How soon to clean fired gun?

I swab after every shot with an alcohol dampened patch, then before I leave the range I use another 3-4 patches which removes a great deal of fouling. Finally I swab with a clean patch that has been saturated with Barricade and I've found that I can hold off cleaning with soapy water for a few days and not have any rust.

I had read of many guys claiming they could leave their guns over a period of time. After spending 6 hours at the range (longer than I intended) I swabbed my barrel with 2 wet patches (both sides) followed by 2 alcohol swabs (both sides), and assumed I'd be good until the next day after using Pyrodex after spraying it liberally with WD40.

I found out this wasn't so for me. I live in Texas, and it was fairly humind (not so much in the house). It rusted my barrel fairly well, and was a pain to clean less than 24 hours later.

My stainless pistol, using Triple 7, was the opposite. It handled it well, and has always been easy to clean regardless of powder used.

But I also found the rhythm to cleaning a barrel much quicker, and maybe my process wasn't quite as keen. Now it won't ever need to wait.

I keep a spray bottle of soapy water or moose milk in my truck. I spray enough down the barrel to take a couple of minutes to run out of the nipple. I then spray it again and run cotton patches up and down. I view this as pre cleaning and I do it while I pact the other stuff up.

I take the wet patches and wipe the out side as well if I was going to be a couple of hours before cleaning the rifle I will add a oiling step. Geo. T.

I clean mine as soon as I get home from the range. If I aint got time to clean it, I aint got time to shoot it.

rodwha said:

I found out this wasn't so for me. I live in Texas, and it was fairly humind (not so much in the house). It rusted my barrel fairly well, and was a pain to clean less than 24 hours later.

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P-dex.
According to a letter sent to either Rifle or Handloader magazine years back by Hodgdon ANYTHING put on Pyrodex fouling means the gun must be cleaned immediately.
This in response to a guy who had been shooting cast bullets and P-dex in a 375 H&H. Came home, had to take his wife out to dinner. Ran a patch wet with Hoppes #9 (the original) through the bore and stood it muzzle down. Next day the bore was so bad he had the rifle rebarreled. He wrote a question to the magazine and they contacted Hodgdon. He would have been better off to wet path then pour a quart of hot water through it wipe, follow with another quart of hot then dry and oil. But the industry was full of BS put out by gun writers promoting the stuff (Hodgdon buys ads in magazines you know) and countless guns, vintage and new, were ruined or at least damaged as a result.
If you cannot clean it COMPLETELY leave it alone.
Also once started its nearly impossible to prevent further damage unless a LOT of warm to hot water is used every time its shot in the gun. Once pitted using BP is also a PITA since its a fouling trap. The salts hide in the pits and will continue to eat the metal even under an oil film.

Dan

I love Black-Solve, after shooting yesterday I ran several wet patches down the bore, plugged the vent, poured some down the barrel and ran it up and down a couple of times. Then ran a couple more wet patches down the bore. I also cleaned up the lock/pan while at the range. When I got home, I did a final clean up with a couple patches and cleaned the lock and was good to go. With what I did at the range, I could probably have gone a couple days if I had to without any detrimental affects. The more you can do right after shooting, the less you have to do when you get home.

Humidity is another reason I thoroughly field clean a Flintlock after taking a shot while out hunting...the thought of a fresh powder charge sitting in a fouled vent hole while moisture is being sucked in worries me about reliability.
And after taking a deer or squirrel I think its beneficial to stay put in one spot for 10-15 minutes anyway to let the woods settle back down...so I use that time to completely clean and reload, then I "know" I have the best of everything covered to continue hunting

Same day for sure ... AND I always swab liberally with alcohol before leaving the range.

At least a semi-cleaning before going to bed if you can't get to the whole thing. Otherwise, before going to bed for certain.

I run a few spit patches before leaving the woods and that cuts down the work and odors brought into the house (Unfortunately THE ADMIRAL lacks the "sulphur smells good" gene).

lorren68 said:

I clean mine as soon as I get home from the range. If I aint got time to clean it, I aint got time to shoot it.

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Amen, bro.

Too tired to clean a gun? I wonder what the oldtimers would have thought of that...

Stumpkiller said:

At least a semi-cleaning before going to bed if you can't get to the whole thing. Otherwise, before going to bed for certain.

I run a few spit patches before leaving the woods and that cuts down the work and odors brought into the house (Unfortunately THE ADMIRAL lacks the "sulphur smells good" gene).

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I cleaned my gun ONCE inside the house.

ASAP!...Tooth pick the touch hole or nipple after the last shot..fill with water let stand while your running for your target and putting your shooting stuff away..pour out swab,dry sure beats doing nothing! :hmm:
Got a big laundry sink in the man cave..Wife just laughs from the ordors coming out of it..bp fowling,horn filing, drilling ,bees wax,bear grease,leather . :grin:
Your barrel is your friend!

I was raised you clean your guns(s) before you clean up or eat.

If I have to get home and blast off for church or whatever social event, I try to clean partially with wet patches and stuff before I leave the shooting point.If its left, rusting appears to start immediately with brown patches coming out a few hours later.

HOWEVER last time I shot, I thought what if that wet is allowing the corrosion cycle to start? So I left the guns dirty and dry. For two weeks. :barf: No rust. The fouling went white in spots, but no brown just black on the patches.

ChrisPer said:

I left the guns dirty and dry. For two weeks. :barf: No rust. The fouling went white in spots, but no brown just black on the patches.

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Pretty gutsy... :shocked2:

Money must be no object, LOL...I assume there must have been very low humidity in the location of the stored gun for that to be the case?

I've seen and talked to couple excellent shooters with beautiful guns who normally just spray in barrel with WD40 if they shooting then breaking camp..and they clean next day or when done unloading..has not affected their gun or their shooting,,I used go-jo,,takes 5 minutes if can't get all done right then..spray with wd 40 an almost clean when i get to it again...jus me!

roundball said:

ChrisPer said:

I left the guns dirty and dry. For two weeks. :barf: No rust. The fouling went white in spots, but no brown just black on the patches.

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Pretty gutsy... :shocked2:

Money must be no object, LOL...I assume there must have been very low humidity in the location of the stored gun for that to be the case?

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Not gutsy, I just allowed it to get away. Been a busy few weeks. I am doing a series study on Integrity, and :redface: .

Yes, humidity was low - it was rainy for a while but mostly very cold (by Australian standards). But I KNOW now that swabbing and leaving with my wet patch lube (water + soluble oil) is the start of early rust if I dont clean it straight away.

Concomitant with what I posted earlier; As soon as I finish at the range and before I leave for home, I use a scraper, a wet patch followed by 2 or 3 dry patches on the gun. When we get home there's actually little else to do other than the lock. By using Hoppes lube and a tight patch, not much fouling accumulates in the bore. Still, the arm gets taken care of.

roundball said:

ChrisPer said:

I left the guns dirty and dry. For two weeks. :barf: No rust. The fouling went white in spots, but no brown just black on the patches.

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Pretty gutsy... :shocked2:

Money must be no object, LOL...I assume there must have been very low humidity in the location of the stored gun for that to be the case?

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Or like a great many, in my experience, he does not really understand the process or what he is actually seeing.
Even in fairly low humidity a few days will show on the barrel even with BP fouling. May not cause real harm but its noticeable as a frosting or micro pit in places in the bore. In MLs its necessary to pull the breech and use a bore scope to see what has REALLY occurred.
Yeah, I have had a barrel go uncleaned for a few days in MT due to brain slip and it WAS noticable. But the barrel was still serviceable. Higher humidity or some other powders are not so forgiving.

Dan

Well, all I can say is it was very hot, at the range today, so my gun barrel and I were in need of a shower when we got home. Didn't take either of us but a few minutes to tidy up.