One of the chores we often put off is the maintenance of our firearm. The first rule in using and owning a gun is Safety! Safety!! Safety!!! Since a gun is a necessary evil. Cleaning a gun is one major part of reducing accidental discharge.
Cleaning of a gun is not with the sole intension of having an attractive looking gun but for Safety. All you will need to clean your gun are latex gloves, toothbrush, lubricating oil, clean rags, gun cleaning solvent, and safety glasses. Any average caliber specific cleaning kit will contain most of the cleaning tools
How to Clean a Gun?
You will get a full guide on how to clean a gun with household items, avoiding possible legal implications and physical injuries. The procedure varies with some guns but can be applied to any type with little adjustment.
Check the Manual
It is a common practice to discard a manual of equipment and appliance even without reading them. If you have discarded or misplaced your manual, you should download it online.
The most informative post can never replace the manufacturer’s manual. You will find information need to modify any guideline to best suit your type of gun. The manual contains details more than that to help understand how best to clean a gun; contain a more complete experience.
Almost all manuals contain straightforward and practical steps on taking your gun apart safely, properly cleaning it with illustrative pictures. You can check NRA’s Guide to Firearms Assembly for manual on any specific model and their manufactural.
Unload Your Gun
To begin the cleaning process properly, point the gun in a safe direction. Carefully unload the magazine from the gun. It is not safe to pull the trigger yet because the gun may still fire even with the magazine removed.
A cartridge may still be in the chamber, ready to be fire. You can visually inspect from back to front or, better still, put a rod through it. This will help verify if any round is still in the chamber or in the barrel.
Ensure the gun remain pointed in a safe direction will unloading
Run Dry Brush and Wet Patches
Attach a dry brush to the end of the cleaning rod. Run it through the chamber and barrel. Expert advice that the brush is made with nylon or copper-phosphate bore brush. Dry brushing should be in the direction from the chamber to the muzzle.
A dry brush will remove some of the large carbon and metal fouling leftovers from your previously fired rounds. The amount of carbon brush out depends on how many rounds you have fired from the gun.
Guns that are constantly fired will require that you brush it coup of time before proceeding to the next step.
Attach a clean patch to the end of your cleaning rods, add a few drops of bore solvent to the patch. In the same direction as you have a dry brush, push the wet patch through the barrel gently.
Push it out until the patch comes out completely on the other side. The wet patch will soak the chamber and barrel, breaking down bore fouling for 10-15 minutes. Do not pull back the wet patch as this redeposit the dirt.
Scrub the Barrel and Run Patches
You another bore brush to scrub the inside of the barrel. More carbon metal fouling will be removed because that cleaning solvent breaks down bore fouling. You will need multiply patches to clean the barrel.
Attach a clean patch to your cleaning rod and push through the chamber. The dry patch will remove any residue, even the tiniest carbon particle.
You have to repeatedly use a new dry patch to remove this residue until the patch comes out clean.
You can further clean and treat the bore surface against corrosion by applying a light lubricant like CLP, bore snake, or any quality lubricant you can find in your local store.
It is better to leave the bore unlubricated than lubricating with gun oil. If you are storing the gun for long, you can apply a heavy lubricant such as Barricade; heavier lubricant is for guns that will not be used anytime soon. Remember to remove this lubricant from the barrel before going out to take your shoot.
Check out
| What Is A Stun Gun, And How Do You Use It? |
| Henry 410 lever-action shotgun review |
| Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle 450 Bushmaster Review |
Clean the Action
A gun action, slide, pump, or bolt is one part that should be properly clean. Clean the action with a brush, dry cloth, and action solvent.
Spray the action liberally from the top of the frame/receiver, allowing carbon and metal debris to be washed into the drip pan. You need to check the owner’s manual to know the best cleaner solvent to use and where the action lubrication point is.
Most lubricants have a needlepoint applicator. Use it to apply drops of lubricant to the specific point you have identified from the manual. Do not over lubricate the action; excess lubricant will attract dirt and impact the gun’s efficiency.
Clean the Magazines
You must exercise proper caution when cleaning the magazines. The magazine is the ammunition and critical for the proper operation of a semiautomatic. Your cleaning kit has a magazine brush; use it to brush out dirt from the mag.
Ensure you wear your safety glasses and don’t clean magazines with any highly flammable compounds like petroleum products. The magazine does not require lubrication. You can only brush with cleaning solvents.
Clean the Exterior
Clean the exterior of your gun with any soft cloth. You can also use CLP wipes, silicon cloth, etc. A reel cloth will do a perfect job for you. Apply a silicone lubricant on the cloth before swapping the gun surface.
With lubricant on the soft cloth, any debris, acidic prints will be clean, leaving your gun with a bright exterior.
CLICK HERE to get all the insights on guns and more.
Conclusion
Cleaning a gun is more nice appearance, cleaning a gun is about Safety. To keep your gun functioning at its maximum capacity and avoid accidental discharge, ensure you do the cleaning.
This will keep the gun ready to go when you need it. When cleaning your gun will be a great time to inspect for wear and tear.
If you have any suggestions or queries feel free to reach out in the comments section below.
Get more insights on survival on our website.
