tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Doing a little chamber polishing on a single shot bolt action. So after I'm done it is kind of a pain to clean. Recommendations?
Cleaning abrasive compounds out of action
- Thread starter tactical lever
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tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Don't really need a solvent, per se, but something that will dig all the crud out. Or irrigate it out. I considered boiling water for a while.
Nope, and too small, and too small.
Just plain hard to get into where it locks up. I tried Q-tips last time, and it looked like I never even cleaned it.
A can of WD-40, assorted swabs and brushes and a half hour of uninterrupted time.
Oil down everything after the WD-40. It's mostly Stoddard Solvent, sorta like varsol, and does not contain enough oils to protect the metal. But it's good for a wash-down, as long as you follow it with oil.
Cheers
Trev
Oil down everything after the WD-40. It's mostly Stoddard Solvent, sorta like varsol, and does not contain enough oils to protect the metal. But it's good for a wash-down, as long as you follow it with oil.
Cheers
Trev
Yeah, I would take it off the stock if you haven't already, put the red straw on the can of brake kleen and hose it off outside, that stuff cannot be any sort of healthy though, so do it outside and try not to get it on you, but brake kleen melts grease like nothing else and then evaporates without any residue, which is probably why it's not good for you, but usually any grit or fine bits of metal are stuck in place due to grease.
Afterwards use an air compressor to blast anything dislodged out, should be clean enough add lube to and reassemble.
I use brake kleen when disassembling and rebuilding the enclosed hubs on my toyotas, if it works for worn out grease in the hubs of my trucks that have run through mud and muck and water from 4x4ing, it should work for regular cleaning or lapping compound in your bolt action well enough, but I'd try not to get it on plastic or coated lenses (i.e. your scope).
Unless you're using dry grit then it most certainly uses either oil, grease or a soft wax as a carrier for the grit. So solvent is the proper and best option for flushing away the grit. Or if you want to use a strong degreasing detergent in water that would work as well. But water by itself? Boiled or not it won't easily lift away all the oils, grease or wax that is bound up with the grit and metal particles. You want to use a good degreasing solvent or detergent for this along with the usual brushes and patches for cleaning. And since boiling water and detergents can result in some amount of flash rust formation under various circumstances I'd vote for the solvent option. One of those being the WD40 suggested above.
But due to the low can pressure with the WD I would go with the healthy strong blast from the brake cleaner can.... and wear safety glasses so the stuff that WILL splash back doesn't get into your eyes. I'd also still use my regular cleaning product and brushes and patches after the brake cleaner to remove any last traces that may be stuck in places the brake cleaner could not reach. And in a bolt action this would be some sort of brush that reaches in and cleans the forward sides of the locking lugs that are hidden.
But due to the low can pressure with the WD I would go with the healthy strong blast from the brake cleaner can.... and wear safety glasses so the stuff that WILL splash back doesn't get into your eyes. I'd also still use my regular cleaning product and brushes and patches after the brake cleaner to remove any last traces that may be stuck in places the brake cleaner could not reach. And in a bolt action this would be some sort of brush that reaches in and cleans the forward sides of the locking lugs that are hidden.
your first inclination was best ... lots of boiling water. Remove non metal parts first though. Once the metal is hot from the water ... it will dry very quickly ... and clean
you could start with hot soapy water and a small parts brush first if you wish... wont hurt. just rinse thoroughly with plain hot h2o later
you could start with hot soapy water and a small parts brush first if you wish... wont hurt. just rinse thoroughly with plain hot h2o later
Hot soapy water, with lots of agitation and scrubbing, followed with a couple of hot rinses will do it. BTDT many times.
Adding compressed air if you have access to it, will certainly speed things up, too.
Ted
tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I will have to get one of those lug cleaners from Sinclairs.
tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Um...maybe? I know how to clean the chamber, and the surrounding. My dilemma, is that when I was polishing, i started with extra fine steel wool on the first attempt and found it not smooth enough. I then worked through 3 different polishing compounds starting with the heavier cutting and moving to a smoother finishing polish. These are waxy bars containing the "grit" that does the work. I took the gun out of the stock, but left the scope attached. The rifle is a small case centerfire single shot, and gives me very little room to work. Swabbing the bore and chamber is easy. The not so easy part is getting all the compound flung into the recesses of the locking lugs. It's the tight areas of the action that are a real pain. Just looking for an easy, or easier way to do it, rather than the days (feels like) of digging around with a box of cotton swabs.
tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Yeah I think I will skip the brake cleaner. Especially the stuff with trichloroethylene. I don't think they are that great for metal finishes. And you sure don't want to ignite and breathe any of that stuff in the unlikely event a little gets in the wrong spot. But that may be a little overparanoid considering how long I will probably mess around cleaning it.
