down the barrel, which would have gotten most of the parts. The gas pistons and tubes and whatnots, as I said, have been cleaned with nitro solvent. I'll probably be shooting it again soon. Thanks guys, my mind can be at ease for now.. I'll probably put it back together today, finally.. Then when I get a cleaning rod I'll run a couple more solvent patches through, then lube it up. I would use the steel rod but I don't want to accidentally damage the barrel with steel on steel.

[Junk Yard Dog]

No pitting in my SVT bore, I always clean it with boiling water before using hoppes to remove the fouling. The gray you are seeing could very well be iron. When you take a piece of white cloth patch and run it down a bare piece of steel with some pressure on it it will wear away a microscopic bit of the metal, enough to stain a patch gray. Fouling is black, or green for copper, gray is light fouling residue or the bore metal itself. Do not over clean your rifle, you do not need to remove 100% of the fouling, not only is this impossible in a bore that has pits, but you can damage the weapon far worse than shooting 1000's of rounds with it. Salts will eat your bore to a splinter, but water removes all of that, salt dissolves and washes away easily in hot water. Fouling is irritating, and in large amounts can degrade accuracy, foul mechanisms, and plug gas tubes, but it is not in of itself harmful to the weapon so long as you oil the metal carefully in and out during storage. You can remove most of the fouling and still be good, all the counterbores found in Mosin bores? These are the result of sawing away at the bore with steel cleaning rods from the muzzle end.

[Jamjor]

Ahhh that makes sense. Thank you Junkyard dog. I won't run any more patches through it, then. I only did maybe 15 or so after it stopped coming back black. So it should be all clean now.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Get a Dewey, or Tipton one piece coated rod, they are a lot easier to use.