Indians For Guns

Friends , I got this Winchester gun cleaning kit from America some 3 years back. I was drawn by the brand name only to realise later it was also made in China. It has all the major caliber brushes and comes at a price of Dollar 50 approx. There might be better ones out there but I could find only this. I tried to upload the pictures but I am not able to do so after the uploading fails each time and hence sharing the link of a short video I made. This might be useful to many of us. The brushes are metal and has all major caliber brushes except .32 but other brushes can substitute and serve the purpose too. I found it useful for cleaning .30-06 rifle particularly as I had other stuff and commonly available brush and rod for 12 bore gun but rifle brushes were missing. The handle that is used for extension has a little issue that it does not hold tightly as there are no threads for attaching to extension rods otherwise it serves the purpose.
Regards
Ajay Singh

Dont use metal brushes.

Can you kindly throw some more light. Thanks for your comment. At times it gets difficult to get rid of residue in barrels so how to remove it when the plastic ones does not work well ? Although I understand that old machine oil works well for lubrication and one can use transmission oil as lube plus WD40 works fine for rust . The issue I face is that the residue from cartridges after firing or use if left uncleared for some time gets difficult to clean .

I am sharing the photos as attachments of the Winchester kit. Earlier I was unable to do so because of bigger image size which became possible through some image compression app on ios. Maybe this will provide a clear photo of the article I wished to share with all.

A good solvent like Ed’s red and chindi have done the job for me these past 3 decades.
I have about ed’s red here, simply mix acetone, ATF and paint thinner in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Heavy use of jacketed or cast projectiles leaves metal residue in the bore. I mean a 100 rounds of jacketed- yes. 50 rounds of cast lead, used with an appropriate lube on the cast bullets or ‘shake and bake’powder coating or the Proprietary epoxy coating,HITEK, leaves a powdery residue needing a couple of wet and dry patches.

So the bottom Line is : clean the gun immediately after using it.

Brass brushes will not erode the chamber -rifling or any other area made of steel. It will probably need several thousand strokes to have effect.

I have found that the cheap chinese junk had brass looking brushes, which would lose their ‘ brass ‘ look if dipped in a solvent, leaving behing shiny metal. Probably steel.

The premise is: clean the gun after use. Period.
Black powder is the hardest- needs a lot of cleaning effort and a couple of gallons of boiling water to get the residue out of the barrel.

Smokeless loads- can leave unburnt powder flecks, and very obviously, a copper jacket, revolving at 150-200,000 rpm down the barrel is going to strip off microscopic particles. If you’re unlucky, a badly made projectile will strip the entire jacket. Leaving your barrel looking like some of Bangalore’s roads.

To remove the powder residue, plastic wad coating ( if a shot gun)and hopefully microscopic metal residue, you will need a combination of solvents that can melt/loosen these substances.

First

So soak appropriate chindi in ed’s red and run through the barrel. Leave for 10 min and run a dry chindi. See the muck come out.

There is no established pattern, per se.
You can use alternate wet and dry or 5 wet, wait 20 -30 min then 5 dry.
When the dry patches come out with a blue tinge-stop.
I would only use a REAL copper brush of there is residue left at end of the patch session. And even then,I would probably soak the bore in Ed’s red over night, and pass a few more dry chindi’s before using a brass/bronze brush.
A cleaning solution which wont melt the plastic can be used with the nylon brushes. Kerosene and ATF or singers sewing machine oil may do well here.

In the old days, after 10 mags in the Bren, strip the barrel and frantically chew on a chindi, and use in the pull through. 5-6 of these then a light coating of whatever was stored as ‘gun oil’ on a chindi, worked
Now you know the real meaning of ‘Thook Malish’ ?

More power to your elbow

To eljefe,
Well that was a beautifully written reply. I enjoyed reading the instructions word to word . Thanks for extracting time for a detailed reply. I believe Ed’s red won’t be available in India but the alternative formula shall be easy to constitute.
I keep looking for some good gun accessories but everything nowadays is Chinese so can’t say more about it .
I have tried hot water at times for my shotgun when cleaning gets tough at times if left uncleaned.
The chindi clause at the end of your writing along with some humour is great . I must say I am learning and there is a long way to go ahead . Always feel good to be on this platform when someone shares information whole heartedly.

El Jefe:

I agree, this is great instruction, and well-written!

Ajaaybeer: Ed's Red isn't a brand or a product. You make it yourself from the three components El Jefe listed.

timmy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:16 pm

Ajaaybeer: Ed's Red isn't a brand or a product. You make it yourself from the three components El Jefe listed.

Noted Sir , Thank you.

eljefe wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 3:36 pm

A good solvent like Ed’s red and chindi have done the job for me these past 3 decades.
I have about ed’s red here, simply mix acetone, ATF and paint thinner in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Heavy use of jacketed or cast projectiles leaves metal residue in the bore. I mean a 100 rounds of jacketed- yes. 50 rounds of cast lead, used with an appropriate lube on the cast bullets or ‘shake and bake’powder coating or the Proprietary epoxy coating,HITEK, leaves a powdery residue needing a couple of wet and dry patches.

So the bottom Line is : clean the gun immediately after using it.

Brass brushes will not erode the chamber -rifling or any other area made of steel. It will probably need several thousand strokes to have effect.

I have found that the cheap chinese junk had brass looking brushes, which would lose their ‘ brass ‘ look if dipped in a solvent, leaving behing shiny metal. Probably steel.

The premise is: clean the gun after use. Period.
Black powder is the hardest- needs a lot of cleaning effort and a couple of gallons of boiling water to get the residue out of the barrel.

Smokeless loads- can leave unburnt powder flecks, and very obviously, a copper jacket, revolving at 150-200,000 rpm down the barrel is going to strip off microscopic particles. If you’re unlucky, a badly made projectile will strip the entire jacket. Leaving your barrel looking like some of Bangalore’s roads.

To remove the powder residue, plastic wad coating ( if a shot gun)and hopefully microscopic metal residue, you will need a combination of solvents that can melt/loosen these substances.

First

So soak appropriate chindi in ed’s red and run through the barrel. Leave for 10 min and run a dry chindi. See the muck come out.

There is no established pattern, per se.
You can use alternate wet and dry or 5 wet, wait 20 -30 min then 5 dry.
When the dry patches come out with a blue tinge-stop.
I would only use a REAL copper brush of there is residue left at end of the patch session. And even then,I would probably soak the bore in Ed’s red over night, and pass a few more dry chindi’s before using a brass/bronze brush.
A cleaning solution which wont melt the plastic can be used with the nylon brushes. Kerosene and ATF or singers sewing machine oil may do well here.

In the old days, after 10 mags in the Bren, strip the barrel and frantically chew on a chindi, and use in the pull through. 5-6 of these then a light coating of whatever was stored as ‘gun oil’ on a chindi, worked
Now you know the real meaning of ‘Thook Malish’ ?

More power to your elbow

Brilliant little treatise, Jefe. Useful and enjoyable to read.

El Jefe is on the money! Most of the Chicom "brass" brushes are just steel with a brass like finish! Best avoided.

Amongst the domestic products, I've found G Smith kits to be excellent value with decent quality. Their shotgun cleaning kit is the one I use most often myself.

For rifles, especially expensive ones, please invest in quality rods, brushes etc. J Dewey of USA makes some of the best ones, if you can get them. They're not cheap, but worth the money IMHO.

Ed's Red is a good cleaning option, easy to make yourself. Just a word of caution - while using solvents, wear rubber gloves and use them in a well ventilated area.

WD40 is good for loosening rusty parts, but it's utility in cleaning/ maintenance of guns has been overplayed. I never use the stuff on my guns, though I use it often enough for other things.

Machine oil is a great all purpose lube, with some cleaning ability as well. But it will likely not help with copper or plastic residue. For those you need solvents specific to each task. Copper solvents won't help much with plastic and plastic ones won't do much for copper. For copper I've been using Robsol Mil from ballistol and for plastic fouling I use a carburettor cleaning spray from Talbros/ Penzoil.

Lead fouling is best addressed by using mechanical means (read scrubbing it out).

Cheers!

mundaire wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:43 pm

Amongst the domestic products, I've found G Smith kits to be excellent value with decent quality. Their shotgun cleaning kit is the one I use most often myself.

For rifles, especially expensive ones, please invest in quality rods, brushes etc. J Dewey of USA makes some of the best ones, if you can get them. They're not cheap, but worth the money IMHO.


Lead fouling is best addressed by using mechanical means (read scrubbing it out).

Cheers!

Thanks Sir, always wait for some final words of advice from you and here we have that. End of the day at least we have the names of manufacturers above : domestic and international, a gun enthusiasts usually needs to invest his money into some reliable stuff. No point of buying quality compromised products time and again. G smith price are economical too if their products lasts or does not break for a decent time as they are available online in India and thus it might be a good choice to go readily. Revolver .32 kit is listed for Rs 650 and 12 bore at some Rs1800. I did a quick google search after reading your post.
Thanks for information once again.

That's rather kind of you, but please don't take my word for it. There are plenty here who know tons more than I do, read everyone's advice and then distill it to what suits you best.

A lot of this stuff has been discussed here before, do read those older threads as well, they're a good source of information.

I merely piped in, as I too have bought chicom kits in the past, enamoured by the attractive pricing only to be mostly disappointed when I used them. As "Mack the knife" on the forum has often told me - a rich man buys once and a poor man just keeps buying... always buy the best quality you can afford, you won't regret it.

Also, never forget the basic fact, that the same firearms in India cost many times more here than they do anywhere else AND (in many cases) are difficult/ expensive/ impossible to get properly repaired! So, the incentive for US CHAPS to take care of them properly, is so much more than someone who can just pick up a military surplus rifle for a couple of hundred dollars (15-16,000 Rupees in today's money). Silly to be penny wise and pound foolish, to quote the cilche.

Cheers!

The one comment I'd like to make about gun care in general, and this is based on what I've seen posted on these boards and a little on my own knowledge and experience, and that is the greatest enemy of gun ownership in India, from a physical rather than a legal perspective, is humidity.

It is humidity that causes the products of powder combustion and primer detonation to turn into chemicals that attack the bore of guns. It is humidity that causes the oils and residue of the hands to be converted into chemicals that attack metal surfaces and blued finishes. It is humidity that will cause the unprotected and poorly protected surfaces (such as bluing) of ferrous metals to rust.

Therefore, I highly recommend that, as El Jefe has noted, it is most important to clean guns right after firing. Also, it is important to wipe guns down after they are handled with a treated cloth, which at the minimum might be a lightly oiled rag. (A little automatic transmission fluid works great! Just a very light coat is all that's needed!) The important thing is to get your hand oils off of the gun. For this and for rust in general, you should have a routine of wiping the gun down once a month or ecen once a week, whatever is necessary in your climate.

For instance, I once went to live in New Jersey and Maryland for five years. Due to the shameful gun laes in those places, I left all of my handguns in a safety deposit box in Texas. The guns were wrapped in very lightly oily rags and the safety deposit room was climate controlled. No ill effects were observed when I retrieved the guns after five years of not seeing them.

Similarly, in New Mexico, where the humidity was often in single digits, keeping guns in good shape was easy for me to do. The bottom line is, wherever there is humidity, you must pay greater attention to the care of your guns!

One thing I am ignorant about is wood. I've seen pictures of guns posted here where the wood is very decomposed. I've never been faced with that sort of environment. As wood is organic, my supposition is that this sort of decomposition is caused by bacteria and fungus, or mildew. I can't say what treatment should be used to wipe the wood parts of guns down in these conditions. Someone here will hopefully chime in and add some words of wisdom, and research would be useful in this regard, too.

But in the case of wood preservation, the same treatment routine holds true for it as with metal surfaces. Only the solutions change. You mist pay attention to the gun(s) regularly so that rust and decomposition are not allowed to begin. Having a good storage place is important here, too: there's no point in storing guns in the linen closet in the shower room, for instance, and expecting good results!

Excellent tips, Tim.

Warning

NO Ed’s Red on synthetic stocks. They will get eroded by the acetone.

I store my shotguns disassembled (doubles and u/o) and rifles muzzle down to prevent any cleaning solution seeping into the wood and weakening it.