[Solinvictus70]

How do you go about cleaning your rifle after using corrosive ammo? I've heard regular ammonia works, but do you cut it with water or use it straight?

[Preacherman]

Pure ammonia will etch your bore faster than you can say it - BAD idea! I use Windex (with ammonia - it's a very weak solution) to spray down the barrel immediately after shooting. I then follow that up with a straightforward spray of water, and patch-dry the barrel. That takes care of any problems until I get home, when I give the rifle a detail clean.

Windex is also great to clean out black powder fouling, BTW.

[Dr.Rob]

Ammonia? s Always heard soap and water works well... followed by a lot of gun oil.

[oldman]

Guess you can compare this to black powder cleaning. I used to clean with a few patches with 409, followed by clean patches then one or two light patches with G-96. Never had a barrel go bad on me even stored for months between shooting. You can laugh, but I've also used cleaning liquids containg ammonia from Safeway. Never tried Windex though I don't see why it won't work, guess 409 was cheaper.

[P95Carry]

Anything water based that will dissolve the chlorates and nitrates etc ... much as with BP cleaning (as already mentioned). ''409'' sounds worth a try.

Can also tho recommend ''Panther Piss''!! Cornbread 2 on another board posted this many moons ago ...

3 pts - Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
3 pts - Peroxide (std 3%)
2 pts - Murphy's Oil Soap (you know the stuff ... think that's right for the name)

For ''pts'' read either pints or parts . this is just ratios.

Mix and then keep outa daylight and in cool ... use for any operation regarding black powder cleaning and corrosive ammo cleaning. Once finished with that - thoroughly dry the bore and then proceed to normal cleaning with solvent cleaners (if an copper fouling needs cleaned for example) and oiling to finish if desired.

[Redlg155]

I've been perfectly happy using Windex with ammonia. My bores still look shiny and brand new. I follow up with Hoppes.

I use this for corrosive ammo and what ammo folks like to call "mildly corrosive". The "mildly corrosive" name must be a selling gimmick. To me either it's corrosive or it isn't .


Good Shooting
Red

[azthistletoe]

Well, I know the Czech silvertip 7.62x54r stuff is corrosive, but it doesn't happen fast at all. I let my bore sit for two days before I heard it was corrosive. I think it's considered mildly corrosive. I could be incorrect. 1/2 & 1/2 solution of ammonia & water made sure nothing happened, followed by a light coat of oil. I have used that method every time I took the rifle to the range, still has a nice shiny bore.

[Mike Irwin]

The water dissolves the corrosive components of the priming mixture.

The ammonia, or detergents, dissolve oil deposits that might hide corrosive salts, leading to future bore rusting.

[Houndawg]

Household ammonia won't hurt your bore. In fact, it's easier on your bore than Sweet's.

[Okiecruffler]

Been using windex for 5 years now, no problems yet.

[Joe Demko]

I've tried Windex. It seemed to work well. So has hot water and soap. These days, I try just to avoid the corrosive ammo altogether and so do this type of cleaning only when shooting black powder.

[Dave Markowitz]

I have had good results using Hoppe's No.9.

In my experience, you don't need muck with Windex, ammonia, water, or GI Rifle Bore Cleaner. A good, thorough cleaning with Hoppe's will get the corrosive salts out. Remember, when Hoppe's was introduced corrosive primers were the only ones available.

[Kalos]

Speaking of Sweet's.... if ammonia is what one is generally using to clean after corrosive ammo, why can't you just skip the windex, etc. and just use sweet's, which you'd be using to clear out the copper fouling anyhow?

[Mike Irwin]

Because ammonia in and of itself may not have enough free water in it to adequately remove the corrosive salts.

[P95Carry]

I have had good results using Hoppe's No.9. Not disputing your results Frodo but ... had always thought (open to correction here) that #9 was essentially organic in nature ... benzene ring compounds, petro-chem stuff etc .. rather than ionized stuff which might be water based .... which would make me wonder quite how it could take those aggressive chlorates and nitrates into solution enough.

[BowStreetRunner]

i spray window cleaner down the barrel, swab, then swab sweets 7.62 solvent down the barrel, swab, then swab it with a little CLP

also i spray a little window cleaner on the bolt face and in the breach and clean w/ clean patch then lube w/ a little CLP

BSR

[444]

I follow the same cleaning regimen as Preacherman. As soon as I am done shooting, I open the action and liberally spray Windex down the bore. I then scrub the bore with a couple cleaning patches soaked in Windex. I then run a couple dry patches through the bore to clean out the Windex and run a couple patches soaked with regular bore solvent which I leave in the bore for the trip home. A bonus to this is that you dont' have much to clean up after you get home. A few patches and you are done with the bore. I also strip my bolt after I get home and clean it. I had this one bite me with a muzzleloader. I have a Remington 700ML, stainless. I was off for a few days and took it out every day. I cleaned the bore after every session but decided to wait until I was done to give the aciton itself a good cleaning prior to returning it to the safe. When I disassembled the bolt the mainspring was covered in rust; and this is in the desert.
I have also tried the soap and water method. This is much easier with a sidelock muzzleloader, but can be used with a bolt action rifle although the action needs to be removed from the stock in my opinion. I get a pot of water up to a rolling boil, and pour it in a bucket with dish soap. I then pump a tight patch up and down in the barrel. The patch creates a vacuum which brings a column of water up through the bore with every stroke of the rod. While I am doing this I am boiling another pot of water which I use to repeat the exercise with plain water to clean the soap out. If you have the water at a rolling boil, the steel in the gun absorbs the heat and becomes way to hot to touch (you have to use a rag to hold the barreled action). Pretty much as soon as you remove the barreled action fromt he bucket of water, it dries from the heat. I then lubricate the bore to protect against rust. This method is actually a lot easier than it sounds. I find that I can clean a muzzleloader in far less time than I can clean a regular cartridge rifle or handgun using conventional cleaning methods (clean to my standards that is).
I always stayed away from corrosive ammo, but the prices on the Turk 8mm and the Russian 7.62x54 drove me to it. I bought several wooden crates in each caliber.