Gun Proper Care

N

Nomes

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Joined
Jun 14, 2023
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58
I'm getting a Lever action .357 rifle. I've been around guns for a long time.
But looking on the net I run into Breaking in, cleaning, sweg the barrel.
In the old days we grabbed a cleaning rod, patches, hoppies and cleaned it.
Now I see pull everything from the breach, don't use a brush use a snake a brush is ok, and a thousand other Do's and don'ts, sweg the barrel or not necessary.
Your working on an hard metal Barrel with a cooper brush does this way or that?
Always pull the cotton patch from the breach. Some how I don't think cotton matters what way it is used.
How much of it is BS and how much is not?
Oh by the way I know that the internet doesn't Lye.LOL
So what is your opinion on proper care and maintenance of a rifle?
 
you can just clean it. people go too crazy IMHO and make up arbitrary rules that don't add much of anything. clean from the muzzle end, just use one of those mussle guards. the rod is soft and the muzzle is hard, you'd be hard pressed to do any damage even if you were trying. for non BS info - I like this guy

(1) GunBlue490 - YouTube

personally, I don't think maintenance of a 100+ year old firearm design has changed much in 100+ years. just get a good single piece cleaning rod and a muzzle guard. also, does the owners manual have a care and cleaning section? they make it, probably they have some ideas of how to actually maintain it.
 
People are a messy and inconsistent bunch.
They conflate things out of any number of reasons, from not bothering to care, hearsay, or simple ignorance.

So, the practices of the F-Class shooters get super-imposed over ordinary shooters.

Or, Boot Camp practices get posited as "the norm" (despite most of those being more about not having idle hands than actual firearms care).

So, there's a lot of "don't use a metal rod from the muzzle" as this will "destroy" the crown. Which might be true for Boot camp cleaning (which might be 6 times a day, needed or not). Or if a person were using a tool steel rod that was harder than the barrel.

Hard with a lever action to clean from the breech by any definition. Using a plastic-coated rod--or a composite rod, can alleviate muzzle worries. Using a thong to pull brushes or jags through, will too.

Bore snakes have every possible reputation. Some will insist that they collect "grit" which will score your barrel, and you'll be replacing it sooner than your toaster. Some will tales of woe of the pull cord breaking, and lodging the snake in the firearm in various drastic ways.

Everyone is different, and each will find their own "right answer." Listen to the interwebs and you'll never find your right answer for being bombarded by 10,000 "wrong" ways to do a thing.

By the way, Welcome to THR.
Please feel free to go visit our New Members Introduction page, and/or the Primer.
 
Personally, if it can be cleaned from the breech I clean from the breech. If not, I protect the muzzle.
I don't use steel (tornado) brushes on anything.
I don't patch until spotless.
I try to avoid silicone based oils.
For most of my cleaning a fifty fifty mix of Shooters Choice and Kroil is my solvent.
Rem Oil works fine for me but I use that yellowish grease for guns that name escapes me now for long term storage.
WD40 is used if I got my shotgun wet shooting in the rain but only til I get home to strip it and do a proper clean and lube.
Shotgun bores get a Scotchbrite on a drill driven brush polish at trap/skeet seasons end. Bore snake after each session but I don't think it really does much.
My methods and I don't mind saying if you think I'm nuts I don't care. Do it your way and be happy.
Revolvers I clean very carefully from the muzzle and don't use steel, fiberglass or aluminum rods which will embed debris. Carbon fiber or coated stainless.
 
I would chime in about my very simple Rossi 357 lever gun maintenance routine, but this is just another web forum with differing opinions. This is "The Net."
 
And does it mater if I use a brass bore brush by pushing it down the barrel and pull it back out. I guess the thought is the bullet comes out in only one direction.
As for as cleaning I guess it might be as the old saying goes (To much bathing will weakin you)LOL
 
Protect the rifling in the muzzle when you clean. I clean from the breach or use a bore guide. Most semi-autos are not breach cleanable. You don't have to clean at all if you wish. If your accuracy holds up and the gun cycles reliably without cleaning more power to you. But once issues start arriving from an extended period of not cleaning it is a long row to hoe trying to go back. I prefer to periodically clean.
 
I clean mine the same way I've done it since I was a kid. Solvent that I have on hand, cotton patches, brass brush (or a bore snake) then oil and lube as necessary. All my cleaning rods are steel and aluminum and I also have bore mops for my shotguns. I typically clean after every range trip, it's how I was taught.
 
Nomes said:
And does it mater if I use a brass bore brush by pushing it down the barrel and pull it back out. I guess the thought is the bullet comes out in only one direction.
As for as cleaning I guess it might be as the old saying goes (To much bathing will weakin you)LOL
Click to expand...

I think the brass brush is probably softer than the steel the barrel is made of.
 
An article in the Garand Collectors Association made a set up that dragged a steel cleaning rod up and down a barrel for thousands of cycles. They couldn't detect any changes in the muzzle. They posted the story last in the fall of 2010, can't find a link to it online. Cleaning like a regular person will not damage your barrel.
Going from breach, muzzle what ever you want to do will be ok.
 
I figured out a while ago that if you ask 10 people how to clean a gun you will get at least 12 different opinions about the only way it can be done. I keep my guns relatively clean and lightly oil the friction spots and the bore. Don't over clean or over lube. Use Ballistol for everything.
 
Welcome to the Site!

I think a lot of what you read on the net is BS, like you said. But heres my opinion on the things in your post.

I clean from the breech when possible and use a bore guide if I have one that fits or if I can get one. Mostly to keep solvent and other junk out of the trigger. If I have to clean from the muzzle I use a little brass cone shaped thingy to protect the crown. And I use brass brushes! I push the patches from whichever end and push and pull the brass brush. I use a Dewey coated rod.

Swaging (sweg) the barrel is mostly for finding the diameter if you plan to shoot cast bullets.

Breaking in a barrel. Lots of opinions on this! On a new factory rifle I'll start by running a wet (with solvent) patch down the bore followed by several dry patches. This is just to remove any trash left over from the machining process. (I've found some barrels that were near spotless and a few that really had a lot of gunk in them) On a factory rifle I'll shoot it slow for 5 or 10 rounds before I get it really hot. On a custom barrel I'll shoot it once, patch it out, shoot it again, and continue until one shot shows no copper fouling. This is usually 6 or 7 shots. This was a method suggested years ago by a big name benchrest rifle builder whose name I have forgotten.

Proper maintenance? Who knows? I clean the barrel after every range session unless I only shoot a little, wipe the outside with an oily rag and lube the moving parts as the owners book suggest.
 
About 98%+++. I have been owning, shooting, hunting, cleaning, oiling, washing guns for well over 60 years now. I've probably used every brand name gun oil, cleaner, brass brush, cleaning rod, etcetera you going to find on your local department store shelf.
Guns are pretty dang tough. If you are going to wear out a gun barrel with a aluminum/brass rod/brush you better be in it for the long haul. It's going to take you some time. Probably much more time than you have.
I have several guns that I've had for over 50 years. Most kinds of conventional guns. Single shot - Semi auto.
I've never came across a brand name gun oil that didn't work fine on any gun I've owned.
I have no idea how many bottles of Hopps9 or how many cans of wd40 or how many bottles of gun oil or how many old tshirts to make patches I've used in those 60 years. I still used the same cleaning kit that I bought back in the 1960s. Hopps cleaning kit with a ALUMINUM rod.
And I've never had a gun to fail or repaired or parts replaced. In those 60 years I only had one gun I had to send in for Warranty work. A Beretta pistol. And that was on Beretta, not me.
For some reason. Some people have got to think Theirs/They are better, Because they spend more, They Know more or what ever than anyone else.
Metal- Wood or Polymer Tool NO MORE NO LESS
 
Nomes said:
does it mater if I use a brass bore brush by pushing it down the barrel and pull it back out. I
Click to expand...
Brass bristle brush is one-way, you need to get it all the way out before you can reverse direction (typically). A tornado (looped bristle) brush can be reversed within the rifling. Whether that's "good" or not sparks rather uncivil debate.

In days of old, a brush was thought to only dislodge big "clods" of gunk, and it was patches on jags (loop or pointed) that did the "real" cleaning. The notion there being that the patch is "pressed" into more contact with the bore. Whether that's the case or not is best left for grumping around an old stove or pickle barrel.

Skeptic13 said:
if you ask 10 people how to clean a gun you will get at least 12 different opinions about the only way it can be done.
Click to expand...
And, on line, you get 20-22 opinions :D
 
Nomes said:
And does it mater if I use a brass bore brush by pushing it down the barrel and pull it back out. I guess the thought is the bullet comes out in only one direction.
As for as cleaning I guess it might be as the old saying goes (To much bathing will weakin you)LOL
Click to expand...
I don't know if this is a real thing to be concerned about or not, but when I clean with a brass bore brush, I'm not really sure what the metal frame part of the brass brush is made of, and the connection between the rod and the brush is something I'm aware of. When cleaning from the breach, pushing the brush through and out the muzzle, it concerns me that the little metal connection can catch the edge of the crown. Almost seems like cleaning from the muzzle, using one of those muzzle guards would be less risky, but again - the metal frame part of the brush probably isn't that hard, but it is something that concerns me.
 
That's the beauty of owning your own firearms. You can do whatever you want with them. Do what works for you.
 
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