The eternally dirty Mosin?

[Der Stro]

I religiously clean all my rifles after taking trips to the range, part of it is habit from being drilled in to me for 13 weeks, part is I just find it relaxing. What perplexes me though, is how I can never, ever, ever pull a clean patch through my Mosin 91/30.

I dip a brass .30 cal bore brush in a cup of Hoppes #9, and run it through the bore a few times, then follow up with patches. First one always come out a nasty green color, and they get progressively lighter, but after close to 50 patches, they still are not coming out clean. Is this just the nature of the beast? Or am I doing something wrong here. From my limited knowledge of corrosive ammunition, just running the Hoppes down the bore is enough to neutralize the corrosive salts left behind, right? I'd hate to think of my little Russian cannon rotting away on me.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

Mine generally stays pretty clean. I put between 15 and 25 rounds through it usually each time I go and shoot, and I run the bore snake through it, wipe out the chamber and the bolt, and its fine.

I have heard of people's Mosins that just never quite come clean however.

 

[Hypnogator]

If you're shooting corrosive ammo, you need to clean your bore with hot water or old-time military bore cleaner. Modern solvents won't dissolve the salts from the corrosive primers.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

If you're shooting corrosive ammo, you need to clean your bore with hot water or old-time military bore cleaner. Modern solvents won't dissolve the salts from the corrosive primers.

You sure about that? Also, wouldn't you need to intensively dry the rifle after running hot water through it to prevent rust?

 

[woodsoup]

Try a good rinse with boiling water then use the Hoppes. Avoid the bronze/brass brushes, they contain copper. There are stainless steel brushes out there. And no, they won't hurt the barrel.

The green/blue color on the patches is copper fouling you might need a stronger copper cleaner and a LOT of elbow grease and patches to clean all the copper fouling out of that barrel.

The water dissolves the corrosive salts and flushes them out of the barrel, thus stopping the corrosive action on the barrel. The Hoppes gets rid of the rest.

 

[sharkhunter2018]

Also, wouldn't you need to intensively dry the rifle after running hot water through it to prevent rust?

Not really. If the water is hot enough, it will heat the metal to the point it just evaporates what little bit of water is left.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

Not really. If the water is hot enough, it will heat the metal to the point it just evaporates what little bit of water is left.

Huh, thanks, I'll try that next time I shoot.

 

[woodsoup]

You sure about that? Also, wouldn't you need to intensively dry the rifle after running hot water through it to prevent rust?

If you use boiling water, and lots of it. The barrel will dry, pretty much before you can get a solvent patch down it. If you're really worried about it, spray it down with WD40 to displace any water cought in the nooks and crannies. WD40 also will help loosen some fouling.

 

[BHP FAN]

Woodsoup got it in one. boiling hot water [well, as hot as your tap gets anyways] will dry itself, then follow up with a WD40 sprayed boresnake, and you're done. Why people find milsurp troublesome is mystifying.

 

[Der Stro]

I didn't know Hoppes wouldn't take care of the corrosive salts...thats interesting.

It also makes sense why my buddy throws his AK-74 into the bathtub every time he uses surplus ammo.

Just by looking through the bore it looks pristine, it doesn't really look fouled...

Thanks for all the advice though, I'll put the tea kettle on to boil next time I get back from the range.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Yeah, can you say sewer pipe??
You have to wash the salts out before they eat you barrel, I have seen people even doing it at the range, water, dry patch, then WD-40 to keep it safe until he got home and CLEANED (don't wait, or you will regret it)

 

[FC]

Get a better copper solvent like shooters choice or something like that and follow the directions on the bottle and rinse-lather-repeat till it comes clean. Some JB bore paste will help shine the bore up once you get all the fouling dug out of it.

I've cleaned up a few old milsurps that were heavily fouled and if you are using some good copper solvent it just takes persistence, your rifle will be more accurate too once you get it cleaned up.

 

[doc2rn]

The green color is from corosive mil-surp ammo and all you need to do is flush the barrel with Windex right after your trip to the range. It nullifies the salts as others have said.

 

[FC]

The green is from copper fouling and has nothing to do with the ammunition being corrosive.

 

[USAF_Vet]

Regular Windex won't work, you need to use the industrial Windex that contains Ammonia. If it doesn't have Ammonia, it will not nullify the corrosive salts.

 

[o Unforgiven o]

If you really want to get all the copper and crud out of the barrel, buy a bottle of KG-12 and a nylon brush. Run a soaked patch down the barrel to coat it well and let it sit in the bore for a good 10 minutes than start scrubbing with the nylon brush. Flush the barrel with boiling water and repeat as needed. Eventually, it will all come out.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Ammonia has NOTHING
let me repeat that,
NOTHING to do with salts

It's soapy, dissolves COPPER
and comes in a convenient spray bottle...
OR you can use the old standby,
SOAPY WATER.....

 

[frankenstein406]

Try some foaming bore cleaner. Is it not accurate? If it is then don't worry to much. Over time it will come clean.

 

[tyeo098]

Hoppes says right on the bottle that it "neutralizes corrosive salts"

 

[caribou]

Use boiling water to DISSOLVE the salts, and flush them out.

The green copper can be brushed out, "BUT" its best done with brass/bronze brush with a copper removing agaent,or an electrical method, which is probly best.

If you have had a rusted bore, you very well could have pits that will hold the copper fouling, with your patches expanding in and picking it up. If thats the case, then back to the brass brush and stroke.

You dont mention a Sticky bolt, so Im thinking your doing a good job with a small ammount of rust damage in the bore holding copper deposits for your patch.

 

[rcmodel]

The green is from copper fouling and has nothing to do with the ammunition being corrosive.

+1

Hoppes #9 is only a mild copper solvent, and will never ever be able to remove 100 years worth of old jacket fouling.

You need to get a bottle of real copper solvent and get all the old jacket fouling out of the barrel before you drive yourself crazy.

BTW: Copper solvent will also eat bronze bore brushes and leave green patch residue.
Get a nylon bore brush to use with copper solvent.

rc

 

[Joe Demko]

Salts cannot be "neutralized." They must be dissolved and physically removed. Ammonia has nothing to do with that. Water is what does that. If you have a bore solvent with an aqueous component, it should do the job. Hot tap water is plentiful and really, really cheap and also does the job.

 

[M.C.]

I religiously clean all my rifles after taking trips to the range, part of it is habit from being drilled in to me for 13 weeks, part is I just find it relaxing. What perplexes me though, is how I can never, ever, ever pull a clean patch through my Mosin 91/30.

I dip a brass .30 cal bore brush in a cup of Hoppes #9, and run it through the bore a few times, then follow up with patches. First one always come out a nasty green color, and they get progressively lighter, but after close to 50 patches, they still are not coming out clean. Is this just the nature of the beast? Or am I doing something wrong here. From my limited knowledge of corrosive ammunition, just running the Hoppes down the bore is enough to neutralize the corrosive salts left behind, right? I'd hate to think of my little Russian cannon rotting away on me.

My 91/30 has the same problem...

 

[FC]

+1

BTW: Copper solvent will also eat bronze bore brushes and leave green patch residue.
Get a nylon bore brush to use with copper solvent.

rc

I rinse my brushes with HOT water after using copper solvent and they don't seem to degrade. If you don't rinse good enough you can always tell the next day by their amazing new color.

 

[gondorian]

+1 on the KG-12. I tried endlessly to get all the copper fouling out of my Garand with hoppes but it didn't work. I got some KG12 and after a dozen or so patches I was pulling them out fairly clean. When you use it you should follow the directions and let it sit for a while.