when to clean a new rifle

[doctor]

hi ,
my IOF 0.22 rifle is 1 month old and around 80 cartridges have been fired through it.

my question is when and how do i go about cleaning it since i wont be using it for some time.

with the gun i was provided with a cleaning rod which has a copper and a nylon brush.should i use the nylon brush and later wrap the special gun cleaning fabric over the brush and apply spirit over the fabric.

i went through this forum and found that it should be cleaned with spirit,and then oiled.

need your expert inputs.

thanks

[penpusher]

Doctor Sahib,

Are you going to administer an injection to your rifle That cleaning with the spirit bit is for de-greasing,prior to bluing.You never clean the barrel of a rifle with spirit.The sort of spirit you probably have at hand is hygroscopic.

As per Mack The Knife,our resident air rifle and rimfire expert,you should clean the rifle only when the group starts opening up.

Regarding cleaning the rifle prior to storage, here is what I do.Use the bronze brush with solvent and pass it a couple of times through the barrel followed by cloth on a jag or in a wire/brass loop.Since you would be cleaning from the muzzle,take care that you do not damage the crown or the rifling at the tip.Get a muzzle guard machined from brass.Helps to center the cleaning rod and stops it from contacting the muzzle or the rifling .Or get a bore guide that would enable you to clean from the chamber.


Most of the sectioned cleaning rods that you get in the market are not machined properly with the result that there are edges protruding from where the sections join.Best would be to get a brass rod and get it machined to accept the brushes/jags/wire loops.You might be able to get just the brushes from a gun shop instead of the kit with the rod and the brushes.Lightly oil the barrel.Wipe all metal parts with an oil rag.If the rifle is to be stored for a very long period,you might want to lightly grease the barrel with a very light coating of grease on the barrel that goes in to the stock.Clean the bolt face as well

Don't store the rifle wrapped up in cloth or in a gunslip/bag/case.Don't stuff the muzzle with a cotton/cloth wad

Never apply oil directly on to the rifle but always with a rag or use a tooth pick

[Mark]

Doctor,

Welcome to the forums here, and congratulations on your new rifle!

You will find that cleaning a rifle has countless variations, about as many as there are shooters. There is no single "right" way to clean a rifle, even though there are many "wrong" ways to do it!

Since I do not know where you live, I will give you some recipes to make your own cleaner and gun oil.

To begin with, penpusher's suggestion of having a quality rod made from brass rod is an excellent suggestion. You do not need to thread it, just solder a thin piece of copper wire in a spiral at one end to hold the patches. Wind about 3 or 4 turns on the end of the rod, keeping about 1/8" gap between the coils. Then solder, and put a wooden handle on the otehr end and you will have a very fine cleaning rod.

for cleaning 22 rifles, you do not usually need to brush except maybe every 10,000 - 20,000 shots.

How you should clean it is dip a patch in cleaning fluid, place patch around the cleaning rod, and push through the barrel from the breech end forward. Let the patch fall off and do not use it again, use a new one.

Repeat for 5-15 patches, until they come out clean and then lightly oil a patch and push it through the barrel and you are done.

I do not know if you have this in your region of India, but for the past few years I use heavy-duty paper towels for my cleaning patches. You can buy them in cleaning supply houses. I just cut them into 1 inch squares. Otherwise, if you cannot purchase a bag of patches just cut up old undershirts. It is easier to cut them into squares than to try and tear them, and try to get them uniform in size. However, I would try to find the heavy duty paper towels first, they are just as nice.

Now, some recipes for you-

to clean guns, use 1 part ATF, 1 part acetone, and 1 part mineral spirits (or kerosene in a pinch but it smells more than mineral spirits does)

To lubricate and protect guns use a mixture of 9 parts ATF and 1 part mineral spirits. It does not have to be precise, you can just mix it by eye. If too thin add more ATF and if too thick add more mineral spirits.

ATF = Automatic Transmisson Fluid, purchased at an auto supply house. Any brand or type will work just fine.

Enjoy your gun!

[hellfire_m16]

Hi penpusher,

A question for you-for long periods of storage can the outer parts of the firearm be coated with a coat of grease(as suggested by u) blended with fayji gun oil.

Regards,

Vinayaka

[andy_65_in]

what about the frequency of cleaning a rifle which hasnt been fired for a long time should you do it once a fortnight i mean change the oil applied inside the barel

[eljefe]

Andy,
if a rifle has been greased /packed away, , inspect it now and then-every few months atleast-If you dont find any glitches in the intial couple of months, your storage has been good..
Once you take it out of mothball, use a decent solvent - kerosene- is good enough - to remove ALL vestige of grease from the exposed metal-especially the bore!
then wear one of those food serving, polythene gloves, and reapply a decent lubricant to all metal bearing surface, enough to make the parts function, not drown the wood and metal. a light coat on exposed metal-barrel etc will also be appreciated
The Ed's Red gun solvent, as mentioned by Mark, had been tried by many members here and it was found to be excellent!
9:1 ratio mix of ATF and paint thinner ( or kerosene if you cant get thinner) is excellent gun oil.
If you are storing your gun for 'use' , a light coat of oil is fine. Yup , check about fortnightly-if you can curb your temoptation not to check daily

[Mack The Knife]

That cleaning with the spirit bit is for de-greasing,prior to bluing.

Not quite, penpusher.

In the absence of a lead removing solvent, I do use surgical spirit on a patch to clean the bore of my rimfire, air-rifles and shotgun.

Since some brands leave behind a trace of water, it is best that the bore is dried out with a couple of dry patches. I then follow up with an oiled patch. If I am to shoot soon after cleaning the bore, I run a couple of dry patches to remove the majority of oil. Infact, I pull a dry patch through the bore even if the gun is going back in the cabinet as I only want a very light film of oil in the bore and not so much that it seeps into the receiver and stock.

Doctor, you should have cleaned the bore before firing the first shot since manufacturers grease the bore as a protective measure whilst in storage.

Please clean from breech to muzzle and if the cleanng rod is not long enough (you were probably given one made by Mastershot that is actually meant for .22" calibre break barrel air-rifles), make yourself a pull through using 40 lb breaking strength monofilament fishing line. If your barrel is 24" long, cut off 60" to 65", double it and tie the free ends. Thread the doubled line from muzzle to breech, put a wet or dry patch in the loop that emerges at the breech and pull back in a straight line from the muzzle end. If you do not have the fishing line, PM me your address and I will send you a pre-made pull through.

[hellfire_m16]

Mack The Knife,

Can rectified spirit be used instead of surgical spirit?
I was reading somewhere that rectified spirit can be used for starting barbecue fires so that means it does not have water content unlike the surgical spirit.

-Vinayaka

[Mack The Knife]

Vinayaka,

I do not know what rectified spirit is, so I'd rather not comment on that.

[penpusher]

So you can clean a gun barrel with spirit My mistake.I don't.But then I have used all sorts of other things toothpaste,kerosene,brake fluid,ed's red,WD 40....

[eljefe]

Semantics all-to use loopholes in excise / alcohol taxation!
Rectified, surgical, methylated -all the same-No QC control, expect it to be watered down, blue in colour and at times-sticky.
Suggest you buy it from a chemist-and if its STICKY or doesent smell 'boozy', dont use it!
Thsi stuff is dehydrating-removes water-if you use , eg., 90 or 100percent alcohol, it will remove water/moisture from applied area, and almost totally from organic tissue.
So go ahead and use it.
Strongly recommend the 9:1 mixture of ATF and paint thinner as gun oil though.If you're a bit of a purist and dont want the granddaddy's purdey (with 100 yr old walnut) smelling of kerosene, use some of the newer stuff, but I did use kerosene as a solvent , many times- was'nt a problem at all

[Pran]

toothpaste,kerosene,brake fluid,ed's red,WD 40....

You actually used toothpaste, penpusher?

Pran

[cottage cheese]

toothpaste,kerosene,brake fluid,ed's red,WD 40....

You actually used toothpaste, penpusher?

Pran

Ya, Toothpaste- the old white (Colgate) non-gel stuff is a mild abrasive and is pretty useful as a buffing compound.

[Pran]

Ya, Toothpaste- the old white (Colgate) non-gel stuff is a mild abrasive and is pretty useful as a buffing compound.

Thanks CC. Was unaware of that.

Pran

[eljefe]

forhans used to be the winer in the old days CC