How Do You Care for Your Firearms?

[whistlepig]

I have always used Hoppe's #9 solvent. I've tried countless other solvents over the years but the #9 seems to work as good or better than any I have tried. I bought some Hoppe's Elite gun oil last year. I really like this stuff for wiping down my guns. It stays on the gun metal a lot better than regular gun oils.

 

[SandburRanch]

Are you using CCI Green Tag?

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Blue box. Mini-mag LR and short hollow pts.

 

[milkman636]

Unloaded:thumbsup:

 

[whistlepig]

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Blue box. Mini-mag LR and short hollow pts.

I tried CCI Stingers. They fouled the bore as you described. What I got in velocity with the Stingers I lost in accuracy. I went to Green Tag. They are cleaner burning and much more accurate. I think some of the high velocity .22 rim fire cartridges are over rated.

 

[jmanatee2]

With todays modern smokeless powders, it is much more forgiving. The only one I am very careful about cleaning is my 50cal muzzle loader. The powder (triple 7) is very corrosive to the inside of barrels.

I do have a GoldenRod GunSaver Dehumidifier in my safe and I can say with confidence it makes a difference.

I am also good about periodically wiping guns with a oiled rag.

 

[Sidwuffler]

I clean em, oil em and then sleep with em

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Black powder, boiling water and then Ed's Red.

Shotguns get the bore wiped down after every session. For duck hunting I always pack WD-40, particularly if I am hunting salt water. If I use the WD-40, I clean the shotgun with brake cleaner and re-oil with Break Free CLP. I have a big jug of the old stinky stuff from before they changed the formula. Any shotgun that gets wet gets a complete strip down and dry before cleaning and reassembly.

Rifles hunt with a small party balloon over the muzzle and likewise get a full strip down if they get wet. I like to shoot from a clean bore, so they get bore snaked, or bronze brushed and patched after every session.

My handguns are stainless, or stainless and plastic, so get cleaned whenever the spirit moves me, which is probably more often than it needs to.

Even guns that are rarely fired don't get to dry out. If I haven't shot a gun in six months, I wipe it down and lightly oil the action. I have guns well over 100 years old without a spec of rust on them.

3-in-1 has anti-rust stickups, and I keep a couple of them in the gun safe, and a 5 lb. bag of activated silica gel in the bottom of the safe. You can reactivate silica gel by putting it in a 225 degree oven for 4 hours to drive the water out.

 

[JakeBrake]

I don't want my chainsaw to become jealous of my farm handgun, so I treat them the same. I wipe them down with an oily rag (not the same one) and put them back in their cases. My farm handgun at present is an S&W SW9VE. These guns have been selling for less than $300 at the big box sporting good stores. I had a couple of malfunctions during the first two box break-in period, but since then I have fired several hundred rounds of all types of ammo with no malfunctions of any kind. I find this pistol to be a great plinker with its 16+1 magazines. I periodically oil the slide and the chamber and muzzle ends of the barrel.

 

[CurlyDave]

No matter what you do, recognize that the first shot from a clean bore is almost always a flier.

For centerfire storage, I use a bore snake with Hoppe's and then a second one with Rem oil. Clean & lube the action with Break Free or Rem oil.

Before a hunting trip, I re-sight the rifle, clean and then fire a fouling shot. I don't clean again until I am done hunting. Modern powder & primers are non corrosive and I have never had a problem with this, no matter how wet and rainy the hunting trip was, even ones several weeks long.

.22 is a special case. The bullets are lubed inside the case, and the only time I clean is when an action starts to get unreliable from built-up powder residue. The barrel almost never gets cleaned, maybe once every several years. If it gets fouled, it is usually only with powder residue. Switch to a different brand and it should clean itself. Overcleaning is frequently more harmful than undercleaning.

 

[moored4]

Unloaded:thumbsup:

Every GUN I have is LOADED, weather it's got shells in it or not!!:thumbsup:


Safty First!