Cleaning your rifle

todbiker · Jun 15, 2015

So I've picked up a few solvents/ lubricants over the years, trying to find what works best. Been shooting some corrosive lately, so Ballistol diluted with water is my choice. I have a few cleaning rods and caliber specific jags. I seem to spend a lot of time and jag patches to get the bore clean.

Some of the bore cleaners used have been Wipe-out, sweets, ballistol airesol and ballistol dilluted with water.

What are your experiences?

Blacksmith101 · Jun 15, 2015

Ed's Red! Make your own. Google it.

rico903 · Jun 15, 2015

OP-you have a good selection and don't forget good old fashioned Hoppes. There are a ton of over priced miracle cleaners out there but the tried and true work just fine.

toolness1 · Jun 15, 2015

I've been doing this for the last 4 years every time I shoot corrosive ammo, and have never seen a speck of rust as a result:

At range while gun is still hot, rinse bore with windex (I use a funnel)

Let it air dry while you shoot the next gun, then run a CLP soaked bore snake thru it

When I get home, I flush it with the Ballistol/Water, then clean the hell out of it with Eezox. Dry bore completely, then give another small coat of eezox before putting away.

If the copper fouling gets real bad, I will run a copper solvent thru it, then eezox it again before I put it up.

I have a huge collection of cleaners and oils/rust preventatives. Once I tried Eezox, I never touch 90% of the rest of the stuff I own.

It is great!

I've read a lot of people claiming the Windex is a waste of time, use hot water or just water. The windex still has an advantage that it evaporates quicker than plain (room temp) water, so that is why I continue to use it. Not so much for the small amount of ammonia (some windex products don't even have ammonia anymore) working on the corrosive salts.

Edit:

Also, one thing that can help you use less patches (I use a ton also!) are those REM orange rubber squeegees. Especially if you use something like J&B bore paste, those squeegees will force almost everything out in one pass, so you don't have to use several patches to do the same thing.
http://www.amazon.com/Remington-Bore-Squeeg-E/dp/B006H9B7PU

Abulg1972 · Jun 15, 2015

toolness1 said:
I've been doing this for the last 4 years every time I shoot corrosive ammo, and have never seen a speck of rust as a result:

At range while gun is still hot, rinse bore with windex (I use a funnel)

Let it air dry while you shoot the next gun, then run a CLP soaked bore snake thru it

When I get home, I flush it with the Ballistol/Water, then clean the hell out of it with Eezox. Dry bore completely, then give another small coat of eezox before putting away.

If the copper fouling gets real bad, I will run a copper solvent thru it, then eezox it again before I put it up.

I have a huge collection of cleaners and oils/rust preventatives. Once I tried Eezox, I never touch 90% of the rest of the stuff I own.

It is great!

I've read a lot of people claiming the Windex is a waste of time, use hot water or just water. The windex still has an advantage that it evaporates quicker than plain (room temp) water, so that is why I continue to use it. Not so much for the small amount of ammonia (some windex products don't even have ammonia anymore) working on the corrosive salts.

Edit:

Also, one thing that can help you use less patches (I use a ton also!) are those REM orange rubber squeegees. Especially if you use something like J&B bore paste, those squeegees will force almost everything out in one pass, so you don't have to use several patches to do the same thing.
http://www.amazon.com/Remington-Bore-Squeeg-E/dp/B006H9B7PU

I think you're making this too hard.

When I'm done shooting for the day, I too flush the bore and bolt with Windex. I shove it in the case and drive home. When I get home, or no later than the end of the night, I clean it as I would any other gun. I use Gunzilla - love the stuff because it's an organic product so can come out of stuff if it spills and my wife can sort of stand the smell. Hoppe's is prohibited in my house. Gunzilla is both a solvent and a lubricant and it works great. Then, I run an oil soaked patch and I'm done.

Last week, I looked at a Sako M39 that I shot with corrosive ammo over a year ago and the bore is a mirror.

toolness1 · Jun 15, 2015

I would rather do too much than too little... I'm anal about my guns. They all get Eezox cleaning when I get home, every range trip, even if I shoot just a couple rounds.

Before I started using Eezox, I had three barrels rust on me, still don't know why. One rifle and two pistols. I didn't use corrosive ammo on them, and swabbed the bores with CLP when I got home.

That made me absolutely paranoid. Those three guns had absolutely gorgeous bores. Now they still shoot well, but it kills me every time I see the marks left by the rust.

That's when I posted on here and people suggested Eezox. Haven't seen rust since. But even before using Eezox, the windex at the range and CLP at home kept the rust from those rifles that I shot corrosive ammo in.

I would rather spend the extra time and not risk it, I was seriously bummed about that.

Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk

Machodoc · Jun 15, 2015

I keep saying this, but nobody listens ...

Windex was a preferred cleaner in the old days because it contained ammonia--which has long been favored by the military back when all of the ammo had corrosive primers. Ammonia neutralized the salts.

Windex now has NO ammonia. "Ammonia D" is not ammonia (let Windex explain it ... but it's not). All you get from Windex now is that the salts dissolve in the water that Windex contains. You might as well use fresh water, but you'd be even better off with fresh HOT water to dissolve the salts. Better still would be fresh HOT water with a small dash of ammonia in it, followed by a fresh HOT water flush.

BTW - Wally World's kitchen dept sells a set of three squishy silicone funnels (dark red) that has one size that is excellent for doing this.

Abulg1972 · Jun 15, 2015

Machodoc said:
I keep saying this, but nobody listens ...

Windex was a preferred cleaner in the old days because it contained ammonia--which has long been favored by the military back when all of the ammo had corrosive primers. Ammonia neutralized the salts.

Windex now has NO ammonia. "Ammonia D" is not ammonia (let Windex explain it ... but it's not). All you get from Windex now is that the salts dissolve in the water that Windex contains. You might as well use fresh water, but you'd be even better off with fresh HOT water to dissolve the salts. Better still would be fresh HOT water with a small dash of ammonia in it, followed by a fresh HOT water flush.

BTW - Wally World's kitchen dept sells a set of three squishy silicone funnels (dark red) that has one size that is excellent for doing this.

Nobody listens because Windex still works, it's cheap, it comes in a handy squirt bottle, and it's easy to carry around and shoot down the bore. Ammonia or not, it still works. It's got detergent and water = all you need to neutralize/clean corrosive salts. I'm sure that it would be easier/cheaper to buy some ammonia and a squirt bottle and mix it with water, and maybe I'll do that when this bottle runs out, but I'm going on almost 9 months on one bottle.

Abulg1972 · Jun 15, 2015

toolness1 said:
Before I started using Eezox, I had three barrels rust on me, still don't know why. One rifle and two pistols. I didn't use corrosive ammo on them, and swabbed the bores with CLP when I got home.

If your barrels rusted, then you must have missed a step or something. I don't mess around with CLP. If you use a plain solvent like Hoppe's, it is critical that you follow that with an oiled patch or you will find rust in your bore. I use Hoppe's or Gunzilla and plain old gun oil. I have been using that combo for 30+ years and it has yet to fail me. I don't mean to say that I do a quick, crappy job of cleaning. I scrub the bore with a brush soaked in Gunzilla, then run patches soaked in Gunzilla until they come out clean, and then repeat those steps one more time. I then run a dry patch down, followed by an oiled patch.

Now, I'm not poo-pooing anyone who wants to super clean their rifles - there's no harm in being overprotective.

6-Pack · Jun 15, 2015

Blacksmith101 said:
Ed's Red! Make your own. Google it.

+1. Make up a gallon and it'll last you quite a while. This is the only solvent I use anymore.

Dr Dano HPR · Jun 15, 2015

Any reason you can't add ammonia to your "Windex" like cut it 10-15%? I use Ballistol cut to 10-15% for any gun in which I used corrosive or suspected corrosive ammo.

Rapture · Jun 15, 2015

I just run hot water through the barrel, let it dry, boresnake with Hoppes 9 then run a patch or two of Ballistol through a day later.

nobis1 · Jun 15, 2015

Dennis Kroh has a great article on this.

http://www.empirearms.com/clean.htm

Melnic · Jun 15, 2015

Wally world ammonia is like $2 a jug. That's a lifetime of mosin cleaning.
I have a water/ammonia mix in a small spray bottle.
Don't shoot much corrosive anymore though.
I do it when its still hot and will clean more when I get home.
The mosins I shoot corrosive through are already frosted to begin with.
Corrosive does not hit my Sniper and I'm thinking it will stop hitting my Finn.

MacGuns · Jun 15, 2015

Chad also has an article here
http://www.scotts-gunsmithing.com/f-a-q/gunsmith-related-f-a-q/corrosive-ammunition-cleaning-tips/

todbiker · Jun 15, 2015

Thanks for sharing everyone.

I picked up a few new to me C&R rifles recently and spent a lot of time cleaning them up before their first range trips. Must have used most of a can of Wipe-out, the 03-A3 took 4-5 overnight soakings to get anywhere near clean patches. The Enfield No.4 Mk.II and Yugo M98/48 weren't as bad, but still took a lot of patches.

Probably use up my ballistol concentrate and then try a few of the suggestions here for the corrosive stuff. I always run a patch with regular ballistol through the barrels for storage. It congeals a bit over time but hasn't rusted any of my barrels yet, I heard WD40 will do that though.

Oldcarjunkie · Jun 15, 2015

Blacksmith101 said:
Ed's Red! Make your own. Google it.

Get with Tj, ill bet he still has a bunch made up.

Oldcarjunkie · Jun 15, 2015

Me Myself

Muzzle in trashcan, I squirt windex with ammonia through it and let it run out into can.

put rifle on gun vise, wet a patch and push it through.

Next a dry patch

then cleaning patch

then oil patch

Erno86 · Jun 15, 2015

I use water diluted Simple Green Solution cloth patches first, till they come out clean, then bronze core brush work out with Gunzilla or Copperzilla, along with occasional steel chamber brush work mounted on a chamber cleaning rod, brake cleaner degreaser sprayed down the pipe, --- let drain --- three dry patches, three Hoppes or Gunzilla patches, three dry patches, then oil the pipe down with semi-synthetic Castrol motor oil --- then one dry patch --- or just turn it muzzle down on a wad of newspaper so that any excess oil can drain out.

Don't forget to wear your eye pro. "It's not a question of if, it is a question of when." --- Chris Costa

toolness1 · Jun 15, 2015

Machodoc said:
I keep saying this, but nobody listens ...

Windex was a preferred cleaner in the old days because it contained ammonia--which has long been favored by the military back when all of the ammo had corrosive primers. Ammonia neutralized the salts.

Windex now has NO ammonia. "Ammonia D" is not ammonia (let Windex explain it ... but it's not). All you get from Windex now is that the salts dissolve in the water that Windex contains. You might as well use fresh water, but you'd be even better off with fresh HOT water to dissolve the salts. Better still would be fresh HOT water with a small dash of ammonia in it, followed by a fresh HOT water flush.

BTW - Wally World's kitchen dept sells a set of three squishy silicone funnels (dark red) that has one size that is excellent for doing this.

I stated that in my post about the ammonia. There is a thread around here about this, and I checked through a bunch of different Windex MSDS sheets. They do still make a product with ammonia, but the regular stuff most people buy is just that Ammonia-D which is basically alcohol and surfactants.

And that the benefit I get from it is simply evaporating quicker than water. At the range I don't have HOT water handy, and I don't feel like bringing hot water in a thermos. I have a 500mL bottle of Windex in my range bag and it is always handy, not something extra to do before the range (heating up water)

The alcohol in the Windex makes it evaporate quicker, the surfactants make it clean a little better.

Could I get the same results from water? Possibly, but it works, has always worked, and that's why I do it

Ammonia doesn't actually help, even if it WAS in windex, and even if you add it to your water.

The salts in the corrosive ammo have very poor solubility in Ammonia. 360 g/kg with Water, 0.4g/kg in liquid ammonia.

Cleaning your rifle

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Ultimate Member

Grumpy Old Man

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Old Guy

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

NRA Life Member

Active Member

Total Loser

Active Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

R.I.P

R.I.P

Banned

Ultimate Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics