[rjk2475]

should you hot water clean after shooting any mil-surplus in any gun?

[No4Mk1*]

I clean all milsurps and most others with soap and water, but I don't heat it.

What I do:

I use liquid soap diluted so that it is about 1 part liquid handwashing soap and 10 parts water. conviently dispensed in one of those hand soap dispensers. I squirt a little soapy water down the bore and use the bore brush a few times. Repeat until the watter coming out of the muzzle looks relatively clean. Then I run a few dry patches down the bore, then one with some gun oil on it. That is it. I use room temp water because I think it is more trouble to heat it than it is worth. If you use cooler water, you just have to use a little more water for all of the material in the barrel to dissolve. I like the hand soap dispensers because you can squirt the water directly into the chamber and not get any between the stock and metal.

Liquid soap is not required, and I sometimes just use a bar of soap to apply some soap to the bore brush. Then squirt some water in as you work with the brush.

It does take a little talent to keep the muzzle over the sink while squirting water in the chamber or using the bore brush.

Have fun.

[Art Eatman]

If you pay your utility bill, hot water is as close as your faucet. :D

I've just used a tin can with the soap/hot-water mix. Stick the muzzle down in the can, and the cleaning rod/patch acts like a suction pump. When you get sorta fed up with pumping, empty out the soapy stuff and go with clean water. Hot water dries faster...

I like to run a nearly-dry patch with dab of WD40 sprayed on it, through the bore. The WD40 helps get rid of any remaining moisture. Then a patch with a small amount of gun oil sprayed on it. This part isn't super-critical as to what you use.

Art

[5ptdeerhunter]

Just use windex. The ammonia will clean any corrisiveness, and then just clean the barrel as you would with any other ammo.

[rjk2475]

thanks guys rjk

[444]

I agree with the Windex. Just after shooting, I spray Windex down the barrel. I then run a patch or so down the bore and get the majority of the crap out of it. I then use bore cleaner. I run a real wet patch down the bore and then drive home. At home I clean it as I would any other rifle.
To me, hot water is a good idea. I have done it. And it isn't all that big of a deal. I boil a big pot of water and pour it into a plastic bucket with some dish soap. I pump water through the bore with a cleaning rod and patch while more water is boiling. I then do it again with clean water. I am usually too lazy to do this, but it is actually easier than cleaning a rifle the conventional way. The water immediately evaporates from the heat.

[Sleeping Dog]

I keep a little bottle of auto windshield fluid in the shooting box, just for corrosive ammo. It doesn't freeze as easily as some other cleaners, so I can still clean up in cold weather.

Regards.

[GD]

Yes, you should assume that any military surplus ammo is corrosive. I use hot water or windex to ensure that the corrosive salts are dissolved. I then follow up with brushing with a copper fouling solution such as Birchwood Casey bore scrubber. I end the session with gun oil. After a few days I will check the bore again with another scrubbing with gun oil. If it comes out clean I am done. I shoot quite a bit and my bores look as good or better than when I got them.