Cleaning after shooting corrosive ammo?

Remmy700

Remmy700

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Probably been answered a 100 times already but we all know how well the search function works.

When it comes to cleaning your SKS, SVT-40, VZ58 etc etc after shooting corrosive ammo, what do you use to clean your rifle? I recently joined the VZ club and very quickly learning the savings to be had purchasing corrosive ammo.

I'm curious of everyone suggestions and what their using for a cleaner, and the second question is how do you clean the area from the barrel port to the piston?
 
Boiling water right from the kettle on everything, give the barrel and gas tube a good dose of it, then clean and oil as per any other rifle. I remove it from the wood first.
 
Water. Water. MORE WATER!

Seriously.

Don't believe anyone about neutralizing salts with ammonia or any of that crap. Salts are already neutral. And they don't dissolve in ammonia nearly as well as they dissolve in water.
 
i just take mine apart, wipe it all down & out with toilet paper & qtips, then i drag a few oily patches through the barrel and gas tube, wipe everything down with oil, and put it back together. not a spec of rust yet.
 
popcanhunter said:
i just take mine apart, wipe it all down & out with toilet paper & qtips, then i drag a few oily patches through the barrel and gas tube, wipe everything down with oil, and put it back together. not a spec of rust yet.
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oh, then i do it again in 2 to 7 days.
 
Boiling water for my sks, mauser and all the other ones that I shoot corrosive ammo with. But My PWS rifle has this coating that just doesn't rust. Ive shot corrosive ammo with it and 2 days later went to clean it I found no signs of rust but my sks in the other hand rusts within hours for some reason
 
Magellann said:
Boiling water right from the kettle on everything, give the barrel and gas tube a good dose of it, then clean and oil as per any other rifle. I remove it from the wood first.
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x3. If the water is hot enough it evaporates right off before you even oil it up! And yes, remove the wood or the boiling water will scald the finish.
 
My method:

Either water or Windex to flush out the bulk of the crud, dry it, then use G96 solvent/cleaner/lube to get the rest.

Check it 24 hours later to see if there's any brown fuzz, which means you missed a spot, but caught it quick enough before it did any damage.

No idea if Windex works better than water, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything. I've run a couple crates of surplus throguh one of my SKS's this way, and it's as good as the day I bought it a couple years ago.

I think the main thing is:

"Clean thoroughly after shooting, check within 24 hours to see if you missed anything" The actual cleaning method doesn't seem to matter a whole lot, other than the "thorough" part.
 
I must confess that I no longer do the hot water thing or even windex anymore. I am shooting an SKS, a Mosin m38 and until recently an 858. I do the bulk of my cleaning with Hoppes 9, alternating with some Wipeout and a finish wipe with CLP. I agree that checking it the next day and giving a follow up clean is the best practice.
 
All you need is one patch of moose milk down the barrel and through the gas tube followed by routine cleaning. No need to boil a kettle nor pour water directly down the barrel. I keep it in a spray bottle, soak one patch and that's all.
 
The corrosive salt is KCl (potassium chloride); its solubility is about equal to NaCl (table salt). Half a litre of hot water from the tap is more than sufficient to dissolve the small amount of salt that is a present.
Salts are slightly soluble in ethyl alcohol which makes up ~30% of Hoppes #9. Hoppes will be OK provided it is "fresh". The alcohol in Hoppes evaporates fairly quickly leaving a liquid residue that consists primarily of kerosene; salts are insoluble in kerosene.
Any concoction that consists primarily of water (Windex etc.) will work well enough.
 
I use patches soaked in hot water then dry patches followed by WD-40. Then usually fluid film after that. I always check to be sure things are OK a couple days later and there's never been an issue.
 
I use bore snake soaked in water right after shooting while barrel is still warm (not hot!) and wipe the bolt face with the water as well followed by another bore snake with G96 or gunzilla. After I get home I just clean everything as usual. Works for my Mosin M44, CSA and AR.
 
popcanhunter said:
i just take mine apart, wipe it all down & out with toilet paper & qtips, then i drag a few oily patches through the barrel and gas tube, wipe everything down with oil, and put it back together. not a spec of rust yet.
Click to expand...
There is a difference between polar & non-polar solvents. Maybe you have just been lucky for some reason.
 
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