The Safest Way to clean after shooting corrosive ammo?

[308sc]

What is the safest way to clean your gun after shooting corrosive ammo?

I have heard Windex down the barrel and even water to. Im just trying to establish a "standard" way of cleaning my guns after shooting corrosive ammo through them. Does the whole gun need to be disassembled? Im many asking the question as it pertains to bolt action rifles.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[dfariswheel]

Nothing works better then ordinary hot water.

For a bolt rifle, boil a pot of water, then put it on the floor on a pad of newspaper.
Remove the rifle bolt and run a patch on the rod down the bore.

Stick the muzzle in the hot water and pull the patch back up to the chamber.
The suction will draw the hot water up, dissolving and flushing out the corrosive salts.
Do this a few times until the barrel gets hot, remove the muzzle from the water after allowing all the water to drain, then run a dry patch or two down the bore.
The heat will "flash dry" the metal.

Use a wet patch to wipe off the bolt head and around the chamber area, dry and oil.

The idea is to use water to dissolve any salts deposited on the metal.
A bolt rifle is easy and fast since all you need to worry about is the bore, chamber, and bolt face for the most part.
There's no need to disassemble it.

 

[Wopasaurus]

I just spray windex down the barrel followed by a scrubbie... Then i run a few patches of CLP and what not until it's clean.

 

[zxcvbob]

Hot soapy water, then clean as usual.

 

[elmerfudd]

dfariswheel is spot on. Just dip the muzzle of your rifle in a pot of hot soapy water and run a brush, swab or patch down the barrel from the breech end. Run the rod back and forth a few times with the muzzle still submerged and it will suck that soapy water right up into the bore without making a mess. It's a lot neater and more thorough than using a spray bottle.

 

[nwilliams]

I've always just used Windex followed by bore cleaner.

 

[nalioth]

C'mon folks, shooting corrosive ammunition has been done for centuries. All the folks who did so didn't have "hot soapy water" or "windex".

It's not as if you're pouring concentrated acid down the bore.

Sheesh, this subject takes a beating.

Simple solution: Clean your guns like your daddy taught you ---every time you shoot them.

 

[Franco2shoot]

Mosin Nagants

The corrosive ammo usually comes up in discussions of MN's since the 7.62x54r surplus ammo is cheap (5 bucks for a pack of 20). MN's have a cleaning rod under the barrel that seem to me to be the perfect answer. Here's what I've done.
Took an old piece of aluminum cleaning rod. I keep a swab/cleaning patch on one end, the other end was drilled so I now have a 6 inch aluminum tube that is drilled and tapped to screw onto the MN's cleaning rod. I have an old Orange bottle that used to have Hoppe's #9 but is now filled with Windex. I scraped off all the Hoppes lettering so there's no confusion. Now when I've finished shooting, I unscrew the rod from under the barrel, screw on the cleaning patch attachment, squirt some windex, and run the patch up and down the barrel. Once done, the Orange bottle and the little extension are tossed back in the gun-tote bag. On return to home base a thorough clean is done.
I can shoot corrosive ammo all day long, and running the swab through the barrel when its still hot really brings out all the burnt powder before it starts to set in.

Hope this helps you.

KKKKFL

 

[jrfoxx]

I just use hot water, the a little windex (it helps get out some copper fouling anyway, even if it has no extra effect on corrosive salts, and there seems to be some debate on that subject), and use the brass bore brush a little more, and use more patches, to get as much out as possible. I do the same with the bolt, chamber etc. For anything Semi, I probly would just personally avoind corrosive ammo, due to the stuff getting into the gas system, which seems to typically harder the ensure you getting it all out due to the tubes being fixed, or narrow, or unreachable, etc. Just my personal thing though. I'm sure peple do it with no problems.

Also, I've heard the old, brown, really stinky USGI "Rifle Bore Cleaner" works great on corrosive salts too ( I'm told it was designed with that at least in mind, as opposed to being a "side benefit" of it). Anyone confirm this?

I have a case of 12, 8oz cans I got, shipped, for like $20 on Ebay a while back, just to try out, and I havent used it on any corrosive ammo yet, but it was pretty darn cheap for a bore cleaner in that quantity, and works REALLY well on copper fouling and regular powder fouling from what I have personally seen, even better than gunscrubber or hoppes #9, IMHO.

 

[briansmithwins]

I've been using either Mpro7 or Ballistol/water mix.

Mpro7 is a water based cleaner. Use it to clean any carbon from the rifle, dry, and then lubricate with your normal oil. Mpro7 will strip any existing oil off the weapon.

I dilute the Ballistol with water 1:10 as directed by the instructions to form an emulsion. The water is required to dissolve the corrosive salts. I clean with the Ballistol mix, dry everything, and then apply straight Ballistol.

Either way I field strip the rifle the next day and check for any rust. One last check a couple of days later to catch any missed rust spots.

BSW

 

[Jeff F]

Hot water, or hot soapy water, a little Dawn dish detergent works well then clean as normal. People have been using hot water ever since the black powder days, what worked then still works now.

 

[Kurt S.]

I've had good results with liberal application of Windex down the barrel, followed by a good boresnaking, a liberal application of WD-40, another good boresnaking, and a patch with Breakfree or TetraGun. I try to do this at the range and then when I get home it's just good old Hoppes #9.

I don't have any rusty or brown barrels, and in case you didn't know, it's pretty humid here in east Texas.

 

[Feanaro]

Most corrosive ammunition is corrosive because of the primers. A chemical reaction takes place when the primer is struck, creating potassium chloride(KC1). This is closely related to table salt(sodium chloride). The salt lines the barrel, absorbing moisture and forming a corrosive film.

KC1 is soluable in water, so anything with that in the mixture will work just fine. I don't see the point in watering down my water(), but supposedly Windex helps remove copper fouling. Me, I just disassemble everything, wash, clean, oil, and reassemble. People have been throwing their black powder guns in buckets for years, who am I to argue with them?

 

[Husker1911]

::note to self:: check out more of dfariswheel's posts. concise, proper advice on the care of bolt rifles::

 

[GRIZ22]

Nothing works better then ordinary hot water.


This is true. There is no magic ingredient in Windex. What does the cleaning is the water in it. Ammonia will also work well. Some commercial solvents (Hoppe's #9 for one) will dissolve the salts as will old GI bore cleaner.

 

[alexanderplatz]

So what do you do with a pail full of water contaminated by lead and God knows what else?

 

[308sc]

huh...have not though of that...dump it in the woods?

 

[Bendutro]

Don't panic, it's organic.

 

[RP88]

I thought that the windex helped neutralize the corrosive components of the residue left in the barrel. Right?

 

[dfariswheel]

I thought that the windex helped neutralize the corrosive components of the residue left in the barrel. Right?

Right......... but only because Windex is mostly ....WATER.

A good test to determine if something is good for removing corrosive residue is to put some of whatever it is in a glass and add some table salt.
Unless the salt dissolves into suspension and "disappears", the product is useless against corrosive salts.

Most modern bore solvents are useless because they contain no water.

 

[Ian Sean]

Feanaro nailed the chemistry.

Most corrosive ammunition is corrosive because of the primers. A chemical reaction takes place when the primer is struck, creating potassium chloride(KC1). This is closely related to table salt(sodium chloride). The salt lines the barrel, absorbing moisture and forming a corrosive film.

Almost identical reaction and results to what happens to your car from road salt in the winter, potasium chloride (KCI) is slightly more agressive/corrosive than sodium chloride (table salt) to steels.

There is no magic ingredient in Windex

While windex is mostly water, the small amount of ammonia also raises the pH of the solution. Steels like and benefit from high pH/alkaline solutions. Soapy windex with a high pH does a good job of flushing and neutralizing all the garbage in the barrel, with the added benefit of ammonia attacking copper deposits and fouling.

I like to use windex myself, have a small spray bottle I bring with me to the range.

On a side note: We run our boilers here in the power plant at 9-10 on the pH scale, an aqueous ammonia solution is continuously injected into the water to keep the pH up. Every year we open our boilers for inspection they look like the day they were installed.

 

[Feanaro]

So what do you do with a pail full of water contaminated by lead and God knows what else?

Do you worry about where the lead in your shooting clothes goes when you wash them? (Right into the water supply.) If we're going to freak over lead contaminated water, let's have a proper rave.

I dump the stuff where it won't run downhill, not near a source of water, and preferably in many different locations.

 

[alexanderplatz]

Do you worry about where the lead in your shooting clothes goes when you wash them? (Right into the water supply.) If we're going to freak over lead contaminated water, let's have a proper rave.

Gee, I didn't feel like I was freaking out, just asking a simple question.

 

[nathan]

Hot water with soap.

 

[RNB65]

I use the Box o' Truth method. Windex + WD40 at the range and a normal cleaning when I get home.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu13.htm
-