Cleaning method/lubrication products, which is best??
- Thread starter supahdave
- Start date
Here's my SKS cleaning method:
1) Hot water down the bore and gas system
2) Dry bore and gas system with patches
3) Clean bore with Hoppe's #9
4) Oil bore
5) Disassemble, clean and lube bolt as needed
Takes me 10-15 minutes, depending on whether I disassemble the bolt or not.
1) Hot water down the bore and gas system
2) Dry bore and gas system with patches
3) Clean bore with Hoppe's #9
4) Oil bore
5) Disassemble, clean and lube bolt as needed
Takes me 10-15 minutes, depending on whether I disassemble the bolt or not.
Boiling water down the barrel and gas system right out of the kettle. As soon as it is dry, foaming bore cleaner followed by hoppes on anything that needs it. A quick wipe with WD40 or something over everything and re-grease the gun. Done deal. Probably overkill, but when you are paying for the gun, you keep it clean.
ballistol is amazing stuff, though a bit thicker than typical gun oil. As you can obviously see, like so many other apects of our sport there is no "best" anything. There stuff that doesnt work worth a damn and stuff that works pretty good and stuff that works really good. There is no clear winner. You dont need to neutralize anything if you clean all the powder fouling and lightly oil the parts it will not rust. Not even with long term storage in a damp environment. But some still swear by it so all the power to them.
AlbertaGunslinger
Regular
- Location
- The Wide Open Prairie
I used to do the hot water thing and then a normal cleaning, however I started to use Ballistol and have continued to do so since. Ballistol was originally designed to be able clean black powder firearms so it easily handles corrosive ammo. Black powder is WAY more corrosive than any surplus ammo you will ever shoot. I just clean my 858 normally with Ballistol and I have never had rust or corrosion. Really since the piston is chromed and the salts dont really get back into the action, Im sure I could only clean the barrel and not have a problem, In fact if I don't want to clean my gun right away I will just spray down the barrel with Ballistol and leave it until I have time to clean it, never had a problem doing that either.
The un-neutralised acids will start to attack metal if any amount of humidity shows up, microscopic pitting would be a result. Even if coated with oil, it could still potentially get activated by humidity, but the chances are slimmer.
Bore gets a scrub with a brush before the patches, gas system just gets a good cleaning with the Barnes CR-10, then wiped down with the break free. the CZ piston is either chromed or stainless and just wipes clean. SKS gets a little more attention in the piston department as it seems to get grubbier for some reason.
WD-40 immediately after firing, clean "as per normal" for any gun, flush out with hot water, dry, then apply a good coat of oil, inside and out (including inside barrel) for storage (my guns usually sit for a minimum of a month and a half between uses).
As to oil, any sort of medium weigh machine oil, I bought a bottle of air tool oil last time, because it was on sale, and had a nice pointy tip on the cap, but before that, I was using waste oil out of my lawn mower.
As to oil, any sort of medium weigh machine oil, I bought a bottle of air tool oil last time, because it was on sale, and had a nice pointy tip on the cap, but before that, I was using waste oil out of my lawn mower.
