Cleaning after shooting corrosive ammo what's your trick?

[Ken The Kanuck]

I think the title says it all.

KTK

[joem]

Right after I fire the last shot, I have a bottle of Windex with extra amonia and run two or three wet patches through the bore. After that a dry patch, then a oil patch. Never had a bit of rust in the barrel.:icon_lol:

[Kirk]

Hot soapy water. The salts are water soluble & the soap increases solubility. Ammonia but itself does not dissolve the salts; the water carrier does. If you use Windex, add Dawn or another good dish soap. If you use hot water, the heat imparted to the metal helps dry it out. Follow up with a good lube/protectant afterwards.

[Art]

I have some USGI bore cleaner for corrosive ammunition. After shooting, while still at the range, I run a patch soaked with the GI bore cleaner throught the bore frome the breach. After I get home I run two patches soaked with soapy water through the bore each followed by a dry patch and then clean the bore as I normally would.

[Festus39]

A good scrubbing with hot soapy water (same as with a muzzle loader) and after a dry patch or two;then an oily patch and muzzle down in the safe.
Festus

[BudT]

No trick here, just clean with hot soapy water or the old U.S. G.I. bore solvent. If I am at the range and have the old solvent with me I run a couple of wet patches through the hot barrel and let it soak until I get home.

Regards

BudT

[John Sukey]

Oh well, get a funnel,(metal) stick it in the arse end of the barrel, Pour boiling hot water down the barrel. Every barrel has microscopic cracks in it, the primer salts are driven into those cracks, the hot water expands the cracks and washes out the salts. The hot barrel will evaporate any remaining water, Clean with your favourite bug juice afterwards. This system worked for the Brits for over 80 years, and they had a funnel designed for just that purpose
Note on the SKS, while the barrel is chrome lined, the gas tube is NOT.

[mike33]

hot soapy water right after shooting first cleaning right on range have thermo of hot water for tea sve about three oz and have a small plastice jar with liguid soap in range box

[Bill]

I went to college with a lot of Korean war vets, and one was in charge of ordnance at the local National Guard armory. He had a problem with ammo, as they were issued a certain amount, and supposed to fire it for training purposes. The quantity was monitored carefully.

This created a problem, as some personnel would miss the range sessions for one reason or other. This created a surplus of ammo, which did not look good when they were audited.

The solution, either dump it in the river, or give it to someone who would shoot it. The result, and almost endless supply of WWII era ammo.

I fired thousands of rounds through my 03, and cleaned it each time by first using Hoppes to get the normal fouling out, then with hot soapy water, followed by running very hot clean water through the bore.

I still have the rifle, it still has a good shiny bore, so this method must work.

I have tried the old type GI cleaner, and it works, but smells so bad I hate to use it.

I am not so sure about the more modern GI cleaner, as it may not be designed to clean corrosive salts, as there has been no corrosive primed ammo for many years.

[Art]

You are correct, modern GI solvent does not clean primer salts. The Korean war era or earlier stuff is required for that. Quantities of the stuff are obviously limited and I only use the supply I have for use on the range.

Our son who likes accoutrements as much as I do actually has a small can that is made to fit into one of the pouches of an M1903 or M1 cartridge belt.

[PhillipM]

Can we make this thread a sticky here or in the ammo section? The above posts sum it up and the topic repeats itself often.

[John Sukey]

Just for grins, I got my funnel from Canada. Actualy I bought a crate of them, but NOBODY was interested at the time. Wound up having a dealer sell most of them for me.

[Conductor]

Just for grins, I got my funnel from Canada. Actualy I bought a crate of them, but NOBODY was interested at the time. Wound up having a dealer sell most of them for me.

John, I think I must have gotten my funnel from the same dealer. I take it to the range with me, along with a quart-size Thermos bottle full of hot water. After shooting, I flush out the bore and head on home. When I get there, a quick swab of Hoppe's, then a couple of dry patches, and all done. Works like a charm.

[Johnny P]

As mentioned by others, water is the best for dissolving the salts left from firing corrosive primed ammo. Windex is just an expensive water, as it is 90% water. If you can, hot water is even better.

[Major Tom]

And, don't forget to clean the bolt face.

[orca2726]

Blue Wonder gun cleaner gel. It is water based and you can use it like normal bore cleaner. I no longer mess with
hot water and funnels. Use with an old toothbrush on bolt face and gas pistons.
Just my 2 cents worth.

[Varmintpopper]

After firing corrosive primers while in the Military we took the weopon into the Shower with Us ( minus the wood) and scrubbed the intire thing with hot water, after it dried we then cleaned as normal.

Good Shooting

Lindy

[OD#3]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Ballistol. It is all I use now for non-corrosive, corrosive, and blackpowder ammunition cleanup.. With non-corrosive ammunition, it cleans the smokeless residue as well as Hoppes. It isn't as aggressive or fast with the copper fouling as Hoppes, but it will do just as well given a little more time. It is a water soluble, so it mixes readily with water, making a solution known as "moose milk". I've used it as strong as 50/50, but many people use as little as 1 part Ballistol to 7 parts water. "Moose milk" readily dissolves the salts from chloride primers as well as black powder fouling.

After scrubbing the bore with "moose milk", I usually follow up with straight Ballistol to both attack copper fouling and to soak up any remaining moisture. That moisture soon evaporates, leaving a corrosion resistant film of oil behind. It has a strong anise odor, which some find objectionable. But I actually like the smell. It is also non-toxic and washes off the hands easily.

[dave]

Not a lot of corrosive US ammo left any more. I still have an un-opened WW11 GI cleaner qt. purchased at a gun shop in the '50's. Used that much and more back in those days. Nothing else, never a rusted bore. I love the smell!

[jjrothWA]

When I bought my M39-2 in the 70's, about a month later found a shop that had
a 100 count box of 9mm FMJ, bought it and saw it was GECO about mid-50's headstamp.
Called the shop and confirm that they thought it was corrosive and yes the best way to clean was
hot soapy water and followed up with regular Hoppe's cleaner and oiled.
Still taking it out to the range look great as the day I bought. Only think I kick myself about is not buying the Ithaca 1911 the dealer was selliing for $150.:eusa_wall:

[Sportsdad60]

Thompson Center T17 Black Powder bore SOLVENT.
This stuff is environmentally safe and works great IMO.

[Johnny P]

The ammonia in the Windex only dilutes the water. It is the water that dissolves the salts.

[Allen]

The ammonia in the Windex only dilutes the water. It is the water that dissolves the salts.

When I worked at the refinery some of our large hydrogen compressors would salt up. When suction pressures would drop off we would remove the spool piece on the suction side of the compressors. Inside was a screen that would be salted up due to the process that it was used for. We would spray the screen with water using a fire hose and the salts would quickly dissolve. Then we would air dry using a large air hose @150psi and place everything back into service.

I don't see firearms being any different except perhaps helping the cleaning along with a bore brush afterward giving the gun a coat of WD-40 to displace any left over water and finally putting on a coat of oil or protective coating of your choice. It's the way I do it anyway. I consider any foreign ammo (even the new stuff) that is berdan primed to be corrosive no matter what is stated on the box and treat it as such.