What is the correct procedure for cleaning and maintaining..

[Mack The Knife]

.... a 12 bore SxS shotgun.

Also, in the absence of a proprietory bore cleaner or Ed's Red, would petrol or diesel suffice to clean the bore?

Mack The Knife

[mundaire]

I think Acetone should serve as a decent bore solvent... should dissolve and dislodge the muck...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks Abhijeet.

As it so happens I should be receiving a litre of lab grade acetone tomorrow.

Any idea about this diesel/petrol business?

I have been told to give the bores a good scrubbing and then leave the bores filled with either diesel or petrol over night before scrubbing them again. I am not so sure about this and hence a bit uneasy.

How do you clean your shotgun bores?

Mack The Knife

[penpusher]

Mack The Knife,

This is what I do.

1.Put a rag in the slotted attachment of the cleaning rod and run it through the barrel.Don't pull it back.Remove it and do it again with a clean rag this time with some oil on it.This would remove most of the muck.Some times you might have to repeat this three or four times.

2.After this put a rag on a bronze brush with some oil on it and run it back and forth in the barrel.Remove the rag and do it again a couple of times.

3.Then run the bronze brush through the barrel a couple of times with generous amounts of oil and without any rag on it.

4.Finish it with runing a dry rag down the barrel or you can use a wool/cotton mop.

5.Take an old tooth brush and with oil on it clean the breech face and then rub it with a rag.

Instead of buying a 2 or 3 piece cleaning rod(thats what you normaly get) the best thing is to get an alluminium rod and a bronze and a nylon brush and cotton mops.You can get the rod drilled to fit the attachments on one end and some knurling on the other end to prevent your hand from slipping.

Get a smaller rod made to clean the chambers.You can also use hot water.Works very well and is free.

Last of all,stick to IOF or imported stuff.Do not use Shaktiman cartridges as the primer is corrosive.

penpusher

PS-Grumpy would be able to tell us more on this.

[mundaire]

I have a bore solvent and gun oil that came with the cleaning kit I picked it up from Walmart many years ago...

I start off by ramming a few wads of old newspapers down the bore. This removes the worst of the residue etc. --> Then 2-3 patches with bore solvent --> 2-3 dry patches --> One patch of oil to coat the bore lightly with oil. If you are exclusively using (new) imported ammo of good makes, you don't really need to use the bore solvent each time... but KF ammo is notorious for using corrosive primers, so is best to use a solvent after each use.

Never tried Petrol/ Diesel - logically Petrol being a better solvent, should be the better of the two... but Acetone is definitely a better solvent than either. I don't think I need to tell you this - just putting it in for the benefit of others - Keep solvents well away from the stock, unless you want to ruin the finish!

I also have a feeling that WD40 will be mentioned on this thread very soon

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Grumpy]

I can`t see the point of using either as neither will act as a solvent on plastic. Petrol is a notoriously bad lubricant and has no place being used anywhere near a gun and diesel just stinks.
Until you can get hold of a decent bore cleaner just whoosh each barrel with WD 40 and give them a scrub with a bronze brush. Soak a cloth jag in a light machine oil ( `3 in 1` or Singer sewing machine oil ) and push/pull the jag through the bores just once, mopping up any excess. You can use the same cloth to wipe down the exterior of the barrels.
The extractor mechanism should have a single drop of light machine oil applied and then the moving parts manipulated so that all surfaces are lubricated. All bearing surfaces - including those on the fore-end should be very lightly lubricated.
The locks need very infrequent attention. You probably have two screws on each lock plate to facilitate their removal - buy don`t try to remove them until you have a turnscrew to suit. You`ll invariably find that they require a wide but very thin edge to open them. Don`t use a narrower turnscrew as you will damage the slots. In the absense of gunsmiths turnscrews use a `dumpy` type screwdriver with an adequately wide tip and then grind it down using an oil stone. When you have removed the lock screws you`ll find that the plates are reluctant to move. DON`T jam a screwdriver under one edge to remove them as you will damage the wood. Use one hand to swing the butt smartly into the heel of your other hand - against the opposite lock plate. Eventually the loosened plate will start to move which will allow you to get hold of an edge. Obviously the second lockplate can be pushed out using the aperture from the first.
I use a light machine oil to coat all the surfaces of the lock components and then won`t touch them again for at least a year. In Southern India I doubt that is adequate attention. You`ll need to use a very light grease to coat all the surfaces but not one that is going to melt and then soak into the wood. Oil/grease absolutely buggers wood. I`ve been wary of silicone grease since so many air rifles were ruined by its use several years ago. It`s funny stuff and only suitable for some applications.

[danish21]

I also have a feeling that WD40 will be mentioned on this thread very soon

I was thinking of recommending WD40

Danish

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks guys. Keep it coming please.

BTW, are the Magna rounds made by IOF. I have been told to buy these if possible.

Mack The Knife

[danish21]

BTW, are the Magna rounds made by IOF. I have been told to buy these if possible.

Yes magna is available in KF, but astram is better product of KF. Try to use astram.... they are available in No. 1,2,4,6. And as penpusher said... never use shaktiman cartridges... they spoil the barrel.

Danish

Danish

[Grumpy]

Just remember that WD40 is NOT a lubricant......and is lethal on wood.

[axp817]

I had the opportunity to shoot and clean my father's shotgun when I was visiting India, last year.

The gun is a 12 gauge Bolt action Jonas BA repeater with a tubular magazine (4+1, I think).

I used an Indian made shotgun cleaning kit, and the bore cleaner that came with it (don't remember what it was called) that my father had bought from the local gun store.

After removing the barrel from the receiver, and taking the bolt assembly out, I set forth to cleaning the bore. Put a generous amount of the bore cleaner inside the barrel, and used the brush to break/free all the gunk that stuck to the inside.

After that, I ran some paper towel pieces through the bore, a few times, and then some cleaning patches (which I had brought, from here) to get a good shine.

The bolt assembly and the receiver were fairly clean, and I used a toothbrush with cleaning solvent (some spray stuff that my dad had, again, from the local gun store) to clean out whatever dirt/gunk was there.

In the end, I sprayed it with a good amount of rem-oil, inside and outside, and cleaned it down with a silicone cloth (used to clean guns, fishing rods and found at sporting good stores/walmarts here) to remove excess oil, distribute the oil evenly across the surface, and to remove fingerprints.

Other than the silicone cloth, rem-oil, patches, everything else was bought from an Indian gun store.

This is how I clean my 12 gauge pump shotgun here,

1. Remove/Dis-assemble barrel from the receiver
2. Remove choke from barrel
3. Clean inside of barrel/bore with a bore brush (Outers cleaning kit) and bore cleaner (Outers or Break-
Free CLP) a few times till the gunk starts to break and fall.
4. Pass paper towel pieces through barrel, until all gunk is removed and barrel is clean and a clean,
somewhat sparkling finish is seen when held against a bright white surface.
5. Spray some Rem-Oil on a couple of cleaning patches and run them down the bore to lubricate the inside.
6. Clean the firing-pin assembly with a toothbrush and cleaning solvent (Break-free or Outers)
7. Clean the extractor, plunger, and spring with WD-40 (spray this so it forces the gunk out)
8. Clean trigger assembly by spraying the springs, etc. with WD-40 and clean lightly with toothbrush
9. Use patches to wipe gunk/left over solvent from all of these parts
10. Remove magazine spring from magazine (tubular) and clean with toothbrush dipped in solvent (don't do
this every time, only once every 4 weeks or so, I shoot every week, so it is once every 4th time I
shoot, since the spring is enclosed and doesn't need cleaning everytime, just oiling/lubricating)
11. Lubricate all parts with Rem-Oil, especially those that have been WD-40ed, since WD-40 tends to attract
dust
12. Assemble the gun, and wipe down with Silicone cloth to remove fingerprints, excess oil, and distribute oil
evenly across the surface

Doug and I store all our long-guns in a wooden gun cabinet, where we place a box of the moisture absorbing stuff in the back, and replace it when the water collected in the box, gets to the replacement level, to ensure a safe, clean environment for our toys

-N

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks Danish and Naren.

Mack The Knife

[art_collector]

Hi Danish,

U have been recommending 12 bore KF ammunition. Any idea if shaktiman ctgs have changed as a couple of my frends tell me the new shaktiman ctgs with imported primers (as mentioned on the left hand corner of the box) give better results than KF

A/C

[mehulkamdar]

Mack The Knife,

I could send you a Hoppe's No 9 bottle or a full Outers kit if someone is coming there. Be more than happy to. Just let me know if someone is coming to India.

Cheers!

[Mack The Knife]

Mehul,

Funny you should say that because I was going to ask you if you could bring solvent, cleaning kit, etc. over for me. Don't know of anyone coming to India at the moment.

The last time I had ordered from England via a friend, Jet Airways, in Bombay, confiscated all the Parker Hale solvents and gun oils when my friend checked in for the Bombay to Bangalore flight, even though the Jet Airways people at Heathrow had no problem with my friend carrying the stuff from Heathrow to Bombay.

Willing to risk another confiscation, if you could bring it over. Let me know and I will have Cabelas send it over to you.

Mack The Knife