Ruger Am. Drowned

[drmajor]

Hunting in swamp and managed to trip and drown Ruger American Rifle 30-06 with Zeiss scope.

Suggestions on how to care for it?

Deer season ends Jan 1.

 

[edwardware]

Drop the stock, wipe and oil thoroughly, and spray WD40 into the tight spots you can't reach. The scope should only need lens cleaning.

Really, it's a basic bolt gun. The design will survive much worse than an occasional dip.

Edit: note the torque on the action screws, duplicate it back, and test fire before hunting again.

 

[HB]

If you have an air compressor I'd blow it all out and hose it down with 4D-40 or vice versa. Other than that you should be good rifle wise.

I've never dunked a scope so no idea there.

 

[Demi-human]

I would hose it out with clean water first. Then you won't scratch anything when you wipe it down.

I did this with a Savage when I tripped in a furrowed field. I broke the composite stock in half, as I drove the bolt into my chest. Left an awesome bruise, on me and my pride. Oh, if I was only alone that day. At least I had a good reason for a Boyd's.

 

[jmorris]

I would hose it out with clean water first. Then you won't scratch anything when you wipe it down.

As long as you don’t do it like I did a BP rifle the first time I cleaned one. I’m glad I wasn’t asked how the bathtub got scratched, I am a horrible liar...

 

[someguy2800]

No big deal, dry it off, oil it up.

 

[hdwhit]

• Remove the stock and field strip the rifle.
• Soak in clean, warm water - what you're wanting to do here is remove clay fines that may have been in the water as they will attract moisture.
  
• Spray with WD-40 - this is the only time I recommend getting it near a gun, but this is what it is made for; WD = Water Displacing
• Dry thoroughly with a towel. A hair dryer, fan or air compressor can help with any small or enclosed parts.
• Inspect thoroughly and dry anything manually that didn't get dry.
• Oil thoroughly - in this case it's okay to have a gun that is "wet" enough it makes it look like you're a gun runner.
  
• Function the rifle a number of times.
• Oil any bare spots again.
• Reassemble rifle.
• Pray.

 

[ontarget]

It wont hurt to clean it thoroughly with soap and water. Dry it off and oil it well. Check your zero and go hunting.

 

[MistWolf]

Clean it with a mild solution of hot water and dish soap. Rinse it with water as hot as possible. The heat will help the water evaporate.

 

[LoonWulf]

Common practice for me and BP guns is to hose them off after a day of shooting, blow the water out with compressed air, soak in WD40, blow that off then lightly oil with any decent rust preventative.

This also worked well on an SKS a buddy fished out of the ocean.

 

[jmr40]

Clean it normally, this shouldn't be a big deal for either the rifle or scope.

 

[dranrab]

I had several rifles and shotguns spend 3 days in saltwater muck following hurricane Katrina. We didn't have running water and I didn't have time to properly clean them, so I rinsed them in a freshwater lake and emptied a can of WD40 on them. I didn't get back to them for 3 months. A Ruger 10/22 magnum, Ruger PC-9 and a Stoeger 3000 all survived with minor damage. A Remington 1100, Ruger 10/22 (alloy receiver not steel like the magnum) and a Marlin 30-30 were pretty much toast when I got to them.

Your gun will be fine. I'd disassemble as far as you reasonably can, rinse it with clean hot water, soak it with WD (Water Displacing) 40, clean up the WD 40 then use a small amount of gun lube on the moving parts and metal finishes.

 

[FL-NC]

Hose it off with clean water (you already got it wet with dirty water). Blow out w/ air compressor to get sand, leaves, etc. out of stock and working parts. Clean chamber and bore. Re-lube.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

A side note on the WD40, a co-worker years ago claimed WD40 ruined a rifle scope...... i would use caution with optics...(just sayin')

 

[Jackal]

As others have noted, dry and oil.

 

[tallpaul]

make sure your bore is not obstructed...

 

[cdb1]

I would do as others suggested with the exception of substituting BreakFree CLP for WD-40. In my experience it works better.
YMMV.

 

[drmajor]

Thanks---- Got it apart. Not very wet..
Blew out. Hoppes the barrel and action. cleaned out...Ballistol every where. Rem oil trigger and bolt.

Seems fine.

 

[Riomouse911]

For all the knocks against lower cost rifles not having the panache of a fine walnut stocked Kimber or Dakota, real world situations like yours sure make me wonder if I would ever take such a nice gun hunting...

 

[caribou]

Fresh water, no problemo, clean as normal......, salt water, you'd need to rinse it down with hot fresh water, then clean as normal.


I helped Dwight Van Brunt, vice president of Kimber , pull Kimber rifle number one and two, chamber'd in the then new .325 short magnum and .300 short magnum out his guides plane when it went through the ice one spring 300 yards off shore, right outside of Kotzebue. Col. Craig Boddington and him had been Brown Bear hunting up the Noatak way to test the effectiveness of the nes chamberings, and Dwights guide taxi'd in on thin ice..........untill ''Ploop''.
We had an interesting conversation on that thin ice, holes and overflow all around, and found we had lived very near each other, many years back, in Montana.
We cut the top off the cub and unloaded it while guys got ropes and innertubes together to lift and flip the plane up and out of the ice.
As I admired them (BRAND Spankin' new) I told the shivering fella to go to his hotel room and take a shower with them, and get the salt off. Later that night he reported all was well and the quick rinse saved the guns, at least cosmedicly......true story.

 

[Nature Boy]

As a long time swamp hunter in from South Louisiana who's done what you did many many times, I second what many have advised.

Hot tap water and soap, then blow dry, then oil it down.

Not a big deal really