The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gun Cleaning Forum Reducing Shotgun Barrel Fouling?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Over thirty years ago, a gentleman I learned a great deal about the shooting sports from, told me to lightly grease the inside of a shotgun barrel as the last step of cleaning. He used plain Hoppe’s gun grease on a mop, and then followed up with a couple plain clean patches to remove all but the thinnest film of grease. I followed this procedure for a few years but quickly gave up on it when I started shooting and cleaning more. Lately, I’ve been wondering if he was greasing the barrel simply to prevent corrosion, or if there was some other benefit? As I do more shotgun shooting, I am wondering if there is some magic elixir to treat the shotgun barrel with to make future cleaning easier. When I’m done cleaning these days, the last thing I do with the barrel is to lightly oil it with whatever elixir I am currently using, over the years I’ve used original Break Free CLP, Tetra, and the majority of the latest and greatest. These days I’m using M-Pro 7 products. Is there something that others have found that makes subsequent shotgun barrel clean up easier? | ||
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Yes. . | |||
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Just a few thoughts. I shoot the cheapest ammo I can buy. I have found 'cheap' does not necessarily mean 'dirty' (or 'junk'). Besides, cleaning a shotgun barrel mostly requires the miracle ingredient 'elbow grease' no matter what brand you use. Secondly, good luck finding fiber wad ammo nowadays unless you reload. Most of the buildup in a shotgun barrel occurs in the forcing cone area ahead of the chamber. Buy an oversize chamber brush to clean same. And clean your 12 gauge shotgun with a 10 gauge bore brush, 20 gauge with a 16 gauge brush, etc. Try to clean your shotgun barrels while still warm. I prefer using brass brushes with Hoppes #9 but the 'fuzzy sticks' are O.K. | |||
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Whoops! Forgot to mention I put a light coating of Break Free CLP in my shotgun barrels after cleaning. Helps in suspending crud build up and makes cleaning easier. I also use same as a shotgun lubricant. | |||
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Cleaning shotgun barrels, except for longer term storage is a complete waste of time. The one exception is when shooting in hot humid weather there will be a moisture build up in the chambers which will rust fairly shortly. Then you can do the fluffy rod thing or just spray some WD-40 (for it's moisture removing qualities) in the chamer area and run a heavy cloth, rag, or similar up to the forcing cone and call it a day. As mentioned by Grenadier above, the long fluffy rods work perfectly well. Spray a bit of some kind of oil down the tube pass it thru a time or two and you're done for a long time. xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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Holland & Holland, Eley, GameBore, and B&P offer clean burning cartridges with fiber wads. I can think of some other brands too but most of them will soot up your barrels like an Alaska wood stove chimney. I believe that you unwittingly made my point. . . | |||
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Many modern shotguns have chrome bore or at least extremely well polished ones that makes cleaning easy. The cleanest burning powder I have ever come across and used for reloading 12G or in factory loads is Vectan AS suitable for shot charges up to 32grams. I have not used Vectan A1, a powder for the heavier shot charges so cannot comment on whether that would also be clean burning. Frankly if I used a semi-auto gun I would try and use Vectan powder. Some of the dirtiest powder burning has been Winchester in their factory loads. With Vectan a swab with a clean rag is all that is needed, the barrel is only slightly discoloured when using Vectan AS powder. After a good clay target shoot or a few weeks on gamebirds I spray down the barrels of my Miroku O/U gun with CRC 5-56, let sit for a while, and then a few passes with a soft fine bronze brush strips out the plastic coating left by wads. The initial clean rag swab leaves the barrels looking clean and shiny and the plastic is invisible but the CRC spray dissolves the wad plastic allowing it to lift and easily stripped out. Many spray CRC 5-56 over plant and equipment to remove moisture, clean and lubricate which it is very good for but it is harmful to some plastics, softening and dissolving them. Damn good for removing carbon crud and plastic in rifles and shotguns though. | |||
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Grenadier: Nope, amigo, you missed my point entirely. A little 'elbow grease' and Hoppes #9 will clean an 'Alaskan wood stove chimney' just fine. The shotshell brands you mentioned using fiber wads are either way too expensive or locally unobtainable for the average shooter. Gatorgordo: Yup, shotgun barrels DO need thorough cleaning on a regular basis, particularly semi-automatics. If you run same dirty too long no bang-bang. Plus crud build up attracts moisture. Nice try. | |||
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Grenadier's use of the word "unwitting" certainly applies to you. I've shot well over a million shotgun shells in my life. Let me know when you get there and, in the interim, tell me why cleaning a shotgun bore is so essential when there is no long term harm from not cleaning it. Depending on the load, many semi-autos will go thousands of rounds without malfunctioning due to lack of cleaning. Not that this is that big of a deal, but before they had AAA, I was AA-27-AA at trap and would commonly shoot 20 to 50,000 shells or more without cleaning the bore. Let me know how many shells you've shot and why the bores "do need thorough cleaning on a regular basis". Hint, they don't AND, brilliant one, cleaning the bores on semi-autos, DOES NOT prevent malfunctioning BECAUSE the gas ports and gas pistons, if any, will NOT be cleaned by cleaning the bore. xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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Gatorgordo: You have the knack, sir, of being ignorant and disagreeable at the same time. I am not going to bother arguing with you since you have a PhD in crapola. Your pathetic bragging impresses no one but yourself. Grow up. Goodnight and goodbye (forever). | |||
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"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy. xxxxxxxxxx When considering US based operations of guides/outfitters, check and see if they are NRA members. If not, why support someone who doesn't support us? Consider spending your money elsewhere. NEVER, EVER book a hunt with BLAIR WORLDWIDE HUNTING or JEFF BLAIR. I have come to understand that in hunting, the goal is not the goal but the process. | |||
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At the end of a hunt or shoot i will swab the bore and chambers with a patch moistened with Breakfree. It may or not help the gun but it makes me feel better. I have noticed surface rust in the chambers after my annual dove shoot in central Texas if I don't follow this routine. I do swab and lightly oil the bore again at home before putting the gun in the safe. During the season as plastic wad residue becomes evident I evident I scrub it out with a spiral brush and Break free. This routine is not time consuming with a double or slide action and as stated earlier it makes me feel better. In my salad days I shot a lot of skeet with an 1100 Remington often 8 to 10 rounds a day two days a week. I found if I blew out the gas ports with a solvent and kept the magazine tube clean and dry the gun was very reliable. I would't do anything else until the chamber fouling prevented reliable functioning. "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." Mark Twain | |||
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I have shot competitive trap for two years, and never, ever cleaned my barrels. The only time I do clean them is if hunting sea birds. I use light oil inside and out. That is it. | |||
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There might be different steel used to make them I have no clue.Whatever the case our Berretas were cleaned with nothing but WD-40 and scott towels and they were mirror clean.They are still mirror shiny 50 yrs later until this day. | |||
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I am inclined to agree with shootaway, I've seen too many shotguns with pitted barrels, inside and out and you only get that by not cleaning and allow rust to form, maybe not from firing ammo, but from the atmospheric conditions the gun is store in. For the little bit of time and effort the shooter who cleans his firearm after every use will never have pitted bores! | |||
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true about pitting from not cleaning and neglecting the bore | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gun Cleaning Forum Reducing Shotgun Barrel Fouling?
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