Currently waiting for my PAL to be completed and sent back, so I'm trying to get ahead of what gear and accessories I will eventually need. When cleaning your SKS is using a gun cleaner like G96 enough to combat the corrosive salt deposits?
G96 and SKS Cleaning
- Thread starter Labec
- Start date
Nope, you need water or something containing water to flush away the salts. At best G96 would possibly coat the metal and prevent a lot of the rusting, but it won't flush them away.
When I do a clean of mine it's hot water first, then g96 to get off the carbon and clean it up.
I also have both non corrosive and corrosive ammo. I use the non corrosive if I am just going to take a few shots and don't want to do a full cleaning, then switch to corrosive when it's good and dirty, I am shooting it a lot, or when I know I have time for a thorough cleaning.
Ya water is king, ive got cleaning down to 20 mins. Strip down to bare receiver have a kettle boiling in the meantime and lay all parts down on some blue shop towel squares and drench in G96. Pour water down chamber and gas port area, brush, scrub, repeat a few times. And a bulk of the work is done. Even if you don't have time to clean fully you can do all that in 5 mins and let the parts and prices hang out on your work bench for a week or more till you get around to putting it back together and lubing it. Don't have to worry about rust cause the salts are gone, boiling water has heated the receiver to the point of evaporating all residual water and all other parts have a layer of G96 oil on them so no worries
YES!!!
You have to use water or water based something to clean it out first!!!
I had a good laugh at a friend of a friend who brought his SKS up to the camp for a weekend of fun. He pulled out his SKS loaded it and it totally locked up when he tried to chamber a round. Had to disassemble it to get the round out with beating on the charging handle to free it!
When I took it apart, you should have seen it!!!!! It was dripping in oil (not sure what kind) but was so rusty it wasn't even funny!!! Seems he only shoots corrosive out of it and is lazy so he had just hosed it down with oil before putting it away for around 5-6 months in his basement safe.
I cleaned everything up as best I could with paper towels and put it back together. It ran like a top after that, but after the first 5 rounds I looked down the barrel to see what kind of condition it was in and WOW!!! Not surprising, it looked like sewer!!! Rifling almost gone. We never shot it for groupings after that, but I'm sure the typical 2-4 MOA won't ever been seen again!!! It was a 1950 or 1951 so I'm not sure it had the chrome lined barrel.
Basically a noisemaker now in my opinion....
You have to use water or water based something to clean it out first!!!
I had a good laugh at a friend of a friend who brought his SKS up to the camp for a weekend of fun. He pulled out his SKS loaded it and it totally locked up when he tried to chamber a round. Had to disassemble it to get the round out with beating on the charging handle to free it!
When I took it apart, you should have seen it!!!!! It was dripping in oil (not sure what kind) but was so rusty it wasn't even funny!!! Seems he only shoots corrosive out of it and is lazy so he had just hosed it down with oil before putting it away for around 5-6 months in his basement safe.
I cleaned everything up as best I could with paper towels and put it back together. It ran like a top after that, but after the first 5 rounds I looked down the barrel to see what kind of condition it was in and WOW!!! Not surprising, it looked like sewer!!! Rifling almost gone. We never shot it for groupings after that, but I'm sure the typical 2-4 MOA won't ever been seen again!!! It was a 1950 or 1951 so I'm not sure it had the chrome lined barrel.
Basically a noisemaker now in my opinion....
Contrary to what some other posters say in reality you don't need any water if don't want to use it. I solely use Ballistol. After a shooting session I just spray Ballistol without any water on my SKS's and Mosins, particulary into the barrel, gas tube, bolt, magazine etc. After coming back home I just clean it more thoroughly and that's it. I've been doing it for a number of years and never noticed even one spot of rust.
After all, Ballistol was invented for the German Imperial Army in 1904 for cleaning their weaponry in exactly the same way. It was used in the trenches in WWI and the in the Blietzkrieg in WWII with a great success. You can still but the Gewehr 98's or Karabiner 98k's in excellent condition, cleaned with Ballistol.
At some point in time I used G96 but after reading its chemical make up I quit. I'm suspicious about chemical components that might be carcinogenic in a long run. In contrast, Ballistol is completely based on natural oils (like anese oil) and completely benign.
After all, Ballistol was invented for the German Imperial Army in 1904 for cleaning their weaponry in exactly the same way. It was used in the trenches in WWI and the in the Blietzkrieg in WWII with a great success. You can still but the Gewehr 98's or Karabiner 98k's in excellent condition, cleaned with Ballistol.
At some point in time I used G96 but after reading its chemical make up I quit. I'm suspicious about chemical components that might be carcinogenic in a long run. In contrast, Ballistol is completely based on natural oils (like anese oil) and completely benign.
Windex with amonia will clean and remove any salts , I spray it in the barrel and run the snake right after shooting , then clean and good oil after I get home , mineral spirits to clean off the original cosmoline , works great , quick and easy,
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Stop spreading that BS about windex. Its why so many people damage their SKS.
You need to flush the salts out with liquids. A spray of windew wont be enough. Boil a kettle of water or do what i do and bring it in the shower and spray it.
It's a 200 dollar SKS I have put atleast a couple of thousand rounds through mine and only oil it. And it still works the same as when I bought it. Just shoot it and forget it and when it give you trouble buy another one and sell the old one for 150, you will have a couple of hundred people wanting to buy it.
Gunzilla is not the only one there.(http://ballistol.com/uses/firearm-cleaning-lubricant/) "Ballistol cleans and removes all types of bore fouling. Cleaning with Ballistol will save you time, minimize the need for brushing, and also form a protective film on your firearm. Due to its slight alkalinity, Ballistol neutralizes and dissolves black powder and corrosive ammo residue]. Ballistol is compeltely natural product, definitely non-hazardous. Ballistol is also CLP. So there are at least two. I've been using Ballistol for a few years with excellent results. Never ever had any rust on mu guns.It really neutralizes corrosive salts. Like I mentioned in post #6 I've never ever used water mixed with Ballistol with excellent results.
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Bubba Yugga
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Midwestern Ontario
With that same logic, Infidel, don't EVER wash your car !!!
PinkyPlinker
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Kenora, ON
Sorry Infidel and Ravvie. Chemistry says there is no better solvent for salts than water. End of discussion.
I never do!
Honestly though, I'm talking about the effects of hot water on bare metal. Cars have protective anti rusting coating on them to impede rust. (If they're even made of metal anymore). Heat increases the pore size of metal, making it more porous and increases the reaction time of oxidation. That's why vehicles washed and left in a warm garage rust faster than vehicles washed and left outside.
Addendum: After doing a lot of reading in blackpowder forums (as mentioned earlier BP and the pyrodex substitute leave much the same corrosive salts as corrosive primers) it appears the old timers even to this day use hot soapy water to clean their guns, then oil after. It seems counter intuitive to me, but when everyone does it, there must be some validity to it.
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CanadianSyrup
Member
- Location
- Calgary, Alberta
I never do!
Honestly though, I'm talking about the effects of hot water on bare metal. Cars have protective anti rusting coating on them to impede rust. (If they're even made of metal anymore). Heat increases the pore size of metal, making it more porous and increases the reaction time of oxidation. That's why vehicles washed and left in a warm garage rust faster than vehicles washed and left outside.
Addendum: After doing a lot of reading in blackpowder forums (as mentioned earlier BP and the pyrodex substitute leave much the same corrosive salts as corrosive primers) it appears the old timers even to this day use hot soapy water to clean their guns, then oil after. It seems counter intuitive to me, but when everyone does it, there must be some validity to it.
Hot soapy water for Blackpowder rifles indeed is what I've heard consistently. As far as Windex + Boiling water, it has worked for both my brothers SKS and my Mosin. Windex after firing, then disassembly and boiling water when we're home and normal gun treatment regime after that. We haven't had rust issues yet so *shrugs* something is working.
