Shotgun Cleaning

[ctwiggs1]

Alright folks,

I've heard so many methods of cleaning shotguns over the last year -- what do you do? 

I've always taken it completely apart of wiped it down in solvent, let it dry, then wipe it with a dry cloth and oil before reassembly.

I'm always willing to learn, and I'll admit my waterfowl gun has shown a few brown spots that I've had to wipe off !

Curtis

[WDFW-SUX]

I use gun scrubber in the action and the barrel and then run a bore snake.  after that I disassemble the barrel and rub it down with break free.

For a deeper cleaning I take a bronze brush and attach it to my drill and run it in the chambers while I spray solvent....works great.

I also remove the chokes and spray them with gun scrubber and wipe down with break free

When its done its goes into a heated safe or next to a heater.

[h2ofowlr]

Just to add.  I clean mine completely.  Then a light oil.  On the choke tube I use Jet Lube, Nikal anti-seize on it.  It works great.  You won't get a stuck choke by using it.

[BIGINNER]

do youguys usually take apart the action? take out the bolt and stuff?   (pump action) 

[Sumpnneedskillin]

I take my pump all the way down.  Remove the barrel, the bolt, trigger assy.  Run a brush through the barrel to break the deposits down then bore snake it.  Put gun grease on the choke threads to keep it from siezing.  Lightly oil the action and reassemble.  Wipe down with silicon cloth to get rid of fingerprints etc and put in silcon sock and put it in the gun cab.  I use break free for cleaning and oiling.

[Rob]

Something I find useful for cleaning all firearms is a can of compressed air.  I will use that to blow a light coat of oil into areas I cannot wipe down.  Be sure to blow it out well as you don't want gobs of oil sitting in places you cannot reach!  it has the benefit of blowing crud out of the hard to reach places too.

[WDFW-SUX]

Another thing that works good is to store the gun muzzle down so the grime in the action runs out not in.

[sakoshooter]

My duck/goose gun gets  sprayed with whatever type of aresol spray lube I'm trying at the time, sometimes WD-40, very heavily as soon as I get home. Spray inside barrel, inside action and trigger mechanism, magazine and into the firing pin hole. I also spray the outside good. Bore snake the  bore and stand it in a corner of my shop barrel down so any  crud runs out the barrel rather into the action. Wipe it down later when I get more time. I don't take it apart for a thorough cleaning untill after hunting season. I've done this for years with an 870 and the last 4 with my SBEII. Never had a problem. I hunt salt water a lot too.
I can appreciate you guys doing a thorough cleaning every time though.
Now my rifles: That's a different story. They're always spotless.

[ctwiggs1]

LOL yeah but my rifle only goes out maybe 3-4 times a year MAX.  It's easy to keep that thing clean.

[Ratdog68]

I've had this item for a while now, finally dug it out to give it a try.

I polish all of my blued firearms with metal polish (I like to use "Flitz"). Doing so removes the residual particles of salts and minute rust left behind by the blueing process. My blued guns shine rather nicely with this step.

With that having been done already, I just wiped down my bird hunting shotgun after my hunting trip. I used this product for the first time. I like it quite a bit. It came all bundled up in variously sized zip lock bags to keep things orderly. It has the following:

*A piece of sheep skin/wool which has been treated with their chemical
*A flannel cloth to wipe off excess and polish
*A little bottle of chemical to recharge the wool patch
*Instruction sheet

The wool patch reaches into all the nooks and crannies as it applies the cleaning oil (silicone based). The flannel cloth to polish. It also helped to pull up residual "brown tinge" that hadn't come up with the dry polishing cloth I'd used with the metal polish. The fingerprints are removed and the shine of the blued steel is enhanced. Nice product, called "Rusty's Rags"

http://www.rustysrags.com/indexold.html

Side note... for the action, quite often I'll hose it down with an action cleaner, some compressed air, and then a little oil on the action.  Sometimes I take it all apart and clean/inspect and re-assemble.  I use an assembly lube with moly-graphite on the threads of my choke tube to keep it easy to remove/install.

[CP]

I wipe most of the mud and water off mine with a towel then throw it behind the seat of the truck.

[sakoshooter]

LOL yeah but my rifle only goes out maybe 3-4 times a year MAX.  It's easy to keep that thing clean.

My rifle doesn't go out as much as my shotgun but it does go on all my early season scouting trips starting when western WA bear season opens, right on thru deer/elk seasons, rain or shine. That's a lot of days out. My rifle is a tool but is a precise instrument made for reaching out there very accurately whereas my shotgun is a tool made for close, fast shooting by pointing rather than by aiming. Yes, they both have to function flawlessly but think about it: I'll probably get 25 pheasant opportunities, 100's of duck/goose opportunities whereas deer hunting I'll be lucky to find 1 good buck worth taking. Worse yet for elk. The rifle cannot fail and every precaution will be taken to prevent it.
Luckily for me, the only failures I've seen over the years are thos of other hunters of which I've learned their lessons also.

[Nimrod]

Clean up like a muzzle loader throw it i'n the tub add a little dawn soap and a tooth brush then let dry and take the w d 40 too it

[GWP]

I wipe mine down after every hunt with oil on a cleaning patch, use a brush on the action, then lube it. The last thing I do is take the patch, put it over the brush and run it down the bore, unscrew the brush. Pull it out, flip the patch over and do it again. I put a drop of oil on everything that moves, then wipe off the excess. I have not hunted in salt water. I should say, 'Yet'.

[sakoshooter]

I like my duck gun to start off oily when I'm hunting salt water. I figure it's good preventitive maintenance if it's already very well oiled.