So now after May last year, I have been giving my Type 81 more love. One thing that comes to mind is after shooting corrosive ammo, can you just rinse the rifle with hot water but not do a complete cleaning, i.e. with solvent/CLP etc? Having to clean the rifle completely each time prevented me from shooting a few rounds at the range. So if just rinse and drying are sufficient to prevent rust, it's much easier to take it out more. What are your opinions on this topic? Thanks in advance.
Corrosive Ammo, Is It Okay to Rinse But Not Clean?
- Thread starter qiu_lijie
- Start date
If you rince with water, you need to dry it and oil or you will get rust regardless of what you are shooting.
You don’t need to go crazy like some. Boiling water where the gazes touchs then dry and oil. Unless you shot an entire crate, it will take you a 10-15 minutes if you take your sweet time.
Some of you guys make me laugh. Some are willing to drive hours to a range, but 10-15 minutes to clean corrosive is too much to ask for
most of us spend more time here accomplishing nothing, take this time to clean your rifle or buy non-corrosive if cleaning guns isn’t your thing.
You don’t need to go crazy like some. Boiling water where the gazes touchs then dry and oil. Unless you shot an entire crate, it will take you a 10-15 minutes if you take your sweet time.
Some of you guys make me laugh. Some are willing to drive hours to a range, but 10-15 minutes to clean corrosive is too much to ask for
most of us spend more time here accomplishing nothing, take this time to clean your rifle or buy non-corrosive if cleaning guns isn’t your thing.
Like I asked a fellow one time. "Do you wipe your butt after going for a c@#p?" Then clean it, or you'll forget for "just a couple day's(weeks)". Then you'll be asking advice on seized stuff and rust removal.
Or by non corrosive ammo
Or by non corrosive ammo
Do as the two post above stated . I was always told to clean with boiling water and if you want you an put a little dish soap in the water also so I have been told . it helps to remove the corrosive salts . so I was told . look at it this way do you like this rifle ? if so take a deep breath and clean it correctly and then you will be happy . and as one gentleman said above oil lightly . the reason for using boiling water is it evaporates quicker then hot tap water . I didn't clean a browning HI power I used to own many years ago and I had shot Egyptian 9mm military ammo out of it . a day or so later I had blue or green fur growing in the barrel .
as Zuke stated I almost had to run for the toilet paper .
as Zuke stated I almost had to run for the toilet paper .
CZ Shooter
CGN frequent flyer
Windex works pretty good at neutralizing the corrosive salts too.
If you have a long drive home after a corrosive session, just spray bunch of it through the ejection port in all directions, maybe turn rifle upside down so it runs into the gas tube..etc.
Someone once told me, that it is a good idea to shoot one or two rounds of non-corrosive at the end of your session, as it blows some of the corrosive salts out...it kind of makes sense, so I do that too.
If you have a long drive home after a corrosive session, just spray bunch of it through the ejection port in all directions, maybe turn rifle upside down so it runs into the gas tube..etc.
Someone once told me, that it is a good idea to shoot one or two rounds of non-corrosive at the end of your session, as it blows some of the corrosive salts out...it kind of makes sense, so I do that too.
CZ's right about the Windex (w/ammonia) and the gas tube take 5 seconds to pop off and spray. I always do that when I get home, then I can clean with hot water later. Then I pop'er off the stock and run hot tap water in the laundry basin. It'll dry itself or I go ahead and clean with Boretech C4 and brush and patches, then oil after. NO to WD40, it's not really a lube ! Been doin' that for years with no probs.
Its an expensive rifle and should be fully cleaned every time you shoot it. I bought a Valmet M78 a while ago and it had not been cleaned properly resulting in pitting on the piston and inside the gas tube. Took me a while to get it functioning well.......
I always tell myself if the ammo cost 18 cents a round ( in the good old days lol!) there was a reason for it! So I clean it with windex, barrel down at an angle over a yoghurt container then hot water, mine comes out of the tap very hot, a clean out. I try get clean patches running through and then a light oil. My former SKS got a bolt and gas tube disassembly and cleaning. Putting a few rounds down of corrosive is not much different than a bunch either way clean it or shoot the more expensive non corrosive.
- Location
- Steel Town
Disassemble. Put all metal pieces on concrete or asphalt. Lean barreled-action against a wall. Pour 1 or 2 kettles of boiling water on everything, including down the bore. The metal parts will almost instantaneously dry. However wipe everything down dry, just to make sure. Spray G96 on everything. I usually use an old bake sheet. Reassemble. The only part I spend a bit of extra time with is the gas tube because I don't want to harm the wood finish. I simply run hot tap water down the tube. Vigorously shake it out. Wipe it dry and then wipe on a layer of G96, avoiding the wood. I run a dry patch or two through the gas tube and bore and then finish with an oily patch. It takes me about 30 minutes, but I care about my guns.
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Ballistol is water based and does a good job
I've been using Ballistol for over 50 years to inhibit the effects of corrosive ammunition.
That's all it does, INHIBITS. It doesn't mean you don't need to strip and clean properly later.
It does allow a couple of days before you have to get at the chore, but that's it.
If you give your firearm a shot of Ballistol every day, it will alleviate the effects of corrosive ammo for about a week or so.
It doesn't matter one bit to a firearm if you only shoot one round or 200 rounds, if you don't dissolve the salts or contain them in some manner, the chemical reactions will cause rust and pitting on all of the surfaces the gas and residues touch.
This also means that the jacket fouling has to be cleaned out as well. The corrosive material will be covered over or pressed into the barrel steel by that jacket material and that really causes the major damage.
When I first started working at Lever Arms, in the early sixties, almost all of the ammunition we used to test a selected few rifles was corrosive. We basically only tested the worst of the shipments that came in. We would select the poorest, but still functional specimens and shoot them with the ammunition they were designed to shoot regularly. No blue pills, just general issue ammo.
To make a long story short, I had the advantage of shooting several makes, models, manufacturers of ammunition and firearms, from single shot muzzle stuffers to bolt actions, semi autos, revolvers and full autos from personal to crew served.
I found out very early that Ballistol, formulated just before WWI as a do all preservative and rust INHIBITOR was a great product, even if it does stink, but it was only a stop gap.
If you use Ballistol today, then don't clean it and shoot it again in a couple of days, you will start seeing rust within 8 hours, even if you coat the surfaces with Ballistol again, right after shooting.
It's like losing 50 pounds, it's all fine, until you start eating/exercising in the same manner before you tried to lose the weight.
IF YOU DON'T clean corrosive residues out of your bore, there is no way to stop the corrosion. It's a chemical reaction, between the salts and the metal. Floating the firearm in oil or grease may slow it down, but it won't stop it.
Save your money and get a spray bottle or just a squirt bottle full of water from your tap, instead of going through the hassle expense of Windex of any other ammonia based product. It's the water that does the deed and again, only for a short duration.
Ammonia does soften up and may even dissolve the jacket fouling if it's harsh enough. Don't confuse this with dissolving the corrosive materials in the propellant residues.
Your a good man . I was just going to say the same thing . that's the lazy way out using a bottle of windex . and you aren't doing a proper job .
So in your honest and educated opinion what is the best way to clean that copper fouling out of the barrel along with the corrosive salts . Number 9 ? I think I have a bottle of product that cleans copper fouling in a drawer . I've never used it . and I always thought that flushing the barrel and brushing it and a coating of oil would be enough . if I was very skeptical or knew something was corrosive I'd open a can of GI bore cleaner that I got many years ago in the US for cleaning corrosive ammo . nasty stuff . looks like creosote .and poisonous so the can says . but it works . you must have had fun working at Lever . and I'm not trying to be a wise guy .
what is your method of cleaning the barrel properly ? Please .
Cocked&Locked
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
As others have said, water is all you need. Warm or hot water even better. Use lots, then dry thoroughly.
You will never have a problem with corrosive ammo when you do this.
Water is the best solvent to dissolve the potassium chloride (salt) residue, and it's plentiful and cheap.
Note that while a few bore solvents will also dissolve salt (though not as good as water), most will not.
Many years ago a friend shot corrosive through his beautiful, early CZ-75 pistol. He cleaned the barrel with some kind of bore solvent, then oiled it. Weeks later, it was found to be rusted with visible pitting. It was a "wet" rust rather than dry, because the salt still in there did its damage underneath the coat of oil in that barrel; that is the oil coat didn't help at all.
Addition: Once the salt is out, then you can remove copper fouling if desired with any product you like as usual.
You will never have a problem with corrosive ammo when you do this.
Water is the best solvent to dissolve the potassium chloride (salt) residue, and it's plentiful and cheap.
Note that while a few bore solvents will also dissolve salt (though not as good as water), most will not.
Many years ago a friend shot corrosive through his beautiful, early CZ-75 pistol. He cleaned the barrel with some kind of bore solvent, then oiled it. Weeks later, it was found to be rusted with visible pitting. It was a "wet" rust rather than dry, because the salt still in there did its damage underneath the coat of oil in that barrel; that is the oil coat didn't help at all.
Addition: Once the salt is out, then you can remove copper fouling if desired with any product you like as usual.
I usually wait until I get the rifle home from the range and pour some hot water down the bore and if it's an SKS the gas tube and the piston.
When I first started working for Lever Arms, we used a product called "Young's 303 Oil"
It made claims that it would remove the Potassium Perchlorate or Fulminate of Mercury residues. It came in small white cans, with red or green lettering, depending on the batch. Good stuff and it worked quite well IF THE JACKET FOULING WAS ALSO REMOVED. I followed the instructions on the cans and mixed it with a 1 part Young's to 3 parts water. Not sure of what was in the original stuff but they've changed their formula and it no longer works well on corrosive residues IMHO.
By the way, Potassium Perhlorate is the same residue left behind by "Pyrodex" a black powder alternative that supposedly doesn't cause rust. Don't believe it.
Another thing, don't get complacent because your rifle has a chrome lined bore. It may take a bit longer but it will rust, as will every other part of the rifle that comes into contact with the residues.
We switched to Ballistol, because it was available in containers as large as 55US Gallon drums for about 1/10 the cost of Young's and it worked better on the residues as well as for a wider range of uses.
The military armorers back in the days of corrosive did the final cleaning on most rifles. The troopie used the elements of his cleaning kit to inhibit the corrosive effects of the ammunition but the big cleaning was done by experts.
They had special funnels, with long, curved spouts to fit through the actions and into the chamber, so boiling water could be poured through.
If you really want to get serious, which you should be with any firearm you're going to shoot corrosive ammo through, then go the route of pouring the the hot (works better) water over the parts of the rifle that have residue on them. This usually means a complete strip down, especially with semi auto rifles/handguns.
Clean the fouling from the bore with Wipe Out, then clean again with Ballistol mix of 1 part Ballistol to 10 parts water.
I don't use the "foaming bore cleaner" it's to messy. I use the liquid type, that comes in a plastic bottle. It goes about 10 times further and is easy to contain/clean up.
Wipe dry and use Ballistol to thinly cover the surfaces. This works for me.
I don't mind the cleaning chores, it's also a good time to fully inspect the firearm for any other issues.
Ballistol is used by the commercial sewing machine industry as their go to lubricant and cleaner.
If you use a lot of it, buy a gallon can, from your local sewing machine supply store, or order it online from a distributor. It's about a third the cost of purchasing it from a gun shop.
easiest, simplest and way to do it ... well explained. thank you very much.
