Proper Cleaning?

[angelsfanbp]

I have heard and read many different things about the best way to clean and the neccessity to clean your rifle after using corrosive ammo. I would like to hear from you all about what your thoughts are on the subject. I hope to make some more "how to" videos on proper care/maintenance of the M91/30 and post to my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRifleGuru?feature=mhee and if you like what you see please subscribe to help support my effort.

Any details would help. Thanks everybody!!!

[desdem12]

Nothing i have found does better then hot boiling water down the barrel. I have a tea pot that i use to dump it and then i brush with a brass brush and follow with a few patches of hoppes. Then when clean a patch of generous oil. After that i have a rag with oil on it and i wipe down the whole rifle. And don't forget the bolt head.

[angelsfanbp]

So contrary to what I've read elsewhere I don't need to immerse the entire rifle in boiling water? Just pour down the barrel as an extra step than normal, scrub as usual, patches as usual and final lube as usual?

[desdem12]

I have seen BP guys dip the whole rifle in the hot water but i don't. I just send it down the barrel and then a normal cleaning.

[MN Fan]

Man, I think boiling water would destroy any wooden stock. BP guys do this? I wonder why...a BP is even easier to take down than a Mosin. I never removed the hammer, just simply wiped it down, but the barrel always went in the tub after a shoot.

[desdem12]

THe guys i have seen do it have plastic stocks and inlines. Last year i seen them put the whole thing in a big bucket of soapy water. I didn't need to do that cause it was raining so hard that fish were drowning so i figured it was clean by the time i got back to camp.

[MN Fan]

That makes sense...thanks Brad

I've been out of it so long I keep forgetting they make synthetic stock, in-line BPs now

[desdem12]

My son has a plastic stock side locker that he loves to death. I have to talk him out of using it every year. He has had it for a long time though. It just isn't up to par for sights and range for deer hunting around here. I lend him a 50 cal inline that i of course have to clean after we are done.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I remove the bolt, grip the rifle by the wrist firmly in one hand with the muzzle pointing straight down. Take my teapot full of boiling water in the other hand and pour it right down into the chamber ( teapot spout makes this easy) this step takes less than ten minutes with water boiling time, washes 100% or the salt out and the heat from the water transfers to the steel and this steams off any residual water. Don't be sloppy and pour water on the wood, a little is unlikely to damage anything, but a lot could, heat transfer from the water going down the bore is less that what 10 rounds of firing will do so no problems there. The heat after you let the rifle cool for a few minutes will aid the bore solvent in eating up the fouling, this is also a good time for a chamber scrubbing. No soap in the water is needed, that is something you need for Black Powder fouling, plain boiling water for smokeless powder as you are only using the water to remove the salts from the corrosive primers.

[son of a gun]

would it work to just to brush, then send numerous patches of hoppes no. 9 down the bore till they come out clean?




I just saw this smilely: Oh, that's great!!! I gotta find an excuse to use that!

[Junk Yard Dog]

That kind of spam is good cut thin, fried with eggs Clean the bore with boiling water before using the hoppes, the waters function is to remove the salts, it is 100% effective at this job with no guesswork involved or hoping that hoppes does the job. Hoppes is a great bore solvent, but I do not trust it to remove salts.

[zeebill]

I am not even going to comment on this because if there are ten replies there will be ten different answers and they are all right in the eyes of the writer. So count on making about 10 or 12 filmed methods at least with a bunch of optional methods to each and everyone. My teapot has never done anything but serve good strong tea and even when I shot only black powder it never poured anything down a gun bore so take it from there and use your imagination.

This is one of the subjects that I will always consider a bait post which results in nothing positive and bad feelings among the people who know their method is right, which is all of us. We will all defend our method with the fact that we have never had barrel damage so we have to be right! I think the real answer is to develop a method that works for you and keep your mouth shut about others ways of doing it. So that will be the end of this post! Bill

[angelsfanbp]

You are correct in that there are many different views on this Bill. I think your wrong in that people shouldn't be made aware of different ways of doing the same thing. And I don't think people are getting their feelings hurt if someone else posts a different way they believe is better. Have you never done research on the internet for anything?...it's the same thing....millions of point of views and you do your research and pick the best answer that works for you and if it works....go with it.........for people like myself, I love to hear others point of views, especially if they differ from mine. That's I improve upon what I do or know that what I am doing is the best for me.

[angelsfanbp]

Thanks Junk Yard Dog and Desdem12 - this seemed to me the easiest and most effective (efficient) way to clean my Mosin. Just wanted to ask the experts opinions first before I started giving potentially inadequate advice to someone on proper cleaning

[Spermgewehr]

For a quick clean after shooting surplus I:
Remove bolt
Remove bolt hea
Rinse bolt head, face, protruding portion of firing pin with windex
Squirt windex down bore from the breech
Rinse bolt head and end of firing pin with hot water
Pour hot water down bore from breech
Wipe excess water with clean towel
Run a few dry patches down the bore
Run an oil patch down bore
Wipe any exposed metal with oiled patch
Done

A lot of you will tell me the windex is a waste, but the manual that came from Centuru with my 91/30 suggests it, I've had no issues yet, and it's cheap and only takes 20 more seconds so I will continue using it.

[angelsfanbp]

Quick question......if it's going to take me 6 hours after shooting to get home and before any cleaning begins......could I spray a generous amount of windex on the bolt and through the barrel at the range and run a patch through until I get home? Would leaving windex on the barrel and bolt be bad for 6 hours? Would it even do anything?

[Spermgewehr]

It all depends on the climate you're in. If its Louisiana and feels like somebody's mouth you should clean ASAP. I live in Phoenix and sometimes I may not get to clean until the next day, but the dry climate here is much more forgiving

[desdem12]

There are varying thoughts on this. Some say it creates spalling (sp) in the barrel to leave ammonia in there to long and others say it doesn't. If it were me, i would spray the barrel down or run a patch with windex on it and then run a dry patch through it. Also there is no need to spray down the bolt. Just use a patch that is good and wet from windex or water and wipe the bolt face down. Then of course clean as soon as you can.

[angelsfanbp]

desdem12 so would I be correct in saying that running some windex down the barrel and then gun oil would prevent the potential of spalling or would the windex (amonia) need more of a thorough cleaning to remove the amonia?

[desdem12]

I am not sure of the spalling. I have had no problem with mine but i live in the west. I think you could do the windex and then with a dry patch or a oil patch and be fine.