Dr. NoClean or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the rust

[Ratfood]

Hi folks, I am not feeling to good about this. Let me start by saying that my Dad is an ex-marine and he always taught me how to clean a handgungun completely after every shoot.

Well, fast forward 20 years later: You all got me started on buying rifles. Last month I finally got to fire my new Mossberg 12 guage and Saiga x39. I guess the farm was especially humid that day I finally shot them and I didn't pay too much attention. Finally a month goes by I go to clean the waeapons and the outside of the Mossy barrel has rust spots, AK looks fine. I feel bad about being negligent so I buy a few cans of gun scrubber and a can of remington oil and do my deeds. First of all I can't get all the rust off the Mossy barrel, then when I am spraying down the AK there is rust coming out of the hinges/bolt/slide, etc. I spray till it comes out clean. Now, I used up 2 large cans of gun scrub and a can of rem oil. I hope I stopped everything from rusting out but I have a few questions:
1) How do I get the rust off the outside of the shotgun barrel?
2) How much did I jack up the Saiga by not cleaning/oiling it as I should have?
3) Did I hurt my weapons for life or will they be OK in the long run?

Thanks for any advice, I feel really bad about this so please don't put me under the coals!

 

[220_Swift]

1) How do I get the rust off the outside of the shotgun barrel?

I would lightly rub it with a fine steel wool pad that has some oil on it. The surface rust should come right off. At least that is what I have done in the past.

2) How much did I jack up the Saiga by not cleaning/oiling it as I should have?

I would strip it down as far as you can and clean it properly. Their is still probably rust in their that did not come out.

3) Did I hurt my weapons for life or will they be OK in the long run?

They will more than likely be just fine. Get them cleaned now as thoroughly as possible. And next time don't procrastinate on the cleaning. What would have taken a few minutes before might now be a few hours. But, live and learn. We have all been their before. Good luck

 

[grumpycoconut]

At least you have confessed your sins (bad man you).

A bit of rust that is cleaned off shouldn't ruin your gun or significantly decrease its service life as long as you make sure to re-oil the steel. A detail strip and thorough cleaning should preclude any hidden rust and goo the spray missed.

As for the rusty barrel, I've always had good luck with BreakFree CLP, a handful of barrel patches and lots of elbow grease. If that doesn't work, you can alway de-blue, polish and re-blue.

On a side note, I just don't get the whole gun scrub spray stuff. I've been told numerous times that it has a bad habit of pulling all the oil off the steel leaving it even more vulnerable to rust. I like the opportunity to thoroughly inspect my smoke poles that field stripping and individually cleaning all little peices parts gives me.

Now go forth and sin no more.

 

[Geno]

The rust is there now, and forever will be, unless you send it back for professional refinish in which they take it to bare steel.

Get it as clean as possible, strip away all oils, then use a DuraCoat. Use the no-bake type. That will seal the steel. Oxidation can only advance if it has oxygen...ergo the name.

Don't do it again or you're grounded!

Doc2005

 

[Alphazulu6]

Get it as clean as possible, strip away all oils, then use a DuraCoat. Use the no-bake type. That will seal the steel. Oxidation can only advance if it has oxygen...ergo the name

Good Advice Doc!

 

[ID_shooting]

before stripping and refinishing the barrel, use breakfree and the edge of a copper penny. No need to use a bunch of force, just enshure there is a good thick coat of oil. The penny will take the surface rust (dark spots in the finish) but not scratch it.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

DO NOT use any kind of steel wool other than 0000 for removing surface rust from a gun you're not totally refinishing--and start with an old cotton tee shirt and solevent. They sell blue touch up pens (like a magic marker) but it really isn't that big a deal. Keep it oiled. Don't go crazy and beat yourself (or your guns) up.

 

[OpFlash]

Sorry, duplicate post

 

[OpFlash]

I would use your gunscrubber to degrease the gun once again and then coat all the metal parts with this stuff. Use it as lubricant as well as metal protectorant. It will typically remove light rust all on its own. This company has been making products that protect metal in the harshest industrial and marine environments for decades. Their formula molecularly attracts metal (they call it Polar Bonding) and sticks like a magnet. It is the longest lasting best metal protectorant and lubricant I have ever found and it doesn't attract dirt either. I had trouble once with a weapon I would wear IWB in the summer and it started to rust after only one week due to sweat. When I found this stuff and started using it instead of what I was using for gun oil (I think it was Militec-1) the rust went away and has never come back, and I have sometimes gone weeks without a second coating. I have used nothing else on my guns for the last year. I implore you to scroll all the way down on the site and read the full comments by the gun rags at the bottom of the page. They made me a believer, and I've never looked back.



http://www.corrosionx.com/gun_use.html

http://www.corrosionx.com/tech.html

Polar Bonding tech presentation:
http://www.corrosionx.com/animations/polarbonding.swf

 

[Ratfood]

Thanks for all the advice folks, I will try to take the rifle apart this weekend and see if I can get it all back together again. I will get some of that corrosionx also - it looks pretty good there. As far as the duracoat goes I have a question or two:
1) I don't have a garage, so can I spray this stuff on the rifle if I am stuck outside? I have a carport and I also have a large gazebo out back with privacy curtains that zip up around it. Will any of these work?
2) When you duracoat do you have to take everything off of the rifle? I mean like the safety lever,trigger,hammer,etc? I don't know if I need special tools to take a saiga all the way apart down to the last bolt.

Thanks for all your help so far guys.