Care and cleaning of the hunting rifle

John Y Cannuck

John Y Cannuck

RichPoorMan<br>Super Moderator
Moderating Team
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Location
The Conservative part of Ontario
This is for you guys to post your neat little tricks you do when cleaning.
Myself, One of the things I do on cleaning, and particularly on a complete tear down, is to watch for wear marks on the action, and polish or stone them smooth. This can make a tremendous difference to the speed and smoothness of your rifle.
One must be careful NOT to work seriously on surfaces that would affect the headspace of your rifle.
 
I keep old ripped socks. I use them for oiling all external surfaces with gun oil. Including wood stocks. Whether or not they are well sealed with whatever finish, I still like to rub the oil into the stock. I also leave a film of oil on the metal. It makes cleaning after the day nice and easy as well it protects from rusting. One more thing. I don't use cleaning jags for patches. I like wrapping a cleaning patch around a bronze brush. I feel it digs in deeper around the grooves than a patch and jag can.
 
bore cleaning for me isnt a chore anymore. Wipeout foam in for up to 2 days, push it out with dry patch, repeat if needed. I used to hate scrubbing with Butch's & CR10 :(
 
TM solution, I and quite a few other Professional Trappers swear by it !

Note; developed by God to replace mothers milk.
 
When I use Wipeout I leave the bolt closed, then the next morning I patch it out, strip, wipe down, and lube the bolt with Microlon or Superlube. Wipeout doesn't hurt the gun metal, but I don't like the gummy residue it leaves. I seldom if ever use a bronze brush, and rely on a jag. I still ocassionally use Sweets, especially when breaking in a new barrel, and use it exclusively on my target rifle. I take the action out of the stock if the rifle gets very wet, otherwise just 3 or 4 times a year.
 
I break mine down to the bare pieces. Mostly because I like to tinker. Motomaster Tool and Parts cleaner is good for bare metal. No film left over either.

But I hate doing Winchester lever actions. My fingers are too fat to get the loading gate back on every time.....good thing James' fingers work just fine
 
Usally about once a month my guns get a complete tear down unless of course i have been hunting in wet weather then they usally get one right after i get back in. If they have been fired they get a good cleaning and oiling.
 
Quote
"oiling all external surfaces with gun oil. Including wood stocks. Whether or not they are well sealed with whatever finish, I still like to rub the oil into the stock"
It may be OK to do this a little, but only a very little. My understanding is that petroleum oil is very bad for wood, since oil soaked wood turns black and loses it's strength. I try to avoid soaking wood in oil, especially since oil is one of the things that tends to make fine old sidlelock shotgun stocks split around the lockwork. Oil in the recoil lug recess of a bolt action would also be a good thing to avoid.
On a more positive note, one tip I can pass on is the use of Hoppe's boresnakes. I have one for each caliber I shoot. They are not a substitue for a proper cleaning rod and well fitted bore guides, but are wonderful for a one minute clean up of a dirty bore if you are in a hurry to put the guns away after a shoot. The are especially nice for solid frame non-bolt action rifles like the Savage 99, no steel rod to damage the delicate crown. Just put a few drops of of CLP on the rope, drop the weight into the chamber end out the muzzle, pull through, and repeat 2-3 times. Voila! - a clean and protected bore.
 
huntinstuff said:
I break mine down to the bare pieces. Mostly because I like to tinker. Motomaster Tool and Parts cleaner is good for bare metal. No film left over either.

But I hate doing Winchester lever actions. My fingers are too fat to get the loading gate back on every time.....good thing James' fingers work just fine
Click to expand...
Learn to use your pinky :D
 
Cleaning... a pain? Hell no!

Sometimes I almost want my firearms to be caked in gunk and powder and crapola (non damaging of course), so I can clean them when I get home... take great pride in polishing them back up to perfection. I find outers nitro solvent or remington is good enough. Remington bore scrubber if necessary, any oil... CLP (Not a huge fan of) or outers oil or gunslick or g96 is perfect. My firearms are always doused in tons of oil, minus wood. Always cleaned before firing but always caked in oil.
 
Yup, wood + alot of oil is NOT a good thing....


I clean my guns as litlt eas possible, with a minimum of solvents/oil grease. Just right it just right. Drenching a rifle in oil is killing it with kindness.
 
I would like to add a couple of items that I did not have time to add previously.
First is a 1913 Bisley rifle vise manufactured by the Dronfield casting company in Sheffield.
The second is a sufficient number of decent cleaning rods, in my case, a selection of 50's era Parker Hale rods.
I have found these items to be worth their weight.

Ps, cleaning easily is all about having the right equipment on hand.

DSCF0115_3488x2616.jpg
[/IMG]
DSCF0114_3488x2616-1.jpg
[/IMG]
DSCF0113_3488x2616-1.jpg

[/IMG]
DSCF0117_3488x2616.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Last edited:
The only times I clean a rifle during hunting season is when I don't want to get dried mud in my gun safe or when the dirt in the action is so bad it makes the bolt hard to work or may cause a mechanical problem.

After hunting season I put a patch of oil through and a half ass wipe down. I have on many occasions pulled guns out of the safe only to find they have blood on them still.
 
Republic of Alberta I have to agree, during hunting season, I rarely clean my rifle. I do make exceptions however.
For example, a good soaking rain will bring out the cleaning kit at the end of the day.
Then, there was the time I slipped and plunged the barrel of my 338WM into a couple of feet of muskeg. I was stranded on the far side of the lake from camp that day, and was damned glad to have a belt mounted cleaning kit with me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom